Two weeks ago my 1991 240 with 102K died. No prior symptoms. Fired but no start. Tank full, battery ok, checked and replaced #6 fuse. Towed to shop. Mechanic kept overnight; replaced Fuel Pump Relay and Battery Cable End, and cleaned Posts. Car died again after driving 5 miles and parking for 15 minutes. Towed back to shop. Car in shop another 24 hours. Final diagnosis/fix(per invoice):
"Won't run...Ck out...Scan and scope and fuel pressure test. Check coil. Pulse test to injectors and Clean Connector to Crank Sensor. Test. Start. Unable to make it fail again. Take out new fuel pump relay and reinstall original; deduct from bill."
Before paying, mechanic said "We spent over 8 hours on this but we're only charging you for 3" (Both time quotes struck me as odd.) Total outlay for diagnosis, battery cable end, cleaned posts and cleaned connector to crank sensor was $250... and 2-days without a car.
Car has since been starting, but intermittently feels like it's going to fail.
(BTW, Fuel Pump Relay is original (1991), EMU replaced 1994, new Battery 2001 and 24K ago).
My male friends say this shouldn't have taken 2 days and $250 to fix, if indeed it is. I've read through the pertinent posts on this forum and have 2 questions: Was this a fair price and timeframe for the fix? Is this "fixed" or still in need of further diagnosis? Am new to Dallas market and this shop (recommended by another Volvo owner). Appreciate your recommendations.

Mark, Dan, Dylan, Jim & Robert --- Thank you all for your considered advice, and so quickly, too. Forgive my delay in replying. Was on my way to Mike's shop in So.Cal - by his invitation - and my car broke down, just as he predicted. Makes your heart leap, doesn't it? The good news is I'm joking. :) Here's what's really going on.

Still running (no erratic idle, no noises) but I believe it's on borrowed time. A normal startup for my car is key in, crank, and turn over without even having to touch the gas. It still does this, but the picture changes as the day progresses. After I've stopped and started a few times within a few hours I really need to lean into the acclerator to get it going, which it does, but always after first giving me a character-building moment. For my car this isn't normal.

All of you have suggested the CPS, so I'm going to have it checked again and likely replaced. I spoke with the shop Mike recommended and will be seeing them tomorrow for a bumper-to-bumper check. And Mike, thanks also for telling how you diagnosed, fixed and priced a similar repair. (on your suggestion I'm ordering a fuel pump relay which I believe I can replace myself ... right? no tricks involved?)

Thank you all for how freely and graciously you gave your help to me. (yes, Dan, I'm a swimmer; one who could truly swim for hours) *Alana

Was this a fair price and timeframe for the fix?
Well the time frame was not too bad and you really have to consider it as two repair attempts as they did not fix anything on the first go around. They proclaimed it as fixed closed out the invoice and sent you on your way only to be towed back, strike one.

Let me ask you this, how much did you sign for on the invoice. Let me guess, you signed for $250.00 on the original invoice and that was supposed to be the fuel system relay diagnose and replace right?


Is this "fixed" or still in need of further diagnosis?
I would say NO it is not fixed and yes you will find yourself stranded again. Any Volvo shop worth their salt would've sold you that fuel system relay based on time alone. Albeit they need to be honest with you upfront and let you know that it may or may not fix your car but that these things do routinely fail when they get old and if yours does indeed have 14 years on it you had better do one of two things, replace it or put a new one in the glovebox because you will need it. They should have spelled out the facts for you and let you make up your mind as to whether or not you want a new relay or not. The engine speed sensor is probably the culprit and should've been replaced not just clean the connections.


Am new to Dallas market and this shop (recommended by another Volvo owner). Appreciate your recommendations.
There are a couple of large Volvo parts dealers that all of us shop owners deal with, I will put in a call when I go to work tommorrow and see if they have someone in the Dallas area, I know they will. I met a real nice bunch of guys in the Austin area at the last seminar that this parts vendor held. I have no doubt that they can hook you up with someone that is both compentent and ethical as well. Too bad you are not in So. Cal as I could take care of you. If you start driving now I guarantee that by the time you get to my shop you will need servicing :)

Good luck
Mark

Here is the shop that was recommended to me:
South West Auto
972-488-2721

Just to give you an idea, I had one of my hit and miss kind of customers get his car towed in to my shop this morning and his story was similar to yours. He had no spark,no fuel pumps, and the injectors were not working. I disconnected and reconnected the connector for the same engine speed sensor and guess what? The car started and ran great. No, I did not tell him all was well and send him down the road. I charged him 1 hour to diagnose, 1/2 hour to install a new one and about 70.00 for the sensor. That comes to about $180.00 for a new factory Volvo engine speed sensor installed and it took about 1.5 hours tops.

Mark

I vote with Jim and Dan, crank sensor. A more difficult question is how can those shop guys make a living at auto mechanics and not consider the CPS or the 6 other simple causes of a 240 no start? OK, they tried two of the right things.

It could be a number of things, and I'll throw out a few that come to mind.

I'm not sure what an EMU is I'm afraid.

When you say it feels like it's going to fail, do you mean the idle starts to get erratic? Does the car feel like it's just "chugging" along?

Does the fuel pump make noise? Listen by the gas cap while the car is running. You don't want it to be making a really loud "wrrrrrr" like noise.

The car might need a simple tune up.

Outside of that, you might have the oxygen sensor checked. That would explain the goofy idle.

Check the connections to the Air Mass Meter (AMM). Someone else can give you more details about the AMM. (I would but I haven't had to deal with them much since most of my cars are old enough to not have one.)

If the car is running, I'd venture a guess that your fuel pump is okay.

I've only had a couple fail on me over the years. One car had almost 300k miles when it died (no idea if it was original or not,) and my wagon recently had it's 3rd or 4th fuel pump at 430K miles or so. (It lasted for a good 150K miles or so.)

When the fuel pumps died, no amount of cranking could get the cars to fire, not even for a second.

More will be along to post. We will get you through this. One thing I've learned over the years is that the brickboard is never wrong.

Good luck.
--
If you listen to the radio in Portland, OR, you may know me as 'Portland's Favorite Soul Brother!'

I don't know about the repair prices but the intermittant condition could be due to the Crank Position Sensor. These often seem to give trouble at about 100K miles which is probably where your's is at unless it has been changed.

The sensor on my '940 gave intermittant stalling and no-start problems. I finally decided to replace the sensor just as a maintenance item (they're not expensive). When I got the old one out, I could see the problem. The outer insulation on the sensor cable had split and the insulation on the three inner wires had crumbled. These wire were very close together and would sometimes short out. After replacing the sensor, I've never had a stalling or no-start problem.

This sounds like the crank position sensor, if it has a yellow band on the cord near the connector it is original and known to fail. This happened to my 92 240 just after I got it, it was intermitent for a few days them it quit totally. When I took the sensor out the cord at the sensor was all deteriorated.

You can read the codes on the OBD (On Board Diagnostic just behind the front drivers side wheel well) one of them is for the crank sensor. Description of how to retrieve codes can be found at:

http://www.brickboard.com/FAQ/700-900/EngineOBDCodes.htm#LH24FuelInjectionFault

You should try to find another independent Volvo mechanic that is familiar with the 240. This is fairly common to these cars and someone familiar with Volvo's would know this. I am not sure what is fair for diagnostics time but there are several professionals on the board that can answer that. Maybe even one near Dallas.

Are you a swimmer? My daughter is a diver. Dan