'92 Volvo 240 won't start- help!

Our normally reliable 240 with 125K miles is dead out in the driveway.
She turns over and coughs occasionally but that's it. The car normally
runs very well except for the clues below.

Possible clues: For a while there's been occasional throttle hesitation
coming off a stop when the engine is cold. Also occasionally, it's hard
to start, requiring application of gas pedal or it stalls or nearly
stalls. Other times, perfect.

Another possible clue: it's been cold (25-30 F) and wet here lately and
the car sat for a couple days undriven before this problem.

I mentioned the hesitation and hard starting to my mechanic a few months
ago and he said the air mass sensor was probably going south. He said
it'd probably get hard to start once the sensor was really failing for
real.

Any ideas? I'd love to get it running without towing it the 30 miles into
town!!

-jeff

 

If it's wet and you haven't started a few days, it's most likely just
moisture or water vapour building up in the cylinders. That causes hard
start and requiring application of gas pedal symptom as you described. Once
you've blown out all the water vapour it'll be fine.
_________________
Will
'90 Volvo 744 GLT
B230F converted to B230FB (531 Head & VX3 Cam)

 

liberally spray with damp start - plug leads, distributor cap etc.

 

Make sure you have a couple cans of dry gas in the gas tank. Let it sit
for a couple hours. It is cheap and will rule out moisture in the gas
tank as a problem. Then make sure all ignition wires are clean and dry.
A trick I use in such a situation is to take out all of the spark plugs,
clean them, regap them, and then get them nice and warm before putting
them back in. Then spray starting fluid in each cylinder before putting
the spark plugs back in. Then crank it up immediately.

 

Try the fuel pump relay and the fuel filter. The relay is the usual cause which
may be due to either internal soldering cracked (needs resoldering) or the
socket connectors have become loose or even burnt. The fuel filter should be
changed every 70,000 miles.

Cheers, Peter.

: Our normally reliable 240 with 125K miles is dead out in the driveway.
: She turns over and coughs occasionally but that's it. The car normally
: runs very well except for the clues below.
:
: Possible clues: For a while there's been occasional throttle hesitation
: coming off a stop when the engine is cold. Also occasionally, it's hard
: to start, requiring application of gas pedal or it stalls or nearly
: stalls. Other times, perfect.
:
: Another possible clue: it's been cold (25-30 F) and wet here lately and
: the car sat for a couple days undriven before this problem.
:
: I mentioned the hesitation and hard starting to my mechanic a few months
: ago and he said the air mass sensor was probably going south. He said
: it'd probably get hard to start once the sensor was really failing for
: real.
:
: Any ideas? I'd love to get it running without towing it the 30 miles into
: town!!
:
: -jeff