I have a 1984 Volvo 240 wagon. Recently the car has developed stumbling and an erratic idle when warming up. If you put it in gear during this time it will stall. After 4 minutes or so when the engine is warm everything is normal with the idle, and the acceleration is fine.

Recently, I took the wagon to my local Volvo dealer who kept the car for one week. The problem was duplicated by one of the mechanics. However, they could find nothing amiss with the car and changed the spark plugs which they said were fouled. They told me to do some high speed traveling on the local highway as the auto was not being run enough. All well and good but the warm-up problem returned after two weeks.

I originally thought the automatic choke was sticking or perhaps the cold start injector had failed but the service manager said everything was fine. What I did not like was he said too bad there was no diagnostic computer onboard. Also they didn't have mechanics who were familiar with the "old" Volvos.

I hope there is someone out there who can point me in the right direction in solving this warm-up problem.

Thanks in advance.


jon