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240 Car cutting out when turning left???

rallyxPOS13

New member
Joined
Sep 29, 2008
Location
Wichita, KS
Car:
1990 245 with stock motor and automagic transmission

Symptoms:
When making left turns, as I straighten back out and get on the gas, the car will cut out on me for a second or two, then return to normal. It feels like it's pulling spark or fuel. The car won't stall, it holds idle fine, and runs like a champ in RH turns under load and in neutral. While it's cutting out, it will eventually fight through it (usually 2-3k rpm) and then take off again.

So I figured it was G-loading a wire and shorting it out. However it seems entirely related to steering wheel positions rather than severity of the turn.

-So I tried a fast LH sweeper with little steering input but high G-loads, nothing.

-I tried a hard 90 RH to shake it loose, and nothing.

-Then I tried a painfully slow 90 LH with some steering and no G-loads, and it cut out.

-So then, at a red light straightaway, I turned the wheel to the left, then straight, then hit the gas... and sure enough, it cut out!

I took a quick look under the hood, and nothing is pinched around the steering lines, or down around the rack itself. I also checked connections at the coil, reset the ECU by disconnecting the battery, and ran it without the MAF plugged in, and it made no difference in the problem.

I'm going to to put the car in time-out to think about what it's done, and this weekend start cleaning electrical connections/change the fuel filter/etc.

Does anyone have any idea what could be messed up?

Possible Causes:

I brought the car as a loaner vechicle at the last rallycross:
DSC06662.JPG


The bumps or dirt could have been the cluprit, but it ran fine for a few days after the event. Could also be that the cat has broken loose and is turning sideways???


Also at the rallycross, the intake pipe came loose, and sucked god-knows-what into the engine, so when I got back home I cleaned out the MAF with specialized MAF cleaner, and cleaned the throttle body with carb cleaner. So the cleaners could have damaged something, or sent something downstream to foul the O2 sensor?

Thanks,

-Matt
 
I would take a look at the power stage which is mounted on the innner fender on the drivers side, they tend to fail in the manor like you have listed.................
 
When it cuts out does the tach quickly drop? If so it would be ignition related. Otherwise I would pull the intank pump and check it.
 
Try a fuel filter too. It could be dirt/rust in tank also.
 
Thanks for all your help,

I went to pick up some friends from the airport in Old Blue, and completely forgot that the airport is a giant left-handed sweeper. Sure enough, it completely died and we had to call a cab.

Upon flat towing it back home, I fiddled with everything electrical and cleaned all the power distribution connectors, MAF plug, TPS, etc.

Nothing seemed to work, so I popped the inlet to the fuel line off, and sure enough, a trickle was all I got, followed by a short spurt, then just air...

I'm going to replace the fuel filter, of course, because I doubt that's been done in the last 19 years But I need a little help troubleshooting the pumps.

I unhooked the holder with the high pressure pump and filter. turning the ignition on, nothing came out of low pressure feed line. The in tank pump was measuring 6v from the power wire to a chassis ground. So it sounds like the in tank pump is kaput? Or does it need the high pressure to pull vacuum to get gas up to the filter?

The high pressure pump was unhooked, and it seems like the pump was only getting a small amount of voltage, because it measured at 0.5V on startup. Does this lead to a bad relay, or is this voltage normal? The greenbook scans I found only have the diagrams, not the voltage ranges. The positive wire was nicked, and it might have been shorting out before I pulled it off. Is there a good way to test the pump without re-installing everything? My garage is 100?F, and I'd rather not spend too much time out there with the whole lather, rinse, repeat routine.

Thanks again,

-Matt
 
As an update, I replaced both fuel pumps, the acordian hose on the in-tank fuel pump had a good-sized longitudinal tear in it, and could have been causing the directional cut-out issues.

However, I replaced both pumps, and I'm still not getting any fuel to the fuel rail :wtf:

I swapped out the fuel pump relay with a random relay of the same type I had in my random box-o-parts I got from the previous owner, and still nothing.

Does anybody know the voltages I should be getting at either pump????

I'm going to be looking for a pinched/clogged line next, and re-checking that I hooked up all the wiring correctly. If that doesn't work I'll just chuck a lit match into the fuel tank and walk away....
 
Check the fuse panel. Make sure there is voltage at both ends of the terminals on the fuse panel for all the fuses. I have seen where there is voltage going into the fuse panel, but because of corrosion on the fuse contacts, there is no voltage going out of the fuse panel to the fuel pump ect. If you have no voltage, pull the fuse and clean all the fuse panel contacts. Also check the crank position sensor. Over time the wire can come apart and make intermittent contact when the engine moves during turns.
 
UPDATE:

I found a bad ground at the in-tank pump. the wire was severed from the terminal, but was held perfectly in place by that vile black tar crap volvo slathers all over it's wiring.

I re-soldered a new terminal on and the car ran great on jackstands. but once I put the rear axle back on (unrelated issue) and dropped the car on the ground, it quit running... again, no fuel from the in-tank pump.

So either A.) I'm going to set the car on fire where it sits, or B.) Someone needs to tell me what voltages I can expect to find at the in-tank pump so I can troubleshoot this BrickO'****
 
You should see battery voltage, or up to 0.3 volts less than battery voltage. Any more than 0.3 volts drop and you need to repair wiring or connections.
 
There is a safety device that shuts off fuel flow in a roll over situation. You may have damaged/disconnected/disoriented it when you replaced the in-tank pump. It is located right near the access panel.
 
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