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'87 Volvo been in storage for 10 years Cranks but not starting - Advice?

N

new_volvo_guy

Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2012
Hi Gang,
I am planning to go look at an '87 240 sedan that has been stored for 10 years.
The owner states car cranks but wont start and suspects fuel pump.

Can any one suggest what the worst case scenario may be?
Not to sound cheap, but Im not looking for a big dollar project just to get this going.
My hope is its a simple fix, like fuel pump or even fuel pump relay and then do stage zero

Thanks.

Wayne.
 
Fuel, spark, compression; which one is missing? Suggesting a worst case scenario is pointless, go look at it and tell us what it is doing and what is missing from the running equation. It's been sitting 10years, drain the tank (there should be a big phillips headed drain on the bottom) and put in new gas.
 
new_volvo_guy said:
Can any one suggest what the worst case scenario may be?
Click to expand...

Worst case is that the fuel tank has rusted and starting attempts have pumped rust through the lift and pressure pumps and into the injectors destroying all.

Now, things may not be that bad.

I wouldn't do anything more on fuel, even cranking it, until you drain the tank and fill with new gas. After that are you getting fuel to the fuel rail? What is the pressure? Are you seeing ground pulses on the injector wires from the 'puter?

Getting spark at the plugs? Is it in time?

Is the cam shaft rotating? Look through the oil fill hole.

All that ok then do the compression test.
 
Don't do another thing before draining the tank ! ! ! !

My last two gallons of 'gas'.

PB181388.jpg
 
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Look in the tank first. There’s an access hole in the trunk for the sender/pump. If it’s a ball of rust it probably needs a tank, 2 pumps and injectors are probably stuck shut and can maybe be freed up, maybe not,..
 
Maybe throw some oil in the sparkplug holes and on the cam. When its only cranking the oil won't be distributed very effectively on the parts that require some form of oil spray. Not that these engines are vulnerable in that area but still. Better safe than sorry.
 
TestPoint said:
Don't do another thing before draining the tank ! ! ! !
Click to expand...

You can put as much oil on the cams as you want but only a tiny amount in the cylinders. A recent post hydrolocked the engine doing this. That was probably petrolocked rather than hydro.
 
10 years? Gas tank it probably wasted along with the intank pump and sender. Fuel injectors possibly. I had a car that was sitting and when I would crank it I would get compression for two revolutions then free spin. Though it was a valve or something. Ended up being the old fuel on the intake valves was like syrup and the valves would get stuck open and take a whole day to return to close. Tank and whole fuel system was wasted. Usually you have 5ish years of being ok but after that its not good.
 
Got an old Ford truck for free once. No idea how long it sat but the gas wouldn't even burn with a match.
If you're really lucky that's the only problem. But if you were that lucky you'd have won the lottery by now, several times and wouldn't be worried about some old Volvo. :)
 
122power said:
I had a car that was sitting and when I would crank it I would get compression for two revolutions then free spin. Though it was a valve or something. Ended up being the old fuel on the intake valves was like syrup and the valves would get stuck open.
Click to expand...


Wow apparently this is more common than I thought! I bought a 740 that ‘sat for a year’ but it was definitely longer than that. The old gas was sticking the intake valves open on 2 and 4. No compression there. I tapped them loose with a hammer and screwdriver. They kept getting stuck again when the cam lobe would push the bucket down, so I had to unstick them about 10-20 times each until they started closing on their own.

After that, car fired up on 3 cylinders. Went home, grabbed some spare stock injectors and threw them in on the spot and the car started on 4 cylinders. Main pump was loud so I had a look in the tank pump and it was 100% siezed and rusty.

So new injectors, main pump/filter, tank pump/filter/transfer hose and everything in that aspect has been fine.
 
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