1982 240 looses power on freeway

The other day I took my 1982 240 DL down the freeway to my friend's
house, and about half way there I started to notice that the engine
was loosing power. I pulled off into the emergency lane and turned the
engine off. I waited about 5 min and restarted the car and drove off
like nothing had happened. Later on the way back home I took the back
road as to avoid the freeway and low and behold on about a 3 mile
stretch of road where the speed limit is 50 the same problem occurred.
Once again I pulled over waited 5 min and restarted the car and drove
off. I really love my old Volvo and it is a great car but this problem
is making me not trust my old car on the freeway, Please help me

David

 

If the fuel filter hasn't been changed in a while, that would be a great
place to start. My experience with plugged fuel filters is that they often
recover a bit when they sit for a while (I assume the debris falls to the
bottom when pressure is relieved) and then plug up again some time after the
car gets moving. The restriction is most important when the engine is trying
to gulp a lot of fuel.

Mike

 

I've had similar problems with two different cars in the past... the first
time, it was debris in the gas tank that would clog the intake filter,
slowing and eventually stopping the car... after a while, the debris would
float free and I could drive the car normally again, until it re-collected
and blocked the flow of fuel. The fix was to drain and clean the tank, and
install a new sock filter on the intake...

The second car had a problem with the cat converter... the matrix inside had
broken apart, and rolled around until it was just a round ball, like a
billiard ball. While driving, it would sometimes roll into the outflow
opening, causing severe restriction and slowing... again, when I would pull
over and stop the engine, it would apparently roll free and I could drive
away normally... The fix was to replace the cat converter.

 

I own an 83 240. Once apon a time it would drive perfectly in the
city, but hesitate on highway driving/heavy use. It turned out there
was debris in the fuel tank that clogged the in tank fuel pump. For a
few weeks it would drive fine after a 5 minute rest as you describe,
but eventually whatever clogged the pump caused it to fail
completely. The car suffered vapourisation repeatedly, and lost a lot
of power.
May i suggest you drain the fuel tank as a precaution, and while you
are doing that check the in tank pump. If you start the car and put
your ear to the fuel cap you should hear a faint buzz. Hope its
nothing too serious

Josh