Volvo 940SE Auto Est. (1991) Question

[Stephen Hobbs]

Hi,
Just bought a 940SE in good condition for it's age. My question concerns
a lamp that comes on from time to time. It is orange with a green triangle
in the middle, I think the symbol on it is the "lambda" symbol? The car
performs well & the last recorded service was approx 3,000mls ago, should I
worry or is it telling me the catalytic converter needs replacing soon? If
so does this affect fuel consumption?

Many Thanks

Steve Hobbs
Salisbury, UK

 

[Hans Vlems]

Hi,
Just bought a 940SE in good condition for it's age. My question concerns
a lamp that comes on from time to time. It is orange with a green triangle
in the middle, I think the symbol on it is the "lambda" symbol? The car
performs well & the last recorded service was approx 3,000mls ago, should I
worry or is it telling me the catalytic converter needs replacing soon? If
so does this affect fuel consumption?

Many Thanks

Steve Hobbs
Salisbury, UK

\

Steve, if it is the lamda symbol ( /\) then the cat or the sensor may be on
its way out; or both. If it is not lit steadily, is there a pattern? Like,
it lits only when accellarating? IIRC the lamp comes up when emissions are
out of specs, e.g. when the mixture was too rich.

Hans

 

[Stephen Hobbs]

\
Steve, if it is the lamda symbol ( /\) then the cat or the sensor may be on
its way out; or both. If it is not lit steadily, is there a pattern? Like,
it lits only when accellarating? IIRC the lamp comes up when emissions are
out of specs, e.g. when the mixture was too rich.

Hans

Hans,
Thanks for the reply, I have'nt noticed any pattern so far, probably
because I have not driven it enough yet! We went on a 110ml round trip the
other day and I noticed it came on once whilst on the motorway. It also came
on recently while driving around the city centre. I can't say it has only
come on when cold or hot either.
Is it worth changing the sensor, or should I "let it develop" so to speak?

Steve

 

[Guest]

be
Hans,
Thanks for the reply, I have'nt noticed any pattern so far, probably
because I have not driven it enough yet! We went on a 110ml round trip the
other day and I noticed it came on once whilst on the motorway. It also came
on recently while driving around the city centre. I can't say it has only
come on when cold or hot either.
Is it worth changing the sensor, or should I "let it develop" so to speak?

Really you need to extract codes from the computer whilst the light is on.
If its only intermittent and the engine and mpg performance remain normal,
that will be alittle tricky to do. It would be wise however to go around the
engine bay and unplug, check for corossion and replug all the multiplugs you
can see. The one for the o2 sensor is abit tricky to reach though.

Tim..

 

[Stuart Gray]

" Tim (Remove NOSPAM. Registry corupted, reformated HD and lost alot of

speak?

Really you need to extract codes from the computer whilst the light is on.
If its only intermittent and the engine and mpg performance remain normal,
that will be alittle tricky to do. It would be wise however to go around the
engine bay and unplug, check for corossion and replug all the multiplugs you
can see. The one for the o2 sensor is abit tricky to reach though.

Tim..

I thought it stored up to 3 codes, meaning that you can look for them at
your leisure. Use the brickboard 700/900 faq to see what the codes mean.

Stuart.

 

[norpe]

Car is 740, year 1990 station wagon:
Motor (2.3 L) stalls when driving. Can happen when motor is warm or cold,
driving slow or fast. "Check enging" light comes on. Starts up again without
any problem. This has happened about 5-6 times during the last month. Seems
to be some intermittent problem. Took it to dealer. The check engine light
is still on. Dealer says that when computer is checked, states that engine
light came on because of load sensor signal or speed (speedometer? ) input
signal. Cannot repair it because signals are all OK now. Cold be problem w
computer, load sensor, some loose wire, or whatever. Told me to come back
when it cannot be started, because then they can diagnose it and see what is
wrong. Has anyone experienced similar problem???? Cannot take car far from
home, because never knows when it will act up again.

 

[James Sweet]

Car is 740, year 1990 station wagon:
Motor (2.3 L) stalls when driving. Can happen when motor is warm or cold,
driving slow or fast. "Check enging" light comes on. Starts up again without
any problem. This has happened about 5-6 times during the last month. Seems
to be some intermittent problem. Took it to dealer. The check engine light
is still on. Dealer says that when computer is checked, states that engine
light came on because of load sensor signal or speed (speedometer? ) input
signal. Cannot repair it because signals are all OK now. Cold be problem w
computer, load sensor, some loose wire, or whatever. Told me to come back
when it cannot be started, because then they can diagnose it and see what is
wrong. Has anyone experienced similar problem???? Cannot take car far from
home, because never knows when it will act up again.

I would suspect the hall sensor, don't recall whether it's in the
distributor or at the flywheel with that year though. Also wouldn't hurt to
resolder the fuel pump relay.

 

[Mike F]

Car is 740, year 1990 station wagon:
Motor (2.3 L) stalls when driving. Can happen when motor is warm or cold,
driving slow or fast. "Check enging" light comes on. Starts up again without
any problem. This has happened about 5-6 times during the last month. Seems
to be some intermittent problem. Took it to dealer. The check engine light
is still on. Dealer says that when computer is checked, states that engine
light came on because of load sensor signal or speed (speedometer? ) input
signal. Cannot repair it because signals are all OK now. Cold be problem w
computer, load sensor, some loose wire, or whatever. Told me to come back
when it cannot be started, because then they can diagnose it and see what is
wrong. Has anyone experienced similar problem???? Cannot take car far from
home, because never knows when it will act up again.

Great dealer. I will assume your car has LH 2.4 fuel injection
(B230F). I will also assume that you're talking about the engine speed
sensor, which will cause the engine to stall if it fails. It also
commonly fails intermittently, which seems to be your problem. On my
brother's 1990 740 Turbo, he got a check engine light and the code for
engine speed sensor, without stalling, without even noticing any
problem, several times. We put in a new sensor (which is supposed to be
improved from the original), and the check engine light has not come on
since. This part is mounted on a bracket at the rear of the engine, on
the top of the bell housing.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

[notvalid]

Dealer says that when computer is checked, states that engine
light came on because of load sensor signal or speed (speedometer? ) input
signal.

Was it "No load signal from fuel injection system" (ignition code
1-4-4)? I have a 1990 740 GLE which had been stalling out and giving
that code. It had been going on for several months, getting
progressively more frequent.

I replaced the fuel injection relay (a known problem with that model)
about 6 months ago. It has not stalled since and no error codes stored.
I have no idea why it was giving that error code for the failure, but
it appears to have been the correct fix.

The part is about $35 (US) and it's an easy job. Instructions can be
found at brickboard.com on the 7xx FAQ, or from a search of the
archives of this newsgroup.

 

[norpe]

Thanks for your input.
The load sensor the code identified is located just downstream ( about 10
inches) of the air filter, according to the mechanic. Don't have the code
number.