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240 Smelly exhaust, must me running rich

B

Bitterbuffaloh

New member
Joined
Jun 24, 2016
Location
Florida
1990 240 wagon with near 300k miles. What's the list of things I can go down to try and get my exhaust less smelly? My MPG isn't horrible, so it must not be too bad. I'll clean the airflow sensor and the flame trap. What else?
 
Cat is in there and original. Wonder how smelly a busted cat would be.. Its smelly enough where I turn it off and walk around to the back I'm like whew that's strong.

Last time it had a tuneup? Hmm well its gotten maintenance its whole life.
 
Does it have a sulphur/rotten egg smell? That is often an indicator of bad cats. A strong fuel smell might mean that it isn't sufficiently burning it's gas because of a poor fuel/air mixture. That can have several causes. Most of those causes would result in poor mpg though. If you have diagnostic equipment, or access to it, go nuts. If not, I'd start with plugs, wires, dist cap, rotor button (basic tune up). These are good suggestions for cars in general. I don't know what else would be Volvo specific though.
 
ratmonster said:
Does it have a sulphur/rotten egg smell? That is often an indicator of bad cats. A strong fuel smell might mean that it isn't sufficiently burning it's gas because of a poor fuel/air mixture. That can have several causes. Most of those causes would result in poor mpg though. If you have diagnostic equipment, or access to it, go nuts. If not, I'd start with plugs, wires, dist cap, rotor button (basic tune up). These are good suggestions for cars in general. I don't know what else would be Volvo specific though.
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Ok, basic tuneup items were done recently. Would cleaning the flame trap and the air sensors help?

and the car is at such a mint where I can take out the cat. Would a failing old cat smell more than if I just took it out and put a pipe there.
 
You can try removing the cat and seeing if the odd smell goes away, but if you're in an area subject to smog testing, get a new cat.
 
A) Have you tested your o2 for resistance ? IIRC it should read between .1 to .9 and jump back and forth between those readings. Of course there are more accurate ways of testing the o2.

B) You can check cat temps with an infrared thermmtr, IIRC it should be hotter at exit end (if not cat isn't working)
 
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