My 1987 Volvo 240 keeps dying....?

Question

I've had this car for about 4 years. Within the past year, it occasionally died, but nothing serious. Over this past summer, it started dying more. We took it to a mechanic, who replaced the control module and claimed it was fixed, but it started dying again about 3 days later. We took it in again, and he tightened the connections on the control module and said it should do the trick. The car ran fine for two months, but now it is dying again.

It dies on the highway, at stoplights, anywhere. Right before it dies, I can't accelerate, and it coasts for a few seconds before completely dying. Every light on the dashboard comes on, but the radio and other accessories stay on. We've had the fuel injector and fuel system checked, and my dad drained the tank to check the fuel filter, but nothing was wrong. Has anyone experienced a similar problem? I'm afraid to drive it now, and I'm looking for a new car.

The mechanic that we took it to checked over some of the stuff, but I don't know how extensive he checked it. I know he put it on a computer, and that he found where something had been unplugged from the control module, which when plugged in, made it run worse. I don't know a whole lot about cars, but my dad has done quite a bit of messing around with it. I told him the suggestions from here, but he said that it wasn't worth putting anymore money into and that we would be better off to get a newer car. I have to do a lot of driving, and it almost caused me to get into a serious wreck the other day. Thanks for all of your help!

Answer 1

Dear Irish Girl:

Don't give up on the 240 yet, I'm sure you'll be able to get this thing fixed.

I suggest you join Brickboard.com. It is a web site for volvo freaks and it works just like Yahoo Answers - you'll find a lot of help.

My 2 cents is either the Air Mass Meter or the fuses.

The fuses you can fix yourself. The fuses are located behind a little panel next to your left calf as you sit in the drivers seat. On the bottom of the panel is a little thumb screw, twist it a half turn and it should come right off.

Go to the store and buy all new fuses, they should set you back maybe 10 bucks. Also by a vial of dialytic grease. It aids electrical connections and protects metal from ickiness.

Next, remove one fuse at a time and take a little emery board and polish the brass fuse holders. Yep, just get down there and rub that brass until it's clean. Squirt on the grease and install the new fuse. You could also crimp the fuse holder a tiny bit if the old fuse came out toooo easily. Repeat.

The whole job - including driving to the store - will take an hour.

The Air Mass Meter is a whole nother story. It will set you back about 400 bucks and if you never had it done, and the original owner never had it down, then my bet is the AMM.

Fuses first, oh yeah, use the finest grit emery board. I use one of the polishing boards that are kind of rubbery.

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EDIT: Well, Irish, listen to dad. He knows how much effort/money he wants to put into the car. Make sure you don't sell it to your mechanic. That's a SURE sign he simply unplugged a thingy to make the car run like crap and make you think the car is beyond hope. Oh, yeah, how much do you want for it and where is the car? (No addresses please).

Note to PAUL: Great advice about the battery. I didn't think of that. My mechanic taught me that emry board trick. Cleared up a funky brake-light.

Note to Hobbabob: Your advice is so clear and understandable, I stalute you. So many times, car guys lapse into accronyms and abbreviations and it makes reading their advice difficult. Your writing however, is quite clear and understandable. Thank you.

Answer 2

several things come to mind for this ailment:
1. 2 series cars of this vintage had engine wiring harness that self distructed [the insulation would sluff off the wiring and cause intermittant shorts and opens] the most common places for this to happen are where the ignition / alternator harness passes under the oil pan at the front of the motor. at the coolant temp sensor [center of engine below the intake] and where harness leaves the engine and runs along the firewall.
2. in addition to fuse panal corrosion problems at left kick panal there is a fuse holder near the battery that corrodes and causes problems [this should be replaced with a marine type sealed fuse holder and is to be soldiered in place and heat shrink insulate the joints] this should be done on all 2 series cars.
3. the fuel pump relay is located under glove box area [most likely the fuel pumps have been replaced by now] but the relay is rarely thought about [it may have been overloaded by old pumps and not replaced when new were fitted]
4. of course other answers for throttle body and constant idle motor cleaning still apply and a qiuck tast for the air mass unit is to unplug it [it wont run very good , but if is an improvement in overall performance is a clear indication of it being bad] [[this forces computor into a preprogrammed limp home mode]
5. one last thought there was a computer update for a stalling condition years ago that affected a very narrow range of cars. not all cars recieved the update. and the troubles didn't show up until high milages. soo remove the right kick panal and record the number[s] off of the computer and call your local dealer to see if yous is within that range of updated numbers
[i have only seen one period] good luck i hope this is of some help to you [also if you do have a harness problem go to ipd usa.com. for new replacement harness]

thank you bill for the kind words

Answer 3

YES! I have experienced this same problem with my 1976 Volvo. The car died, exact same symptoms and everything, when I turned on the turn signal.

The problem that I had was that the fuse that powers the dashboard lights also powered the turn signals and ignition system. When a sudden surge of power (from the turn signals) went through the fuse (which was loose and faulty), the car would stall because the ignition coil would stop charging the spark plugs.

If your Volvo has the same symptoms (which it sounds like it does), find all of the fuses (if there are more than 1) that control any part of the ignition system, and replace them.

No guarantees, but this sounds very similar to the problem that I had. Good luck!

Answer 4

I would clean out the throttle body first. You can get a can of carb cleaner, disconnect the intake boot and clean out the throttle body. Very easy to do and takes about 30 minutes.

And if that does not work, I would replace fuel pressure regulator. Should be about $70 parts, and fuel pressure regulator is known to go out often in B230 engine.

After that, take a look at air mess mater. Another common component that goes out often for this car and causes car to stall.

Answer 5

This is in response to Bill S's answer --
Bill left out one critical and potentially dangerous step, if you don't do it before working on the fuses:

REMOVE THE NEGATIVE TERMINAL FROM THE BATTERY FIRST.

If you don't you could cause a short across two terminals on the fuse block while you're cleaning it, causing sparks and ozone and all kinds of nastiness. This would be alarming at best and dangerous at worst. Please do this first! Otherwise great answer, Bill. Oh, and I would use a brass "toothbrush" instead of an emery board. It gets into the tight spaces better.

Answer 6

i have a 92 740 that was doing the same thing. right before it would die i could not accelerate and lost all power. the car would stall while driving down the highway. for a longer explaination, check out my question about it in my profile.

turns out i had a fuel pump that was going bad. it finally stopped completely. after replacing the fuel pump, i have not had a problem since.

good luck and hope this helps

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Answer 8

It does sound like the control module again. I would suspect that (as the previous poster said) you have a bad ground in the connection.

You could check it yourself or have your mechanic check it again. Apparently something is causing the connection to work loose.

Answer 9

Sounds like there is a connection problem (possibly the ground) with the control module.

Answer 10

Have you check you fuel pump relay?