Wife was driving it a few weeks ago when it started chugging and finally stopped. She was not able to restart it, so she called Triple A and got it towed. When it arrived at the service station they tried starting it and it fired right off? No problem with it after this time. It had just been re-fueled so it was not out of gas. Any ideas? Is this a somewhat common problem? Thanks!

I had this problem a few weeks ago. Car would stall first thing in the morning, when the car was cold. Very difficult to restart the car and keep it running.

I replaced the Fuel Pump Check Valve which is on 1985-1993 Volvo 240's and the problem when away. $15.75 from FCP. It is about a 20-30 minute job to replace this part.

Good luck, John.
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If it needs to be maintained, repaired or replaced on a 1990 240, I've probably done it. '90 240DL, 292K looking forward to 300K badge (or sticker??). >>You haven't really worked on a car until you draw blood<< :-}

Haven't heard of many vapor lock issues on a 93 - but where there's fuel, there's always a chance for it. My experience with Vapor lock usually comes from a car not restarting after it has stopped - not in causing a car to die. How far had it been driven before it started "chugging".

Might help if you could be a bit more descriptive in how it stopped (it could be that it was too rich - or too lean.) Did it smell flooded, did the engine sputter or "jerk/buck" etc...

You mention it was a few weeks ago - any symptoms since or is it running fine since them.


Any more details that you think might help?
Thanks
Charles

I have never heard of a late model EFI 240 vapor locking. My guess is that the fuel pump relay is failing.

jorrell
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92 245 299.3K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!

I think it used to be more common than it is now. The way the check valve fails is the spring rusts in two. The trend toward 10% alcohol in the fuel has reduced the incidence of rusty fuel components.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

"If people don't want to come out to the ball park, nobody's gonna stop 'em."

Art,

Good point, I had forgotten about that lousy valve, but would the valve failure cause a car to stall while in operation? Sure, our 65 T-Bird on a 100 degree day hit the vapors after leaving a traffic light. It was dead for hours until it cooled off and the vapor lock was pre-fuel pump on the side of the engine. I cured that problem with a rather large heat sink on the pre-pump metal fuel line.

I'm not doubting you, but in moderate temperature environments, how could a pre-pump vapor lock occur when the pumps are at the back of the car/in the tank? Or is this a fuel rail post-pump vapor lock due to low rail pressure?

If you haven't noticed, I'm trying to pick your brain!

jorrell
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92 245 299.3K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!

Yours is a good point. As it turns out, my comment has nothing to do with the OP's trouble as described, and I lost that context when I made the remark about how I used to find the springs rusted in two pieces, inside the main pump's check valve.

Not lately. And I figure that's due to the newer fuel.

But the vapor lock a fuel-injected Volvo would encounter is not what we used to know as vapor lock in very low-pressure schemes to keep float bowls full. The fuel injection version happens when you shut the car's pumps off (like at the filling station) and the engine heat boils the fuel in the rail and sends its vapor back to the tank, when that check valve is not checking and maintaining residual pressure to prevent the boiling. Then, when the filling is done, the bill paid, and the passengers returned from their pit stops, there's nothing but vapor in the main pump.

The pre-pump never gets vapor locked because it is immersed, and has to be, because it is a centrifugal pump. The main pump is positive displacement, and can suck without liquid, but with variable performance as temperature and aging occur. If the rail is still boiling, any ability to suck is overwhelmed by the vapor pressure.

I think the only symptom that points to the check valve is delayed warm starts.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

"When you come to the fork in the road, take it."

What about the CPS? The random stall and no start sounds like a failing CPS wire. If there is no ignition signal the fuel pumps shut down, so it can seem like a fuel problem. My 89 had symptoms like this and all you had to do to get it going was giggle the CPS wire.

Jessie,

The CPS is a good idea but its failure would have set the Check Engine Light. The original poster didn't mention that but it could be an unintentional omission.

jorrell
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92 245 299.3K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!

Got some more information from my wife. She was driving quite a bit that day, and had stopped for gas before resuming her travels. The tecs at the station mentioned that there were no check engine lights. The car stopped while she was driving it over a bridge, and re-started once, but quickly died again (same bridge). It was somewhat warm that day, but not above 80. She has driven it quite a bit since then without incident (other than a c-clip falling off the auto transmission connecting link) :(

An intermittent CPS (the most common failure mode) will give that behavior and not set the CEL. The code 214 is set on OBD test position 6, or at least it was when I last had to replace one on the road. I also recall doing a simple experiment, disconnecting the CPS while the car was idling -- just long enough for it to falter and start again without cranking. The code was indeed registered. But I've heard stories to the contrary here, as in " no code ever got set, but replacing the CPS fixed my spark."

Other things leading to that symptom in a 93 are the main engine management fuse (#6 if you have an early build 93, or at the battery terminal on the later ones) has a burned or corroded connection, and, the most often cited fuel injection relay failure, when solder cracks develop on its circuit board. The relay is often carried as a spare in the glove box, according to many brick folks.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

New York mayor Lindsay's wife, on a hot day: "You look nice and cool, Yogi." Yogi: "You don't look so hot yourself."

Nice guys! Now I have at least two things to take a look at. We will see what there is to find.

From my experience you don't necessarily get a check engine light. I think the system uses the cps signal to determine if the engnine is turning. If there is no CPS the system just thinks the engine is stopped so it shuts down the fuel pumps.