|
Okay,
I just recently purchased a 1989 volvo 240 station wagon. When I told my grandma about this volvo I was thinking about buying she decided to give me quite a large sum of money to buy a reliable used car. After a couple of weeks of ruminating about it I decided to turn it down and get the volvo - no logical decision - it just felt right. I really do want to learn how to do most of the repairs on this car - although at the moment I am a little inept as far as car maintenance. My dad always brought the car in to get the oil changed and the rest of the work done and I kind of decided that I wanted to learn and understand the car I drove and that this would also lead me to appreciate it. I feel we have become very distanced from the things we use and this distancing has not been very beneficial. So I really would like to learn how to work on this car and I once I started looking on the internet I saw that there were websites like this available where people could help me with diagnoses and repairs. So I am very thankful for this website and the people who give their time to crawl people like me through repairs, etc.
So I am 23, just graduated from college and have moved out to Ketchum, ID to continue cross country skiing with an olympic development program out here. So pretty much I just need a reliable car to get me about six miles everyday. This volvo seemed like the right price and the right car - who minds a bit of rust? It also seemed like a good car to learn on.
So I went to boise to get the car (about 200 miles away) it drove back fine. On the way back the tank did get pretty empty (I guess this is not such a good thing) - i put in some fuel injection cleaner. So here is the really weird thing: every day the car would start up fine in the morning - no matter how cold. It started up perfectly in -5 degree weather. Then I would drive it to the cross country ski place (bout 3 miles away), it would be parked for about 2-3 hours, and when I would come back it would turn over and the battery had good strength but it wouldn't catch until the fifth or sixth time and then it would run pretty rough - where as on the cold mornings it would start right up and run like a charm.
So I called the guy who I bought from (a good honest guy) and told him my woes. He said that he had had the same problem with it and he would push in the gas pedal when he started it and it would start up. Sure enough I tried this and it worked. It seemed like if I took my foot off the gas pedal right when it started up then it would run more rough where as if it revved a little it would run smoother.
So I have been trying to reason through why it would start fine in the mornings and then later on after I drove it - it would have problems. I really don't know much about cars, so I can only really throw things out there and take in your advice. I thought maybe it would have something to do with condensation - because in the morning when it is really cold there would be none of this where as after I drove it for the three miles condensation would develop. Maybe another thing is something with the cold start injection -that works in the morning and helps it but then it doesn't turn on later in the day when it is a little warmed.
So again, I know very little about cars - but I am psyched to be on the journey. I just bought a 260 piece craftsman mechanic set yesterday and I just got a cheap ohm meter from a hardware store. I checked the coil (not because I really thought that was the problem but because I just wanted to get under the hood and do something with the ohm meter. Before I did this I carefully read through the chilton's section on how to check the coil. The coil does have an ohm - it came out to be about 1).
So I drove the car for about a round trip of 140 miles - got back fairly late - left it fairly low on gas overnight - it wasn't on empty or anything, and it didn't get that cold that night probably twenties, but then in the morning, much to my dismay, it wouldn't start - I don't know if this now has something to do with the fuel being low - but it isn't even in the solid white down by the empty region. I have tried it several times since then and it won't start.
What could the problem be? I am going to get a new fuel pump relay and try that out. Do you think it could be something with the ignition control module, spark plugs...I read the post for Maria - so I am not going to rush out and by a fuel pump - but I do not hear a sound under my car when i turn the key to the start position. Also the whole thing with the pushing in the gas to turn it on - kind of made me think it was no longer anything with the ignition but maybe something with the air mass meter, etc.
With that said, I don't even know where the air mass meter is located and I have been pretty disappointed with the chilton's guide because it doesn't even have a good diagram showing what all the parts under the hood are. I am thinking about getting a Bentley's and I have seen one of these dvds that has all the volvo service manuals on them. So if in your responses you could be kind and tell me where the things you think I should check are located - that would be awesome. For example, with the post to Maria you said something about checking fuse #7 but I don't know where fuse #7 is. Okay well that is all a mouthful so I will stop there. But thanks a lot,
Jimmy
|
