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I was asked to check out this thread and offer my input, and as it turns out, I just dealt with an almost identical issue on another 1990 240 just a month ago. My suggestions may or may not resolve your issue, but it's worth investigating.
Some background info: the '89-93 240 vehicles use the LH-2.4 fuel injection system (also used in many of the non-turbo '89-'95 740/940 vehicles that don't have Regina/Bendix fuel injection). The LH-2.4 system uses a much more complicated computer than the earlier bulletproof LH-2.2 systems ('85-'88). Unfortunately, the LH-2.4 computers have been plagued with issues, mostly one in particular, but are bad enough that I don't consider them to be as "reliable" as they could be. In your '89+ 240s, the original Bosch 561 ECU was discontinued and replaced by the Bosch 951 (assuming none of you have a California emissions vehicle), and while the 951 is more robust, I've replaced two 951s in the last year. One had stopped recognising the Oxygen Sensor signal, and the other one was suffering from the same stalling issue mentioned in the original post of this thread.
If I were responding to another LH-2.4 car that was suffering from a stalling issue, I'd be bringing the following parts with me:
1. Fuel Press Regulator (typical life expectancy 150,000 miles).
2. Main Fuel System Relay (white), could have intermitent contact issues due to failing solder joints (resolder every 100,000 miles and keep a spare in the glove box).
3. RPM flywheel sensor (typical life expectancy 150,000 miles), $29 at FCP Groton.
4. Spare Fuel Injection Computer in good known working condition.
5. Air Mass Meter (Bosch 016) just in case. Easily checked by verifying if the Platinum U-shaped wire is broken or not.
Usually I don't travel more than an hour for on-call repairs, but this was a friend and one of my fiance's co-workers. The 1990 240 that I had to bring back from Chicago did had a Fuel Pressure Regulator that was getting ready to fail but hadn't yet. To rule it out and further ensure a safe travel home, I swapped it with a newer one. However, the primary culprit for the stalling issue was traced back to a bad 951 ECU. A year prior, the car's original 561 gave up the ghost somewhere around 170,000 miles while parked in the owners garage. I had a spare 951 that I had pulled from a salvage car, and installed it. After a year of service and about 10,000 miles, the 951 started failing and caused the stalling issue (unable to maintain idle with foot off the gas). The problem got bad enough while it was on a trip to Chicago that it started stalling at both idle and while at speed with the pedal applied. Fortunatly for me, I had one last 561 sitting on the shelf that I had pulled from another salvage car and this rode with me on my trip to Chicago (3 hours away). The car was returned to the owners possession, but not a week later it started suffering from some "hickup" issues which I'm suspecting are probably from an in-tank pump issue or break in the fuel hose on the in-tank assembly. Sometime later this week I'll pull the in-tank assembly and see what I can find. I'm hoping and praying that the ECU isn't at fault since I don't have any more LH-2.4 spares on the shelf! -for those who are curious, I did check the AMM, coolant temp sensor, and the wiring harness, all of which are just fine (resistance & contunity checks on the individual wires and sensor terminals and compared with the Volvo Green service manual book values). The RPM sensor was changed not too long ago, so I assumed that it was still good.
In short, if you own a '89-'93 240, I would encourage you to keep a spare ECU (fuel injection computer) in your spare parts kit in your trunk. For those of you who don't have one, I would suggest the following items and this list applies to all '83-93 non-turbo 240s. (salvage yard prices are listed behind them)
1. Fuel Pressure Regulator. $5
2. 25-Amp main fuse under hood. $1
3. Main Fuel Injection Relay (white, next to ECU). $4
4. Overdrive Relay for automatic transmissions (white, remove glove box and look left behind the dash). $4
5. Air Mass Meter. $25-$35 The '89-93 cars with LH-2.4 use a Bosch 016, the '85-88 cars with LH-2.2 use the 007, and the '83-'84 cars use 002.
6. Metric socket set with 10mm through 17mm. $10 on sale at Sears.
7. Spare functional ECU, only needed for LH-2.4 cars ('89-93), either the Bosch 561 or the 951 will work.
FYI, Air Mass Meters are usually good for the life of the car, but if the small cylindrical thermostat in the air filter housing fails, it will draw pre-heated air from the exhaust manifold into the AMM continuously and kill it. Replacing or disabling the air box thermostat will ensure a good long life for your AMM.
Also, to keep your fuel pumps from dying, change out your fuel filter at the specified intervals. A $20 filter is a lot cheaper than a $400 pump.
Lastly, I noticed that someone had posted that they were using Bosch Platinum+4 plugs in their car. Volvo issued a technical service bulletin several years ago advising NOT to use Platinum plugs in any of their cars. They cited that the ignition systems installed in Volvo cars were not designed for the higher impedance of the Platinum plugs. (causes misses) Even though Bosch made our ignition systems, and even though Bosch makes the Platinum plugs, the two should not be mixed. I've been trying for some time to get AutoZone, Napa, and the other major retailers to pull the Platinum plugs from their database listings as "compatible" parts for our cars, but none of them are interested in doing what's right for the customer.
God bless,
Fitz Fitzgerald.
--
'87 Blue 240 Wagon, 279k miles.
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