I hate to post threads that have obviously been addressed in the past, but
here goes. jdr5q (Dec 21/07) has a similar problem, but just different enough to confuse me. This beastie will either hard start, or start, idle smoothly, then sputter and die after about 30 seconds. I had to discourage the owner from pumping the accelerator like a carbed car, but otherwise everything looks pretty clean and stock under the hood. Car has, believe it or don't, 97,000 miles and almost no rust! Trying to discourage a "rip it all out and install a Weber" approach!

I really suspect blocked fuel delivery, but the filter and the in-tank fuel sock were replaced recently (last year, car not driven much). I was going to rule out ignition problems first, like you're supposed to do, but any thoughts before I dive in would be appreciated. How about the trigger points on the distributor?
Fuel pump? Relays? Not in Kansas anymore! THX

Well, It's been raining and I haven't yet acted on the sage advice received.
Just wanted to add to the scenario by describing the recent "activity" on the car. It's a true "little old lady, driven only to church" kind of car, which can be a bad thing on an early F.I. Volvo. Oxidized connectors, varnished fuel, etc. However, it has been driving, and behaving for the last year, so (old) bad fuel shouldn't be a factor, although I have had crappy fuel from local gas stations, especially during the rainy season!

I will take a sample of fuel out of the bottom of the tank to see if there is water there. A year ago I took the whole top end apart, hot-tanked the plenum, the fuel rail, installed new gaskets AND phenolic spacers on the injectors. That was then, and it purred! Made me feel I like I was REAL mechanic.

This is now. One detail I should have mentioned is that when, with the engine idling, I jiggled throttle control (where the cable goes around the "half moon", up by the air intake, the car seemed to sputter and surge, then die. I'm thinking that shaft that goes through to the throttle valve switch has a bad seal, allowing an air bypass. Sound like an issue here? My limited experience with D-tronic F.I. tells me that often the situation is not one big issue, but a collection of relatively minor issues adding up to bad performance, or NO performance. I'd like to understand this system better because there's a '71 1800E I've had my eye on.

Remove the return fuel line and see if the input port into the tank is clogged or restricted.
I am now going over the entire fuel system of a newly acquired '73 144 and found the tank full of crud, pum inlet blocked, and the return line almost completely blocked. The PO said the car has same symptom/complaint as you have. This line is a relatively small line and gets blocked over time at the right angle bend inside the tank. A stiff wire might get it clear. I had to use 120 psi bicycle pump connected to a big tube filled with throttle body cleaner to get it cleaned out good.
Unfortunately when you get into the tank you probably won't like what you see. (voice of exeprience!)
--
'89 245 sportwagon, destroyed by hit & run driver, RIP. '04 V70 2.5 T Sportwagon, 12k mi and '91 245 5-speed, 209k mi, replaced the '89

Put a fuel pressure gauge on it and see if the stall coincides with
lost fuel pressure. Sounds like the pump is not running when the engine
starts.
BTW I do have some used parts here.
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!

Howdy revolvo,

...(last year, car not driven much).

Have you drained the year old fuel and replenished it with new?

--
Mr. Shannon DeWolfe -- (I've taken to using Mr. because my name tends to mislead folks on the WWW. I am a 51 year old fat man ;-) -- KD5QBL