Engine Cutting Out Problem

[viperman135]

Hello guys. I have had my 1989 240DL now for a little over a month. I took a 2 hour trip this weekend to some buddies at college. Everything was fine for an hour. But then the engine started cutting out for a second then normal cut out normal. That was not too bad on the highway but a pain driving around town. Samething today on the way home. Fine for an hour then cutting out. The previous owner replaced the fuel pumps. Might need to check and see how he hooked those up. Is something over heating? Ideas? Thanks for the help.

[Three Fat Tigers]

The usual suspects would include:

fuel pump relay

ignition rotor

distributor cap

coil wire

powerstage (aka ignition module)

speed sensor (aka crank angle sensor)

You might check and see if there are any stored ODB1 codes:

http://www.brickboard.com/FAQ/700-900/EngineOBDCodes.htm

If you have a tachometer and the needle reacts violently during an event, that points to an ignition system issue.

[viperman135]

The usual suspects would include:

fuel pump relay

ignition rotor

distributor cap

coil wire

powerstage (aka ignition module)

speed sensor (aka crank angle sensor)

You might check and see if there are any stored ODB1 codes:

http://www.brickboard.com/FAQ/700-900/EngineOBDCodes.htm

If you have a tachometer and the needle reacts violently during an event, that points to an ignition system issue.

Cool thanks for the help. The rotor, cap and coil wire are only a month old but I will double check. Fuel pump relay I think I can handle checking out but what about the last two items on your list. Basic location tips and how should I check them. Any idea why almost exactly an hour into the drive it would start acting up? Thanks for the help.

[Guest Guest_Robert_*]

The powerstage module (ignitition module) is sensitive to heat and can react like this cheep to replace and from my experience the Bosch modules are superior to cheeper other aftermarket modules.

[Guest Guest_Robert_*]

Even the ignition coil can be faulty when hot so it may be woth trying a new one.

[viperman135]

I talked to a buddy and he had a completely different idea. His bet was it was the cat not working right. Makes since to me. I was think heat was causing the problem in the first place. Anything in the engine bay is going to be up to heat in 20min. But the cat might take longer to start to mess up. Thats why it took an hour in to the journey for the problem to happen. My buddy said that after driving the car for an hour see if the exhaust is glow red or not. But now I cant remember if glowing red is good or bad. Ideas? The previous owner put a midas exhaust on the car that has a lifetime warranty. I'm going to look into and see if that warranty in transferable. They need to fix some other things with the exhaust anyways. Any ideas on the cat theory?

[Three Fat Tigers]

The cat is not likely to cause the symptoms you described. Typically when they fail, you have a rattle and some sort of blockage that can be intermittent but is usually quite constant and can leave you with a top speed of a snail.

Glowing red is bad and indicates an extreme lean running condition, not necessarily a cat related issue, but it can quickly kill the cat.

[viperman135]

The cat is not likely to cause the symptoms you described. Typically when they fail, you have a rattle and some sort of blockage that can be intermittent but is usually quite constant and can leave you with a top speed of a snail.

Glowing red is bad and indicates an extreme lean running condition, not necessarily a cat related issue, but it can quickly kill the cat.

Ok good point.

Well then back to your original suggestions. This would be the crank angle sensor correct?

FCP calls it a "RPM/Reference Sensor". Little lost on the powerstage/ignition module. I looked both of those terms up in the manual and found nothing. Do you know the part number? Or link to FCP. I might as well go ahead and replace the fuel pump relay. Seems like that is a common problem with the 240. Is the FCP fuel pump relay ok? Does not say bosch or anything. Thanks for all the help sorry for being a pest.

[Three Fat Tigers]

Yes that is the crank angle sensor.

The powerstage, aka ignition module is this:

http://www.fcpgroton.com/images/0227100124.jpg

found here:

http://www.fcpgroton.com/volvo240eng_electrical.htm#other

This is mounted to the inner fender next to the battery. Same part is used in all 4 cylinder RWD Volvos from '89 up (200/700/900 series), and in earlier 700s, I think starting with '85, with the exception that Regina fuel system cars do not have this.

Hard to say if the fcp fuel pump relay is good or not, if it's Scantech, then odds are it's not ideal.

[viperman135]

I talked to my local handyman/lawn mower fixer tonight. He had a new idea. What if the tank was unable to vent. I'm not sure how the whole system works maybe someone could shed some light on that. But maybe after the hour the tank had used up all its air and had created a vacuum. That would also explain why the problem seemed to get worse the more I drove. Is it possible how ever the tank vents could be messed up?

[Three Fat Tigers]

That would be a possibility, though I've never heard of it happening in Volvo before. There is a vent line that runs to the front of the car to the charcoal canister up under the left fender below the battery. You could disconnect the two vacuum lines that run to the canister from the throttle body, then with the car running you should be able to see a strong stream of fuel vapors shooting out of the drain hose of the canister, which would tell you that the vent is working. You might need a bright background behind the drain hose when observing, the fumes will distort the light passing through like heat waves.

You could also try driving around with the gas cap loose.