[Beth]

Hi, Last summer I bought my daughter a 1990 240 dl. Took it to a Volvo specialist who checked it over, replaced a few minor things, said everything else was ok.
A few weeks ago, the car started to shake, skip and sputter when she slows down/is stopping/stops, and acts like it wants to cut off. The lights on the dash come on and she has to keep her foot on the brake and give it a little gas to keep the car from shutting off. When she does this the lights on the dash go out and the car stays on but still shakes somewhat. She says it doesn't do it when she's driving normal speed, (although maybe it does and she just doesn't notice it...?) It happens whether the engine is warm or cold and seems to be getting progressively worse.
The Volvo guy I took it to before is over an hour away so I'm considering taking it to a nearby (regular auto-non-Volvo) repair shop, any advice on that? Thanks so much for any information!

 

[Tech]

A couple of things to look at.1.Check for a vaccum leak using either brake cleaner or Carb cleaner.Spray around vaccum hoses with car running if the idle changes there is a leak there.2.The spark plug wires might be bad and need to be replaced. 3.The throttle body and idle motor might need to be cleaned.

 

[pyotr]

Hi my 240 had the same shaking and shutting down problem once a while. The engine seems to run well when proceeing at normal speed. My case was because of the carbon accumulation from the exhause recycle system. For every 10000km, I cleane the carbon inside the parts from where gas and air mixed to the throat of the the engine (the upper & lower parts of the black rubber cap on the right side of the engine case ).
Meanwhile, the light going out might be caused by the poor electric connections accompany with the shaking & sputter movement.

I didn't change thing before the cleansing jobs was done.
Hope you go well with the 240
William from Taiwan

 

[hardknocks1]

hi there, i suggest to look for someone that is farmiliar with volvos. this type of mech should be able to get to the problem quicker. the volvo is a little different than your american cars. special quirks. good luck

 

[shokelah]

I have a 1990 Volvo 240DL Wagon and my car did the same thing. It would shake, lose power and then stall. Had it checked over and found that the wire to the idle speed sensor was frayed and letting in moisture. Once the sensor was replaced the problem went away.

 

[phork]

I would advise against holding the break while using the gas when stopped at lights, ect... It would be a better idea to put it in park.

 

[I have a nut leftover]

Good tip Phork, revving an auto while your foot is on the brake is not a good thing to do. My grandad borrowed my 240 GLT a few years back, he did this and wrecked the servo.

Is your idle speed set correctly?

Stu.

 

[puhupski]

Greetings! Just bought a 240DL with exactly the same symptoms. Have you found a cause, and if so, have you tried any fixes?

 

[The Doctor]

when you buy a second hand car ALL is unknown SO you suspect the most obvious, ie it needs a service and tune up - like would you tune up a car you are about to sell????

I mean you can just adjust the idle up [that plastic screw] but that is simply covering up the fact that "something" has caused it to drop and that same something will be causing other problems like lousy fuel consumption etc

 

[88240DLTim]

I have been trying to track my 240 gas mileage through a spread sheet, because last year I had been having multiple problems with engine performance.
I don't know if any of the things that I did would solve your problem, but here goes.

I noticed a lot of soot behind the car in the snow (told you it was last year), and by someone elses suggestion, I unplugged fuel injectors one at a time to see response from engine RPM. If injector unplugged, and rpm doesn't change, possible fault. I had two fuel injectors clogge open. too rich, hence the soot.

Seemed okay on freeway, but would idle really rough at lights.

shortly after I replaced injectors, pressure reg gave out, and couldn't start the car. Didn't figure that one out myself. Had to pay the mechanic.

 

[twocreativeforge]

I had the same problem with an 84 240 I bought. It turned out to be a loose vacume line going to the distributor. The previous owner had put in a non vacume distributor and then tucked the loose line down under the front of the engine. It was pinched so it cut in and out depending on how it was laying. Nearly drove me nuts. I bet thats why I got a good deal on the car.

 

[240on280]

Tech's and hardknock's advice are sound. Both our 240's had similar problems due to vacuum leaks. As far as taking it to your local guy, I hate to sound jaded, but unless he knows about Volvos he is going to take longer to fix the problem(s) and you may end up paying more than you need to. He could start replaces things randomly, including parts that are perfectly O.K., and spend hours going round in circle on your dime when the real problem is a $5 vacuum hose that he doesn't know exists. Or worse if you have to pay somebody to undo his 'handywork'.

 

[Volvo-242GT]

I had the same problem with a 242 volvo, turned out to be the cam belt. The car shook, idled, stalled and then.....yep you guessed it wouldn't start. Fixed timing belt and it hasn't done it since ( 3 years ago??).

 

[OldSchoolEuro]

Also check the fuel pump relay. The relays get old and the solder joints in the relay breaks and causes those kind of problems. Like tech said also check the vaccum lines and clean out the throttle body and idle air control valve.

 

[I have a nut leftover]

Definatly sounds like a vacum pipe around the carb, had this problem myself.
Also, trace all of the vacum pipes to make sure they are all connected, (some of them you can't see, eg; hidden under inlet manufold).

Stu.