Ok, I was making a left hand turn out of my apartment into the suicide lane when a car was coming. I had plenty of time to get out of it's way, but when I hit the pedal to the floor my car sluggishly moved forward. There seems to be hardly any of the 100 and some change HP left in my wagon. I know these things are not known for power, but for safety sake I need a little more throttle response. I figured it may be the in tank pre-pump, but my fuel pump does not make any high whizzing noises. I replaced the fuel filter, spark plugs, oil filter and oil, air filters, and just about everything that wears. I even had the timing adjusted because it was slightly off. Could it be the in tank pre-pump or something else?

Thanks in advance,
Andy

86 240 wagon

I don't think it is the timing because I just had my local volvo specialists do that. I just had my brother turn the accessories on I did hear the pre-pump working. I don't think it would hurt to clean out the throttle body or pressure flush the injectors. As for the TPS I'll give that a look.

Thanks everyone,
Andy

I once had a similar sort of problem with my 87 245. Have you tried thoroughly cleaning the throttle body and intake manifold/ports? That made a significant difference on mine, but I still had a slight problem at heavy throttle. But, as you mentioned, I also had a dead in-tank pump. Despite what you may have heard, the car can run without that pump (mine did for some time). Although, you would probably hear significant noise from the main pump if the in-tank was not functioning, but then again, maybe not if this is a new problem. At any rate, I replaced both the in-tank and main pumps and that seemed to eliminate the problem completely.

One thing you can try to determine if the pump is working is to open the gas cap and listen carefully as a friend turns the key to the "on" position (not "start") and see if you can hear a slight noise from the pump for a few seconds. If not, that may be the problem. Make sure the wires going to that pump are intact and the contact is good. Check for voltage there to make sure the relay is working.

If none of that helps, try checking the timing (from the crank to cam). If that is off, even by one tooth, you will notice.
--
Charles
 83 245DL 250k
 87 245DL 405k

You mentioned you checked the Timing. Still could be off. Is this a new car to you? has it always been this Sluggish?

Timing: If your Crank and Intermediate (distributor) gears are lined up proper the timing will look good BUT if the Cam gear was off by one tooth, you will have one sluggish accelerating vehicle.

If this car was this way since you've owned it, I would look into the Timing Belt being off a notch. There is something in '700 FAQ' about how to line things up and confirm all gears are wher ethey should be.
--
'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwr and two motorcycles: it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me

It sounds like you're just talking about low power in general, not necessarily a throttle problem. It could be a lot of things - coil, plugs & plug wires, cap & rotor, throttle body dirty, injectors in need of a pressure flush, lots of things. I wouldn't suspect the intank pump unless you hear the main pump start to complain, or if you can't hear the intank pump working at all.

I would suspect your TPS, throttle position switch. if your in-tank pump was not working, your car would not run. See if you can adjust the TPS to click when it is supposed to, follow per bentley, or you may need to just get a new one if yours is shot.

My guess anyway.
chuck
--
'88 244 174K, '87 BMW 325e 177K (used to feed a '84 245, '84 244, '85 744)