I just inherited a 1992 Volvo 240 with 160,000 miles on it.
The car had been sitting for about 18 months when it was given to me. We need a car and are broke, and can’t get a loan, so this was really great.
I had it towed (dead battery and no tags) to a local car center to replace the battery, change fluids, new tires, inspection. I have a mechanic I really like but he doesn’t do state inspections so I had this place do the basics. The car needs brake pads and hoses, and a few other small but important repairs.
Today I picked the car up. I drove about 3 miles - great! Then it began lurching - I couldn’t maintain a speed over 20 mph and there was a mild burning smell - I had trouble pin-pointing its origin. I called the car center and had it towed back there.
They haven’t been able to diagnose it yet. Any ideas from more clever folks?
They changed the oil - looking over the receipt it seems like that was it. They recommended a coolant flush, which my mechanic can do. They also recommended a power steering change - but it drove fine.
They said it needs 4 brake hoses, that the ones on the vehicle are dry-rotting. I don’t doubt that - but I didn’t want them to do anything but the inspection bit.
I’m guessing gas, the bad gas may have taken a while to plug up things. How much gas was in it? Did you fill it up? Fuel filter replaced? You might be lucky if that’s it.
I’m crossing my fingers for bad gas for certain! I don’t know if the fuel filter replaced, but I will ask.
There was about 3/4 of a tank of gas in it when I cranked it up at the center.
I’ll never go to this place again, not even for an oil change. It seems to me, that since I had in towed in there - and they knew it hadn’t been driven in a long time - and I asked them to check for issues that deal specifically with sitting and age that they would have checked (or recommended that the gas be drained or whatever).
Shops hate to drain gas, it’s not easy to do and they end up with gallons of waste. I wasn’t clear, I hope it’s just a plugged filter, it could be a plugged fuel injection system, and that’s bad.
You need to find a shop good with old Volvos in your area. I’ve used this with success:
Yeah, I think I’d vote for gas too clogging the fuel system. Don’t know about the burning smell. I agree though a 20 year old car and you have already put more money into it than its worth with tires, brakes, hoses, fluids, and they’ll probably want to drain and flush the fuel system for another couple hundred or so.
The burning smell turned out to be spider webs … so that’s done.
The shop drained the gas and changed the oil filter —and then didn’t reconnect the fuel line properly so I still couldn’t make it home. I almost wrecked as the car sputtered away - luckily I was able to get to the curb before we were hit.
Needless to say I had the car towed to the mechanic I’d been trying to get it to in the first place and he has it fixed up and ready to go!
Thanks for the help!
I would have looked at the engine control system electrics such as the connection to the AMM (or MAF if you prefer).
Sitting for 18 months may mean fuel delivery issues. There may have been rust forming from 18 months of condensation in the gas tank and lines. The modern fuels of today take a pretty long time to form varnish deposits as setting gas evaporates leaving the heavier petroleum distillate compounds. For a vehicle sitting so long, try Chevron’s “Techroline” per directions.
Age and extended sitting can often kill a fuel pump but what raises a red flag to me is not just the loss of power but the burning smell.
Hopefully that burning smell is not related to someone botching the oil change.
Assuming the oil change has not been botched then a burning smell could be a fluid leak burning off of the exhaust or a bad accessory belt that is slipping badly. I would assume, right or wrong, that checking for leaks or a bad belt would be done while the oil was being changed. I know that I always do this.