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Compression loss or injector wash down? 850 1995

posted by  Mark J. on  Wed Feb 13 16:30 CST 2002
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I recently got a great deal on a 140,000 mile 850. The problem is that since it has turned cold any kind or short trip (noving in and out of the drive way)
causes it to be hard to start. I pulled the fuel rail and checked for leaking
injectors. They were not leaking, but i could not (don't know how) to check
the spray pattern. Having said all that, the compression was as follows
cyl 1 170, cyl 2 80, cyl 3 80, cyl 4 75 cyl 5 170.
Is it possible the injectors are dumping fuel into the cylinders and washing
the oil out or is this wishful thinking.
I did put some oil in the cylinders and retest all cylinders were normal.
any help is appreciated.













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    Compression loss or injector wash down? 850 1995

    posted by  james_a_sousa on  Thu Feb 14 13:06 CST 2002
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    last visit: Thu Oct 23 18:51 CST 2014
    [RELATED]

    My '95 850 has suffered "Lawn mower syndrom" so did my '90 740 turbo a few years ago! The technician (I had the car towed to my dealer) told me that this was common, and he could tell what happened because the car turned over too fast. This happened when I moved the car four times to keep it out of the sun when I was giving it its first wax job. Normal repair for this (I tried to start it a lot) is new oil and filter and a new set of plugs. It's been 6 monthe since the incident and the car has performed flawlessly. It's fun to crank it up once and a while anyway.

    My theory is this - When you run the car for a very short period, the only thing that gets heated up is the valves which expand and stick in place when the car is shut off.

    Standing orders in my house - one of our cars is never started unless it is brought up to operating temperature.

    My technician advised me to drive the car like I stole it at least once every two weeks. One posting that I read about this issue stated that Volvo advises running the car at 6500 rpm or so for 5 minutes once and a while.

    The recommended solution if you think that this has happened - Put the gas pedal to the floor and crank the car forever and it may start. Do not take your foot off the gas or shut off the starter as these actions put more fuel into the engine. There are differences of opinion as to this treatment of the starter.
    --
    2 8s & 2 7s 600,000 miles total








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      'lawmower syndrom' vs what was originally reported 850 1995

      posted by  someone claiming to be Fred on  Fri Feb 15 00:47 CST 2002 [RELATED]

      The thing about the "lawmower syndrom" is that that is caused by the hydraulic lifter buckets sticking in "white engines" and thus the valves aren't closing. It's partly because of that problem that Volvo went back to solid lifters in '00. Adding oil to a cylinder wouldn't effect that during a compression test BUT adding oil to the cylinders with poor compression (called a "wet test") due to worn piston rings would effect compression. I have never seen or heard of the so called "lawmower syndrom" occuring on the older solid lifter "red engines".








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        'lawmower syndrom' vs what was originally reported 850 1995

        posted by  Erwin on  Fri Feb 15 06:50 CST 2002
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        last visit: Thu Oct 23 10:39 CST 2014
        [RELATED]

        This brings up the question about lifter seals. Are the lifters actually sticking in their bores or are they not pumping up consistently. Either way, the cam lobe and lifter face are taking a beating.

        In my 855t I have a lifter that is noisy one time then quiet next time I start and drive the car. If the engine had bearing caps on the camshafts rather than the upper casting holding them in place it would be easy to pop the cover and look for the sticking lifter. As it is, pulling the upper casting isn't a casual afternoon project. Really, rather than hydraulics I'd rather have shim-over-bucket like most DOHC motorcycle engines I used to work with.

        Really like my car though!

        Erwin in Memphis








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          lifter noise (not related to topic here but......) 850 1995

          posted by  someone claiming to be Fred on  Fri Feb 15 12:16 CST 2002 [RELATED]

          If your lifters are making noise, it's more likely a problem with o-rings in your oil pan/sump than the lifters themselves so don't try to R&R the upper cam cover. The o-rings shrink in time and cause lower than normal oil pressure so the cure is to R&R the oil pan and replace the pan and sump o-rings. I've heard of shops replacing cams and lifters to cure that, failing to solve the problem.







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    Compression loss or injector wash down? 850 1995

    posted by  someone claiming to be Ray Niblett on  Thu Feb 14 04:55 CST 2002 [RELATED]

    Try a search on the archives for "Lawn Mower Syndrome" and you
    will find lots of reports from 850 owners with this problem.
    (Named for pulling car out of the garage to get the lawn mower
    out anmd then car won't restart.)

    It has happened twice on our 855. The car flooded. Would crank
    very fast but not start. Now we never start it for less then
    60 seconds.

    Did you run the compression test after the car "dried out" or
    when you had the problem?








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    Compression loss or injector wash down? 850 1995

    posted by  someone claiming to be Earl on  Wed Feb 13 23:53 CST 2002 [RELATED]

    I'd say "wishfull thinking" as your tests indicate bad rings. My only suggestion is to try it again with a warm engine. I'd also think that it must not run very well with some cylinders being as low as you're saying they are?
    Before tearing the engine apart, the next step would be to have someone do a cylinder leakdown test on it as that'll prove cylinder percentage loss and determine where it's going.







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