Hello,
Looking for fuel system info. Here's what I know:

1. Will not start
2. Fuel Pump working
3. New Fuel Pump Relay
4. Confirmed fuel pressurising line at firewall(opened fitting and forcefully squirted fuel out of loose fitting)
5. No pressure at schrader valve on fuel rail

Thanks for any suggestions.

Tony
1995 960 Wagon
150,000 miles

Why don't you try looking at the pressure on the fuel rail (output) side of the Fuel Pressure Regulator.

Given that you say you have no pressure at the Schraeder valve on the fuel rail (which I have never personally used), you can easily crack loose the fitting on the FPR that connects the hose to the fuel rail and see if there is pressure there.

I suppose it may be possible that the FPR (Fuel Pressure Regulator) is firmly frozen in the fuel return mode. I think this would be very odd, but would result in no available fuel at the fuel rail/injectors.

can you get to that without removing the rail?

Absolutely.

The Fuel Pressure Regulator is mounted to a bracket near the oil dipstick tube on the back end of the intake manifold. It is basically cylindrical and mounts to this bracket with a single somewhat large nut. It also has a vacuum line mounted to a little tubelike fitting on one end with a rubber elbow.

Anyway, it has two fuel hoses mounted to it. The one on the back side is fixed on with a screw band type hose clamp. That one is comming from the fuel tank & pump. The other one one going to the fuel rail has a nut/flare type fitting on the hose. Crack that nut loose and see if there is pressure on that side. It should want to spray out a mist when it is cracked loose.

That side (the fuel rail side) should have pressure (~43 psi).

Another test to see if you have fuel in the cylinders is to get a scent of the exhaust when someone is trying to start the car. Without firing in the cylinders, it should smell pretty gassy.

But cracking that nut on the fuel rail hose is pretty easy to do. You won't even have to get dirty. Just don't get rough in over-torquing it when you fasten it back down.

I was wrong in my description of the hoses and there function on the FPR.

The fuel line coming from the fuel pump is going directly to the fuel rail on a different hose. The flare fitting hose on the FPR is coming directly from the fuel rail, so it WILL show you if you have pressure in the fuel rail.

The hose clamped hose on the FPR is the fuel return hose going back to the fuel tank. The FPR varies the flow back to the tank (fuel return line) in order to maintain ~43.5 psi pressure in the fuel rail.

Excellent discription, thanks. Apparently my pump is intermittant. I now have no pressure at the firewall supply. Are you aware of a pump exhibiting this type of intermittant failure?

I forgot to mention that I used Tasca Volvo for the second round (www.tascavolvoparts.com). It was $300 from them instead of about $500 in Sacramento.

Get yourself a new seal for the tank unit as well, it's cheap. Most of the cost is the pump. Call them and ask about the pricing. Volvo used to allow you to buy just the pump or the sender unit and they were priced separately. Now, they will only sell them both together.

The only other 'special' tool you'll need is a stubby 1/4" hex drive Torx bit and a little flat ratcheting type 1/4" wrench to drive the bit. You can find a set of the 1/4" hex drive Torx bits easily, and a place like Sears will have the flat ratcheting box end wrench or some variation. It's a handy item to have for these 'tight-clearance' cases. In this case, you need it to undo one of the hose clamps.

One other small pain I remember is that another hose has a spring type hose clamp with the two little ears you pinch with pliers to get it opened. Well, that thing being down in the access hole needs a long pair of needle-nose pliers. I don't know how I did it the first time, but I do remember some amount of swearing in the process. The second time I took along a pair of long surgical clamps which can be bought quite cheaply for the Pakistani imports. A pair about 10" long made dealing with that little spring clamp easy. I got the surgical clamps from Atlantic Medical Supply which is on the web. I got three pairs up to about 12" long for $30 or thereabouts and shipping was pretty cheap.

In their terminology, they're called "Rochester Pean Hemostatic Forceps (straight)".

I have indeed observed this behavior. I got stuck on a trip to visit may grandmother recently in my 95 964 with this.

Since yours 960 is a '95 or newer, then you've got only one pump and it's in the tank with the sender unit.

For the '94's and older, there's a "pre-pump" in the tank and a high pressure pump on the underside of the car right next to the fuel filter approximately under the drivers seat in location.

Since you've got the change the in-tank pump unit, it is highly recommended (required by Volvo) that you replace the sender unit that "sends" the in tank fuel level signal. The reason is, I think, because there were some problems with breakage on some of the plastic hose fittings in the top of the unit that sticks out of the tank. Anyway, the 'super-deal' pricing of the parts you need is approximately $300.

I did this job twice. The first time was when I got stuck near Sacramento, CA. I was close to my uncle's house where I was going, so I was lucky in that I got him to come and meet me and we went back into Sacramento to the Volvo dealer that had the pump in stock. I was also lucky in that I was able to rent the special tool for the big plastic ring that threads onto the tank and holds the whole thing in the tank. I was able to rent this tool from a very qualified Volvo shop near the dealer and they even told me about it when I jokingly asked to borrow it from them.

Well, once I changed the one on mine, and also saw how I got stuck with essentially no warning, I told my sister who has a '95 965 that we should change hers as well. So we took another trip to go see grandma a few weeks later, stopping in Sacramento to get the special tool, and doing the swap at my uncle's house.

The wagon's a little easier than the sedan. Access to the unit is thru a removable panel in the trunk/back area of the car on the driver's side. For the sedan, you take out the plastic covers in the main area of the trunk and then you'll see the access panel. For the wagon, you take out the covered panels in the back as well as the spring-loaded one right behind the rear seat (3 screws seen on the underside when you pull it upwards).

You also take out the spare tire, etc.

You spend a while crouched in the trunk of the sedan, but in the wagon you've got a bit more room.

The job is not bad, but I would recommend trying get the special tool (5448 I think). There's not much room thru that panel or access hole, and the ring and the tank are made of a kind of glass-filled nylon or something like that. There's no room for big channel-lock pliers or anything like that. Most of the job is dealing with that ring and a few zip ties that hold the wires down in a few places.

Once you get the pump replaced, if you slice open the case of the old pump so that you can take it apart, you'll see why it failed. It's a very interesting design.

I would swap relays with the fuel pump relay. There are several in the relay box that are the same relays. Usually an intermittent pump is caused by an intermittent relay.

DEWFPO
--
1998 S90 077,400 and 1995 964 154,100

I changed tact to electrical diagnostics and verified power to the harness at the pump.

Then I powered the pump directly with 12 power supply with no activity. Pump is no longer intermittant. It is dead.

I believe I need a new pump unless you think I have missed something.

Thanks for the help

If your putting 12 volts directly to the pump under the access hole in the trunk and it's not coming on, and assuming the ground wire is good, it's probably a dead pump.

DEWFPO
--
1998 S90 077,400 and 1995 964 154,100

Thanks all.

I've been enjoying the Passat Turbo with the stick, so I haven't been motivated to work on the 960. I will be ordering parts and knocking it out next week. I'll report when complete.

Tony
1995 965 w/150K

Have you confirmed you have spark?

Pressing on the schraeder valve on the end of the fuel rail with the key in the on position (and you can hear the pump running) produces no fuel at all out of the rail, but you have fuel to the firewall?

DEWFPO
--
1998 S90 077,400 and 1995 964 154,100

Yes I have spark.
Have very good fuel pressure at the firewall. With fitting loose it sprays 3ft.

Used a pressure guage on the fuel rail schrader while turning over engine with no results.

you may have a clogged sock on the pump i the tank