My 1986 240 DL wagon was running great this morning. One of the last things on my tune up list was a new fuel filter. Anyway, I had a shadetree mechanic help since I was a little nervous about doing it myself. He pulled out the assembly with the filter and the pump and changed the filter. He then put it back and I tried to start the car. It cranked forever but no start. Occasionally it would sound like it wanted to start but only for a second. My "mechanic" says there is air in the line and decided to pour fuel directly into the engine by the idle speed adjuster. The car starts, revs up really high and then runs good for about 5-10 seconds then quits. Now "mechanic" thinks it is out of fuel (since it was low on fuel when he started) and puts about 1.5 gallons in the tank. He then pour more fuel directly in the engine, it starts, revs really high again and quits. This happens a few times. Finally, he thinks fuel pump isn't working so he runs a line to fuel pump from battery and we can hear it running but it still will crank but not start. Now, we pull 2 spark plugs which are completely fouled (from pouring fuel directly in). The plugs are black. By now I've had enough and tow the car home. My wife hates my Volvo because I always seem to be working on it or reading the Haynes manual. Anyway, she is furious because money is tight and is insiting that I sell the car if we have to pay a lot of money to get a mechanic to fix it, especially since it was running fine this morning. Anyway, I've got the weekend to sort this out or else it goes to the Volvo mechanic down the street and the higher the bill, the more my wife will insist on getting rid of the car.

Some possible problems:

Fuel Tank was on empty when we started the job. Not much fuel drained during the change, but their may not have been enough to fill the new filter.

My friend who sold me the car told me that he thought that the in tank fuel pump may have died and was never fixed when he owned it but he was told that the car was still o.k. to drive.

The wiring insulation is starting to crumble so disconnecting the wiring may have caused a short somewhere.

I'll change the spark plugs but then what should I do? I've read the posts about 700 series owners that had similar problems but I'm not sure how similar the cars are.

I can check the wiring but since I didn't unhook or reconnect the wires, I don't know if they are correct.

Please help. Sorry, but I'm a novice so I may need simple instructions. I do have a 12V light tester and an multimeter. Thanks in advance.