Volvo wagon burns up air mass meters. Why?
(I copied this from Car Talk site, but I have same questio..why?

I have a 1989 Volvo 240 wagon with 245,000 miles on it. What would cause the car to burn out air mass meters? I'm about to have it replaced for the third time. Each time they last about a year. The burn out is slow and intermittent. The first symptom is chugging and hesitation. It did this a couple of times a month ago. The check engine light came on ( and stayed on ). Yet the car ran fine until yesterday. Rough idling and running rich ( black smoke ) is the next symptom. Eventually the car will "drown itself " if I continue to run it and I'll get stranded. Not to mention the gas in the oil. It is going to my mechanic tomorrow for another mass meter. He suggests the computer is causing the burnout. But then he makes comments such as he doesn't know if replacing the computer will take care of the problem. So why should I spend the money to do it? I'm tired of hit or miss. And my mechanic is moody and temperamental. Somebody help! Please