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High CO on 1990 Volvo 240DL 200

I took my vehicle to a repair shop and it has 4x the max CO. He recommends taking it to a Volvo mechanic and bring it back when its running decent.

Replaced the following

O2 Sensor
FPR

Any ideas?








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    High CO on 1990 Volvo 240DL 200

    Look for vacuum leaks. Possibly replace intake manifold gasket. Replace coolant temp sensor (the one for the fuel injection, not the temp gauge.)

    Possibly a bad cat or a bad air mass meter, or maybe just adjustment of the air mass meter. The mixture can be set with a screw hidden under a plug on the top of the unit.

    Could even be a bad connection in the 6-pin connector to the AMM. Clean that up if there's any corrosion.

    Any Check Engine codes?
    Good luck!
    --
    Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: Roterande Flakt Och Drivremmar!








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      High CO on 1990 Volvo 240DL 200

      If you really want it fixed right you need to take it to a competent Volvo technician that is also a licensed smog technician. I do this stuff for a living and we can guess about this one until the cows come home and maybe even get lucky and fix it but if you want it done right you need to have it looked at by someone who 1) knows what they are doing and 2) has the proper tools to diagnose and verify repairs on your car, i.e. the smog machine.

      Probably not a vacuum leak. Typical vacuum leak results in a lean condition and a lean condition will have low to no CO. If it is so lean it goes into a lean miss you will usually have elevated levels of HC to go with moderately elevated levels of CO (not 4X the amount).

      Bad cat, not likely either. This will usually result in elevated numbers across the board, not in just one catagory and not 4X in one catagory.

      Bad MAF or ECT, now that is a definite possibility along with a faulty O2 sensor. However should it be a faulty MAF sensor this should be an LH2.4 system which means that there will be no mixture screw to turn on the MAF and in the same respect if it is posting codes that again means that it has self diagnostics and is an LH 2.4 system (no misture screw).

      You also want to consider the possibility of a faulty FPR (fuel pressure regulator). Elevated fuel pressure caused by a bad FPR will cause high CO for sure.

      In the state of California it is illegal for a regular technician no matter how good he is to do repairs on a vehicle in an attempt to make it pass smog unless he is duely certified by the state to do so and is employed by a smog test and repair facility. At first it sounds like a bunch of bullshit but honestly I have seen this in action and can agree with the state on it. When you have a technician doing repairs on a car and no way to really verify his repairs because he does not have a dyno and a five gas analyzer it becomes an expensive and time consuming game of ping pong with the customer stuck in the middle. When the customer decides to seek assistance from the state in the form of a waiver only money spent at a certified smog test and repair facility qualifies towards the minimum amount necessary to qualify for a cost waiver. It is at this point that the non licensed repair facility finds themselves with their tit in a wringer with the customer and the state Bureau of Automotive Repair.

      A customer can do all of the repairs to his own car that he wants but the problem is that you only know that you fixed it when you take the car back and have it put on the analyzer. This costs money everytime you do it and unless you fix it right the first time it gets old and expensive fast as well.

      I know this is probably way more information than you want or need but it is reality.

      Good luck with you CO problem and if you could, post all of your readings as it would help with the diagnosis.

      Mark








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        High CO on 1990 Volvo 240DL 200

        Here is the actual reading.. What can you make out of it? I have the paperwork (filled out and signed) ready to turn the vehicle to the state for 1K under California Consumer Assistance Program.

        RPM CO2 O2 HC (ppm) CO% NO (ppm)
        MEAS MEAS MAX GP MEAS MAX GP MEAS MAX GP MEAS
        15mph 1832 6.2 0.2 116 291 740 0.74 2.24 11.47 791 1992 156
        25mph 2917 6.3 0.0 91 241 652 0.62 2.12 11.42 730 1792 125

        thanks for your advice.








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          High CO on 1990 Volvo 240DL 200

          Well, how does the car run? Does it hit on all 4 cylinders or does it have a miss to it? It is running absolutely dead rich, look at your HC & CO, 740 PPM and damn near 11.5%!! I would look at the fuel pressure to start with and see if it is in the ball park(2.5-3.0 BAR) or if it is pegged due to a faulty pressure regulator. Take a look at the O2 sensor that poor bastard should be pegged and sending a solid rich signal, expect the voltage to be in the area of .750 mv and up. Now if it is pegged low it is sending a constant lean signal and the ECU is continuously trying to fatten it up. This would be a bad O2 sensor. If it was a lean miss condition you would expect to see more O2 content in the exhaust and yours is running no higher than .2, normal. YOu want to see the 02 as low as possible and the CO2 around 14.5-15% and the higher the better on CO2. Could also be a faulty MAF (mass air flow sensor) and truthfully the best way to diagnose one of those is to replace it with a known good unit.
          Catalytic converters do not like running at 11.5% and it tends to do them in so even after you get your rich running situation under control do not be suprised when you find out that the cat is done as well.


          Now you mention the vehicle retirement program, are you aware of the CAP (Consumer Assistance Program) as well? If you are the registered owner, the car is due up for a normal biennial inspection (no transfer of ownerships here), and you were test-only refered then you automatically qualify for the program and need to get the paper work from a smog test, test and repair, or test-only shop and send it in. All of the shops are required to have the paperwork on hand but some of them don't, if they don't then just go to the next one. Fill it out, disregard all of the low income eligible stuff as it does not apply to you IF YOU ARE TEST-ONLY REFERED! The state will send back the paper work you will need to proceed with in about 6 weeks or so, give or take. Now you go to your local Gold Shield Certified station and they will need the car for a couple of days typically and they will diagnose your car. The deal is that you will have to pick up the first $100.00 of repairs and the state will pick up the next $500.00. Anything above and beyond that is your baby, but what the hell it is a free $500.00 that they are willing to spend on your car. When the repairs are done and verified that same Gold Shield station is now authorized to issue your certificate and you do not have to ping pong back to a test only station for certification. You will have to fill out the paper work and wait and then deal with the Gold Sheild station but in my opinion it is a good way to go.

          Mark








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            High CO on 1990 Volvo 240DL 200

            I was approved for CAP and took my vehicle to Gold Shield Certified station and it was he who recommend to take the vehicle to a Volvo mechanic and bring it back when its running decent (lower the CO) and he can help with the rest.

            The car is now in the shop and the mechanic will run the 5 gas diagnostic. I will let you know what he comes up with. I am relunctant on junking the car because I spent 1.5k on the vehicle last year replacing the following:

            Timing Belt
            Tensioner
            Water Pump
            Rear Seal
            All other belts
            Brakes and Rotors
            Fuse Box and all fuses

            Unfortunately, no FI service was done








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              High CO on 1990 Volvo 240DL 200

              Just so I understand you, you are in the CAP program and the technician at the CAP station refered you to "somebody else" because he, the supposed "certified trained emissions specialist" cannot get the CO under control!?!?!?!? Holy cow I really do not know what to tell you on that one other than from what I see you have a complete idiot working on your car. Hell you might as well ask my mom what is wrong with your car, I'm willing to bet she could do a better job of it than that half wit. You are dealing with a Gold Sheild certified station where they have to guarantee their work. I can see the occassional carbureted car that they might not work on and that you sublet the carb out to have it rebuilt but what this dumbass is saying by default is "nope, we don't work on fuel injection here". So what has this half wit done to your car and how much of your CAP allowance has he burned up? This is not something that I am in the habit of doing but I would recommend a friendly call up North to Sacramento and ask them if they have someone they could recommend to work on your car in your area and let me tell you that will light a blazing fire under this guys ass. I do believe that there is a contact number on the CAP form. Sorry for the rant but you really hit a nerve. I have been a licensed smog tech for the better part of 20 years, I have not been employed in a smog shop in the last 7 years but do work very closely with a Gold Sheild station that is in my complex. They are the first guys to cry foul when a regular shop does emissions related work that they are not certified or licensed to do and now you have this jack ass that can't fix a rich running EFI car and he is trying to throw it out. What a jack ass, it is a shame you are not in Orange County or I'd fix it for you. Not that it is going to be easy or a walk in the park, because if it was this bone head might have fixed it already, but that is what we get paid the so called big bucks to do. Rant off!

              Mark








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            High CO on 1990 Volvo 240DL 200

            Re-read your original post and noticed that you said you have already hung an O2 sensor and the FPR in it. Too bad as the FPR is the most likely candidate for your problem. Whatever it is it is something that is just absolutely barreling raw fuel into the combustion chamber. I would be inclined to look into a shorted fuel injector or a faulty harness. It could be a bad ecu but I doubt it because it would be holding all of the injectors open too long and not just one but it is possible. The other thing you have to consider is that this thing is running dead rich and is still able to crank out 156 ppm NoX! That is feat in and of itself, but unfortunately it indicates you probably have more than one problem going on. With that much raw fuel being dumped in there the NoX should be absolutely non existant and apparently it is not. Whatever you do do not hang a cat on this car until it is fixed as you will burn up a good cat in pretty short order the way it is running.

            Mark








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            High CO on 1990 Volvo 240DL 200

            Wow!! I defer to Mark on the ins-and-outs of Calif emissions law! And I'm damn glad I don't live there.

            Connecticut has it's own special ridiculous system but what you just described, is so complicated I can imagine many car owners simply getting fed up with the entire thing.

            Either trade it in, junk it, or drive illegally seem to be the only options to that game.

            And hey, I fiddle with these things as a hobby, not for a living. My friends are all mechanics and I've been fortunate to be able to use a real shop from time to time. The board here is good for pointing people in a direction based on our collective experience, but it's no substitute for being hands on with a real car.

            I wish the guy luck with this one.
            Was the fuel pressure checked on this car? And is it possible the engine temp sensor is open-circuit? Those are two other items causing rich running.
            --
            Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: Roterande Flakt Och Drivremmar!







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