240 Ignition problems

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Patrick Keenan

I have a 1992 240 wagon, a Canadian model. Lately, it's occasionally given
me some grief that is difficult for me to describe to the mechanic, and of
course it doesn't misbehave for them. They've had one pass at it and
fixed a couple of things they thought would contribute to it, but it is
intermittent and I accept it's hard to nail down.

I'm hoping I can get some help defining the problem so it can be revealed
and fixed.

The car often runs very well, but sometimes will start to hestitate, as
though it is perhaps not getting fuel. If I let my foot off the gas, the
car begins to decelerate - not a gentle coasting, but more of a definite
braking under compression feeling. This is usually accompanied (or
preceded) by the smell of gasoline. Idle will drop to a few hundred RPM
and will be uneven, but it doesn't seem to stall out.

The car may have run for a half-hour or more on various roads, or for only a
few minutes.

Simply pulling over (harder to do from the passing lane of the DVP),
shutting off the car, waiting a few seconds and restarting it usually fixes
the problem and I can continue. Then it will be fine for days.

The 2nd last time it did this, when I was on the DVP, the Check Engine light
came on. Does this indicate that there is an error code stored that will
help reveal the problem? Are those codes overwritten as the car is used?

Thanks for any help!
Patrick Keenan
 
Patrick Keenan said:
I have a 1992 240 wagon, a Canadian model. Lately, it's occasionally
given
me some grief that is difficult for me to describe to the mechanic, and of
course it doesn't misbehave for them. They've had one pass at it and
fixed a couple of things they thought would contribute to it, but it is
intermittent and I accept it's hard to nail down.

I'm hoping I can get some help defining the problem so it can be revealed
and fixed.

The car often runs very well, but sometimes will start to hestitate, as
though it is perhaps not getting fuel. If I let my foot off the gas, the
car begins to decelerate - not a gentle coasting, but more of a definite
braking under compression feeling. This is usually accompanied (or
preceded) by the smell of gasoline. Idle will drop to a few hundred
RPM
and will be uneven, but it doesn't seem to stall out.

The car may have run for a half-hour or more on various roads, or for only
a
few minutes.

Simply pulling over (harder to do from the passing lane of the DVP),
shutting off the car, waiting a few seconds and restarting it usually
fixes
the problem and I can continue. Then it will be fine for days.

The 2nd last time it did this, when I was on the DVP, the Check Engine
light
came on. Does this indicate that there is an error code stored that will
help reveal the problem? Are those codes overwritten as the car is used?
Click to expand...

The error code remains providing the battery is connected.
Under the bonnet you will find a little black box with a lead to plug in
with 6-8 holes, that will be your error console. I think you plug the lead
into hole 2 (check a haynes manual for more instructions as I am unsure).
Anyway the error will come up as a serious of light flashes from a single
tiny bulb. Like for example if it is error 1-2-1 according to the manual it
will flash once, pause, flash twice, pause then flash once again. If there
are no other errors it will eventually repeat the same code, if there are
other errors it will do the next code.
When we had a similar problem of the car stalling like that it turned out to
be the fuel pump relay. Over time (several weeks) it eventually got alot
worse and was stalling on every journey, even short ones. Pulling over for a
few minutes always allowed the relay to cool down just enough to finish a
short journey.
 
Patrick said:
The car may have run for a half-hour or more on various roads, or for only a
few minutes.

Simply pulling over (harder to do from the passing lane of the DVP),
shutting off the car, waiting a few seconds and restarting it usually fixes
the problem and I can continue. Then it will be fine for days.

The 2nd last time it did this, when I was on the DVP, the Check Engine light
came on. Does this indicate that there is an error code stored that will
help reveal the problem? Are those codes overwritten as the car is used?

Thanks for any help!
Patrick Keenan
Click to expand...


Yes, there are hopefully codes stored which might point to the problem.

Off hand I would wonder about the air mass flow meter. These eventually
go bad on Volvo and the car can default to an almost impossible to drive
limp-home mode.

However, there could be any number of causes for those symptoms!

John
 
Fuel Pump relays are cheap, FCP Groton can ship one to your for
probably under $20 USD. Fuel filters often get dirty and stopping
allows the junk to fall off the screen and allow fuel to pass.
 
Patrick said:
I have a 1992 240 wagon, a Canadian model. Lately, it's occasionally given
me some grief that is difficult for me to describe to the mechanic, and of
course it doesn't misbehave for them. They've had one pass at it and
fixed a couple of things they thought would contribute to it, but it is
intermittent and I accept it's hard to nail down.

I'm hoping I can get some help defining the problem so it can be revealed
and fixed.

The car often runs very well, but sometimes will start to hestitate, as
though it is perhaps not getting fuel. If I let my foot off the gas, the
car begins to decelerate - not a gentle coasting, but more of a definite
braking under compression feeling. This is usually accompanied (or
preceded) by the smell of gasoline. Idle will drop to a few hundred RPM
and will be uneven, but it doesn't seem to stall out.

The car may have run for a half-hour or more on various roads, or for only a
few minutes.

Simply pulling over (harder to do from the passing lane of the DVP),
shutting off the car, waiting a few seconds and restarting it usually fixes
the problem and I can continue. Then it will be fine for days.

The 2nd last time it did this, when I was on the DVP, the Check Engine light
came on. Does this indicate that there is an error code stored that will
help reveal the problem? Are those codes overwritten as the car is used?

Thanks for any help!
Patrick Keenan
Click to expand...


Sounds like it may be the beginning of an air mass meter failure. You
should also check the thermostat on the flapper valve in the airbox
connecting to the preheat tube, if this sticks open it will kill the
AMM. Normally I just rip out the preheat hose to prevent this but if
you're in Canada it may get cold enough for this feature to be beneficial.
 
Speaking of...
James, in my airbox is a hole on the bottom. My airbox was stuck in
"open heat" mode, so I inserted a screw into that hole that keeps the
flapper open to cool air. I ripped out the heater hose, as all this
does is suck heat coming across the exhaust pipe into the air box.

This works fine, it's 100+ degrees here. Now, when it gets 15 degress
in the winter, I may be seeking an alternative.

BTW, I could not figure out how to get that valve in the air box out
with breaking something.
 
James Sweet said:
Sounds like it may be the beginning of an air mass meter failure. You
should also check the thermostat on the flapper valve in the airbox
connecting to the preheat tube, if this sticks open it will kill the AMM.
Normally I just rip out the preheat hose to prevent this but if you're in
Canada it may get cold enough for this feature to be beneficial.
Click to expand...

Thanks to all for the replies. I have the car booked for another Healing
session on Monday, and the suggested clues are helpful.

And yes, I'm in Toronto, where it gets chilly once in a while.

A perhaps related question, I see things about connectors and software to
monitor the engine codes. Are these available for a '92 240, usable,
expensive?

Thanks again.
Patrick Keenan
 
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