Hi all!

I own a Volvo 240DL SW, 1981. In the last couple of months I have

experienced hard start after the car has been sitting for a while

(a few hours/one day). This problem has been intermittent. Fuel

pump wouldn't start, until, after cranking the engine several times,

the reassuring buzz of the fuel pump is finally heard, and the car

starts. If I turn the engine off and restart the car, everything is

fine. With this forum's help, I think I managed to track down the

problem. Fuel pump relay (of course). Voltage is present (12.6 V)

between the terminals 30 and 87a, but the relay wouldn't always

click. Yesterday, the car wouldn't start again. I opened the relay

and found a suspect soldering point at one of the coil's terminals (resistance higher than normal and unstable). I fixed it, and the

car started right away. This likely won't be the end of this story,

for the relay gets very hot after a few minutes driving (even before

I fixed the soldering point).

Besides this, and likely not unrelated, a few days ago I started

the car and the fuel pump was making an orrible noise, like of

damaged bearings. I was a two-minute drive from a Volvo repair

shop, so I could ask a quick opinion about that noise. The on-spot diagnosis was that either I had a bad main fuel pump ($350) or the

in-tank pump was gone ($330). I fixed an appointment for tomorrow.

The day after, however, the noise level of the fuel pump was back

to normal.

This morning I tried removing the fuse for the in-tank pump. The

main pump started making the noise of worn bearings again. Put the

fuse back, and the noise disappeared. Tried several times. No fuse,

big noise; with fuse, normal noise. I concluded that my in-tank

pump is working, and that probably the fuse had momentarily failed

the other day. I replaced the fuse with a new one, just in case.

A couple of hours ago I drove the car for a few minutes. It is

rather warm outside (96 F). The relay became unbearably hot, and

at some point, the buzz of the fuel pump became louder. No noise

of worn bearings, just the usual buzz, only much louder. I tried

to restart the car right now, and the noise is back to normal.

I intend to replace the fuel filter, so tomorrow I'll bring the

car to the shop anyway. But I'm trying to think of something in

the fuel system that might be sensible to the outside temperature.

Any idea?

I thank you all for any suggestion/comment on any of the above.

And please forgive me for the very long message!

Roberto