I have a 240 DL sedan. In the beginning of 2003 an intermittant problem began that causes the car to sometimes die or loose power. This is in conjunction with codes being sent up... specifically codes 232 & 113. I have had two wax t/stats replaced, have tried different computers, have had a new air mass meter and O2 sensor replaced, replaced the ignition amplifier, as well as, the ignition switch. Just this week my mechanic thought that we might try using another air mass meter (again). The car had the ignition switch replaced in December and has run perfectly up until March 23 when it began to cut out again. Does anyone have any ideas??? Many people are stumped by this problem. One mechanic told me to sell this car... but I really love this car! And I would love it even more without this problem.
KC

Has anyone considered the catalytic converter? Wouldn't this cause a loss of power?

When it dies/loses power, is this:

a) during "steady-state"; ie. cruising down the highway with the accelerator held steady

or

b) after having moved the accelerator pedal; specifically, going into or coming off of idle. Note that this doesn't have to just be accelerating from a stop; if you're accelerating and then release the pedal to coast, you're effectively going into idle, or if you're coasting at 50 mph and then punch it, you're coming off idle.

Anyway, if you problem relates to going into or coming off of idle, your problem may be your throttle position switch or idle air control motor. In my case, cleaning the IAC fixed hesitations that happened when accelerating from a stop, and when "punching" it when coasting on the highway.


--
David Armstrong - '86 240(350k km?), '93 940T(270k km), '89 240(parts source for others) near Toronto

I believe that it dies and or loses power during a "steady-state" but that does not always seem the case. It has died or lost power after pulling pulling out onto the street. In most instances, I will pull up to a stop sign/light and I will feel that the idle gets bad and I know the car is going to die (leaving me blocking the street) or take me a few moments to get the car moving. I often "feather" (new term I just learned) the gas when I feel that I am loosing power. After moments of this behavior I can almost always expect that while driving down the road, if I begin to coast, the problem will occur while I am moving. However, feather seems to work (although I am not positivley sure). When I feel the loss of power if I mash down on the acclerator absolutely nothing will happen, but the feather will get me moving in a "jerky" sort of fashion.

I will follow the advice of c_j_mooney (Chris) about getting a spare fuel pump relay because I do not have an extra. Thank You!

KC

By all means, pursue the other suggestions such as the relay one, but symptoms relating to the relay are more likely to be arbitrary - ie. happen at any time, not relating to specific events.

Your examples above: "pulling out onto the street", "pull up to a stop sign", "begin to coast" all relate to going in or out of idle, and could definitely involve IAC or TPS issues. Here's a post I did on this which might be helpful: throttle body cleaning, TPS checking, IAC cleaning

--
David Armstrong - '86 240(350k km?), '93 940T(270k km), '89 240(parts source for others) near Toronto

Thank You so much for your help... I forgot to include that with the previous post.
I will most assuredly take your advice with me to my Volvo shop.
Thank you again,
KC

Dear KC,

Also, if the shop hasn't yet, check the two ground wires attached to the bolts mounting the fuel rail to the intake manifold. If I stretch my imagination, I might say there was a service bulletin tieing corrosion at the ring terminals and their crimps to 113 codes. But this last bit could be false memory. The one thicker wire carries most of the current return for the fuel injection system, while the other is a low-current reference ground for the sensors.

However a shop versed in early 90's volvos probably did this early on.

Best-
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Has your mechanic tried replacing (or resoldering) the fuel pump relay and the radio suppression relay (the one that feeds positive current to the injectors)? Either one of these can cause intermittant driveability problems & stalling that would seem at first glance to be ECU or AMM problems. The loss of power suggests radio suppression relay; I believe it can be swapped with the cooling fan relay. And the fuel pump relay is something you ought to have in your glovebox anyhow as they have a habit of failing at the least opportune moments, generally on a weekend & far from any auto part store that carries it... Try those, but first start with making sure the grounds on the intake manifold (beneath the fuel rail bolts & to the chassis from the valve cover nuts) are clean & secure, as they supply the ground signal to the AMM & the coolant temp sensor. A bad ground to the AMM will definitely cause these issues, and it's not uncommon for those little ring terminals to accumulate enough oxidization to not make good contact. I use serrated lock washers between the manifold & the terminals - seems to help. We're talking a component where tenths of a volt make a big difference to the computer's perception of what's happening.
-Chris

This year doesn't have the radio supression relay. The RPM sensor is most likely the problem. Check that first. Cheap too.

This year doesn't have the radio supression relay.

I don't think any year 240 had the RSR. I never heard of it till I got into 700/900 a little.
--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

True - I should have said model.

My mistake - my experience with LH2.4 is limited to 700s (in fact to one troublesome 780). Well, if I didn't learn something new every time I visited this site it'd get dull in a hurry, wouldn't it? I'd still say at least one bit of my advice is sound: it's a good idea to keep a spare FPR in the glovebox...
-Chris
--
Chris, Dartmouth NS Canada 70 M-B 280SE, 83 245DL, 84 244 turbo, 90 780 turbo, 92 VW Golf