Hello All,

I need a bit of help here as my old Volvo recently started running rough and dying on me.

Here is how it goes--at start she'll run with an uneven idle, once a bit warm she may run fine and smooth or she might just sputter, kick and die. She's died a few times here in the past week or so but so far she's worked well enough to get me home. When she does die she may start backup then die again on takeoff. I don't really enjoy rolling the dice on every trip i take so currently I've got her parked.

I'm wondering does this sound like a fuel pump issue to you guys? I had a fuel pump go out once before in a later model car that i owned but that car just quit--no sputtering or kicking, just one day would not start--so I don't know.

Any help/suggestions would be much appreciated.
Mike

X2 what Phil said. If the points look OK, I would swap the coil first.

--
Three 164's, Two 144's, One 142 & a partridge in a pear tree.

Easy enough to check the fuel pump; look for a steady stream, even at low engine speeds. Also check your oil level. If you've got a ruptured diaphragm you may be adding fuel to your pan. But before you go through all that goat rope, check your connections on your ignition for clean and tight. Take a look at your points and see if they look like the surface of the moon, and check inside your distributor cap for carbon tracking and pitting. How old are your high tension wires? I'll go with Phil's guess on ignition first, and then fuel delivery. On some of the older style pumps there is a built in screen that may be full of crud as well.

Thanks guys for your responses--I'll start with the ignition and update you all on my findings. Also I swapped out the fuel filter last week so mark that off the list.

...Mike

Clogged fuel filter... would be my first looksee.

--
-Matt I ♥ my ♂

Doesn't sound like fuel pump problems to me. More likely intermittent/weak ignition.

Looks like you ignition guys were right. I replaced the points and repaired a wire from the ignition switch to the coil, which had a worn spot with copper exposed. Since the fixes she's been running fine...

Thanks,
Mike