1988 Volvo 244 auto starts & idles ok, stalls in 4 sec. after put into any gear

You are assuming that it is starving for fuel but that is not necessarily the problem. What you have is a lean run condition that can be casued by either not enough fuel or too much air.

1) If you have one, check the OBD for fault codes.

2) carefully examine the tube between the air mass meter and the throttle body. Remove it, place a bright light inside, and look for areas that could cause air leaks.

3) Check for vacuum leaks elsewhere. There are a LOT of places that can cause leaks like broken vac hoses, loose fittings, etc.

4) disconnect and reconnect the electrical connection on the air mass meter.

5) Check the throttle position switch for proper operation and adjustment.

6) Go to the local pick 'n pull yard and get another air mass meter to try. Good to have a spare anyway.

7) Have the fuel system checked for proper pressure.

That should keep you busy for an hour or two.. ;-)

BTDT....

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"

THank you for the detailed suggestions. After a long time under the hood, here's what I found:

1. Don't think I have OBD (on-board diagnostics??)

1. Is the air mass meter mounted directly below the throttle body, metal, cylindrical, about 1.5" diameter, 2-3" long, and has a 3-wire plug going into it? Made by Bosch... It has hose connections to both the air-filter and the engine sides of the throttle body, sitting in the trough of a "U" hose between those two locations. Or is this something else? Anyway, hoses there look OK. THe contacts, however, _are_ a bit corroded. I measured ~ 35 Ohm between two pairs of contacts, and open between the third possible pair combination. If this isn't air mass meter, what is it?

2. Found a cracked hose (7/16" OD) between the air-filter side of the throttle body and a 1-quart size can mounted underneath the battery, in the front left corner. Looks to be some sort of filter. Is this an auxiliary air filter?? Excised this bit of cracked hose.

1. Disconnected and reconnected several times the plug going into the Bosch component described above.

2. Throttle seems to work OK. WIth transmission in Park, the engine does respond to gas pedal, but does not like sudden changes, i.e. from idle a sudden and large press on the pedal will kill the engine. But, if pressed slowly, the engine will rev up to higher rpm and seems stable. Not sure it's related to this problem or not, but in exhamining the exhaust by placing a cardboard in the exhaust stream out of tailpipe, there are black sooty flecks evident. No strong smell of gas, however.

1. Haven't tried this yet...

2. Will attempt tonight.

Any more ideas/suggestions?? I was slightly optimistic after finding the cracked hose, but it didn't cure the symptoms..

I'd really like to know whether I correctly located air mass meter...

Also, what is the other electronic device, positioned about mid-way between air filter and throttle body, which has about 8 terminals in its plug? It's nearly triangular in shape (perhaps more trapezoidal) and is quite flat to the ~ 3" hose connecting air filter to throttle body.

thanks again! Alex

No it doesn't. According to the Bentley manual the 88's had the LH 2.2 system and that does not have it... too bad.

No- that's the air control valve that regulates the amount of air going into the engine at idle.

be careful when conneecting test meters t components. SOme of them are very sensitive and require a test meter with at least 10 MegOhms resistance through them or the part can be damaged, etc.

Sounds like the fuel evaporative cannister.

Couldn't hurt... unless you break it. ;-)

That's what mine was doing when the Air mass meter was ill. I got a lot of what looked like condensation out of the exhaust. The Air mass Meter is located in the large air intake hose between the air filter and the throttle body. it is large and black with a silver metal flat-sided areas with one electrical connector on it. You will know you found it when you disconnect it and start the car and it goes into "limp mode" which caises the car to run very rich and only do about

2500 RPM tops. Find a used one- it's a good bet that if it isn't bad now (and I think it is) you will need it eventually.

Yup... that's the one From a Pick 'n Pull yard about $25 On E-Bay about $50 Undependable rebuilt $190 Slightly more dependable rebuilt $280 New from Volvo $700+ I think.

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"

THanks for that bit. The Chilton manual that I have isn't very helpful in that regard. And when I located the Bosch Jetronic control, it didn't have any label to indicate 2.2 or II...

I pulled out the air mass meter last night. At least physically, it looks OK. The three filament wires are intact. If it's really non-functional, would I be able to bring the car (while in Park) from idle to very high rpm, albeit only with very slow pedal movement? (don't know what the rpm was, without tachometer :( ) If it is truly bad, and causes running very rich due to "limp mode", would this explain the sooty exhaust? If Very rich, I would expect to smell a lot of gasoline from the tailpipe., and see condensation, as you describe, not so much soot.

Reading other posts, I was also suspicious of the in-tank pump and filter & hoses, as well as fuel pump relay.

Fuel pump relay looks OK, no broken solder connections, as others have found (rats!).

I located the leads to the in-tank pump. There are 3 leads going ito the tank.

Brown: attached to chassis GND just before entering tank pump.

Grey: fuel tank gauge sender (confirmed by test with ignition key to Run posn, and connecting the wires one at a time to see which made the gauge move)

Black: + lead for fuel-tank pump -- must be, it's the only remaining choice

The black wire connects to a red-yellow wire. Sound right for the in-tank pump?

I measured open circuit between GND and Black. Should see something, if it's a DC motor on the other end! About 500 Ohm between GND and Grey.

12 V on the Black wire appears to do nothing -- no pump noise. Should I hear the tank pump? I removed tank cap, and opened the flap with a screwdriver, with ear close to it. Still no noise. Should have tried the ampmeter, will check tonight.

Thank you again for your helpful comments. Alex

I HIGHLY recommend the Bentley manual for anyone working on a 240. Choice number two is the Haynes. If you have a wobbly table, get the Chilton. Actually I have not seen the Chilton 240 manual, but if it is anything like the 960 manual it's only positive feature is that it is flammable and easily ignited.

They don't always fail totally, and when not working properly the car will still run but poorly. There is virtually no way to check it visually. Even if the wires are intact it means nothing. If they were not intact the car would be in limp mode. There are a couple of basic voltmeter tests but they are just abut useless because they can show that the AMM is good when it is not (BTDT got the shirt). This is a very sensitive and precise piece of equipment and if it is feeding the wrong signal to the computer the car will run poorly... downright crappy, really. For some documentation, look at these threads:

save me from running around still having problems with my 240 Still trying to get it running right AMM - more Q's

As you will see, I played with mine for about two weeks before I broke down, got a used AMM and tried it. The car immediately ran great. If you intend to keep the car for any length of time, pick up a used AMM on eBay or at the local Pick 'n Pull. Worst case, you can always sell it later on eBay.

Just disconnect it and start the car. You will know what limp mode is immediately. Low power, poor throttle response, exceedingly rich mixture, and no more than about 3500 RPM. As I have said, there is all kinds of bad with AMMs. A slightly incorrect signal (which cannot be detected any wa I know) will cause a poor running car. The symptoms can be wide-ranging and can even change from day to day. it will make you think that, at any given time, one or more of the things have problems:

-Idle air control valve

-vacuum leaks

-intake leaks

-throttle position switch failure

-clogged fuel injector

-low fuel pressure

-high fuel pressure

-stuck open cold-start injector etc., etc., etc., ... did I mention "etc."?

There are a lot of levels of rich, and if your car has a catalytic convertor there may not be as much gas smell as you might normally expect. With the computer controlled systems, if the car is a little rich the O2 sensor tells the computer and the computer tries to compensate. In the meantime the AMM is telling the computer that X amount of air is passing by when in actuality (X + Y) or maybe even (X

- Y) is passing by. So the computer, much like a married man, is trying to please the wife and Motherinlaw at the same time, and we all know that NEVER works if both are living! ;-)

The computer depends on accurate signals from a lot of places, and one of the most critical is the amount of air passing into the motor. That is what the AMM senses. When it is just a little off the computer has a really difficult time getting things to run correctly.

If you can get it up to about 3,000 rpm and hold it there, then the pumps should be OK. There are pressure and volume tests that can be done to verify this. You can also try removing and plugging the vac line to the pressure regulator at the end of the fuel rail (don't run it too long that way as it boosts pressure to the injectors at certain times beyond what they need).

I carry a spare, just in case...

Someone else more experienced and knowledgeable will have to comment on the specifics of this. Someone tell my wife that there _IS_ something I don't know. She would never believe it from me... ;-)

The pump would be difficult to hear with the motor running. When you turn the key on (from P-I to P-II) the pump should run for about two seconds or so, then shut off. If you can get the motor to run at about

2500-3500 RPM and stay there, then there is a good supply of fuel- whether it is sufficient or not takes a pressure gauge to test.

You need to get the Bentley manual! It has a number of tests that can be done with a good volt/ohm meter. it is a very useful book to have.

Air mass Meter... That's my vote, but read my previous posts and see what my car was doing to be sure.

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"

Chilton's manuals are worthless, at least for Volvos. Haynes is much better, Bentley is better yet.

I've never seen a failed AMM that had any visible problems, usually they just stop working correctly.

You never mentioned whether there is a pick and Pull in your area, nor what the # of the AMM is....?

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"

Bosch 0280 212 007

In the Bay Area of CA, not many salvage yards around... I guess the real-estate prices are too high. One place I called *might* have had one Volvo, guy was going to check, but never called back. I guess that means "no".

Your initial guess turned out to be absolutely correct. It was the air mass meter. I ended up buying one today from a reputable local store for $179, a Bosch remanufactured by A1 Carbone. Installing it in the car resulted in performance restored.

I saw online that AutopartsGiant.com has them from AC Delco for $123, but didn't know whether this online store is trustworthy. ANy experience with their parts?

Your earlier suggestion about carefully inspecting the large hose between filter & throttle body also proved prescient. I found several of the flex sections between the AMM and throttle body were worn through by contact with the mass of wires resting on them.

In retrospect, the failed AMM also explains another odd symptom I observed a month ago: sooty exhaust, and, when examining the spark plugs and seeing all 4 covered by a sooty black, I assumed the worst: burning oil. I was skeptical that all 4 cylinders should start burning oil simultaneously. Now it is clear that this was caused by the AMM's "limp mode" and extremely rich running!!

20/20 hindsight indeed.

BTW, the in-tank fuel pump was indeed bad. Attaching ammeter to it with car running showed zero current flow. Replaced it and I could hear it humm when listening in the trunk above the access port. Quite a challenging puzzle to extract the pump and fuel gauge sender through that tiny hole. For a while now, I haven't heard the tank de-pressurize when opening the cap to refuel. With the pump fixed, should I hear that again?

Next task: replacing the seveal belts I noticed developing cracks while searching underneath the car for cracked vacuum hoses...

Thank you again for your help. This site & knowledgeable contributors such as yourself are a great help to those of us without much experience in diagnosing car problems, but with willingness to try it.

Alex

The best online parts for Volvo is FCPGroton.com (no affilation). Reasonable and quick shipping.

Their price is higher on the AMM by about $50 I believe. Used ones can be had for $20-30 or so at the yards.

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"