Hi all-

I bought a 1983 Volvo 240 GL last week for 350 dollars. She has 119,000 miles on the meter (just breaking it in, my best friend has a 240 with 350k). I saw the deal, test drove it, and fell in love. The car works fine except the for the idle. I figured for 350, what do you expect?

I'm wondering where I should begin with investigating what the problem is. The car sputters and clunks until it is fully warmed up. After its running and been running is when you can get any power. for the first ten minutes it accelerated slowly, you'll hear a sort of "PING" sound and than it'll take off. It's almost like driving with the e-brake engaged. However, even when its warmed up, it idles at 1,200 RPMs and will often fluctuate until I take it out of gear. I'll be performing a FULL tune up this weekend (valve job, new O2 sensor, air filter, fluids, rotor, spark plugs, wires, etc).

Thanks,
Jon Schuck
San Francisco CA