Over the last few months, I've had 2 no start episodes - cranking but not catching. I finally figured out that a decrepit fuseable link was the culprit and replaced it with a new one from Auto Zone, spliced and soldered. Car's running fine, I park it in the driveway, come out 2 or 3 hours later and it won't start. Our driveway's on an incline and the gas gauge in on empty, so I roll it onto the street and try again: no dice. I add a couple gallons to the tank and continue trying in vain to get it going as it occasionally catches then dies - just enough to keep me trying with my remote starter switch, jiggling wires and hoses until the battery starts losing it. I decide to let the car sleep on it, come out the next morning and after a few tries it fires up and runs for about a minute until I give it a little throttle and it dies and will not catch at all thereafter. I decide to go camping for a couple of nights with my son rather than spend the weekend screwing around with the Volvo figuring I'll just get it towed on Monday. I come back from our trip this afternoon, and of course the old girl fires up and runs perfectly. FWI, It's got a brand new air filter and distributer cap, hoses are tight, air intake's tight, fuel filter is old and probably well overdue and the wiring harness is definitely on borrowed time.

Any and all thoughts are welcome.

Happy New Year Brickboard!

Next time it wont start try (with the key off) unplugging the Air Mass Meter and seeing if it will idle. Those 83-84 AMM (silver) are not reliable in my book. If it idles without the AMM plugged in then that is your problem.

My next idea would be a bad fuel pump if its sputters when it dies. If it just runs rough like its lost power on a cylinder then look for electrical issues. The main engine harness on the 84 will usually have issues first with the wire that charges the battery from the Alternator. Rerouting that wire with an IPD kit would be a worthwhile preventative measure if you don't have 6+ hours and $200 for a used harness.

I already tried the AMM test, having been down that rabbit hole a few years ago. When it dies, it's smooth, not sputtering although there has been a creeping sputter when accelerating from idle. I think the time is nigh to suck it up and do the wiring harness regardless.

If you decide to do the harness, make a list of stuff that is easier to do with the intake off. Taking off the intake is not required to do the job, but it does make life easier. Besides, those 30 year old intake gaskets own you nothing nor does the ECT, oil separator (clean if possible), etc. It adds almost no time to the job because the time you save for harness install by removing the intake is about equal to the time you spend on these little items. At least that is the experience I had on my 1982.

Good advice!

Honestly, if the OP has an '84 with an original harness, he kind of has to find the time and the $200. (more like $300 and 8 hours will the things that should be done at the same time).

That being said, start with the basics, which are you losing: spark or fuel. You have to start with spark because if you lose that, you lose fuel as well.

My guess is in-tank fuel pump but not enough troubleshooting information to be draw a conclusion.

My suggestion is to keep the tank full as possible in the future, to find out if this happens on a full tank. Good practice anyway. Then troubleshoot to find if the tank pump is working at all.

There was no "fusible link" in the original configuration, but someone could have added one in the past 30 years.

The fuel check valve suggestion is good if the long cranking happens on warm starts. You'd want to measure fuel pressure to be sure.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.

By "fuseable link", I'm referring to the 25 Amp fuse at the battery. A fallback in nomenclature to the old days driving Toyotas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIW3VgovsYM&feature=youtu.be

Worth checking?