A lot of what is being said in this thread could apply with a volvo. It starts with the car not driven at full operating temp, oil changes not often enough, a battery getting a little low. All these items creep up on the 5 cylinder. Then one morning the owner tries to start the car, and it wont start, it turns over but wont start. Now if it was tried once or twice and then given to an experienced Volvo Tech, he/she could more than likely get the car started, but thats not what usually happens. The customer keeps trying to start the car, pumping the gas pedal (washing the cylinder), running the battery down until its dead(here's the spark problem). Now a flooded out Volvo shows up at the dealer, with a dead battery, and the "Stuff" not allowing the valves to move in the valve guides still doing it's nasty thing. The repair will involve; charging and testing the battery (replacing if required), changing the oil, (synthetic would be good) changing the spark plugs, and while changing the plugs if you notice the cylinder is flooded, dry out the cylinder and put some oil in the spark plug hole. Turn the engine over by hand a few times to help line the cylinder wall again and then start the car, let it warm up and then drive it at 5500 RPM for at least 12 minutes to let the valves rotate and use some of the new oil to clean up the "stuff" on the valve stems and guides. I notice more cases of the above problem when the weather changes, here in Fairfax VA, I've seen 4 cars this month. All fixed by the above method, all low mileage (for the Model year) and all driven by little old ladys, (made that up).