'91 volvo tank

I have a '91 Volvo/145,000m with a mysterious problem. This summer after a long trip she wouldn’t start and I was told I needed a new fuel pump. I had one installed, and promptly the gas gauge stopped working, or I should say worked really slowly. But most disturbing is that ever since the repair I can only put in half a tank of gas before the gas pump stops as if the tank is full. After about 130 miles the car starts to sputter only on right hand turns; actually the engine drops out. Since I’m not really interested in finding out when the car will run out of gas I always fill back up at that point…reset the odometer to 0 and drive 'til around 130m or so and fill back up again. One more thing- it seems as time goes on that the right-hand sputter thing happens a little earlier and earlier. Originally I could go to 150m before it cut out. Ok, that’s enough, eh? Got any ideas?

(I did take the car back to the place who “fixed” it and they claimed to not be able to find anything wrong with their installation.)

Thanks Guys!!!

Diane Dwyer

Join the club! On my '74 Volvo, the engine would severely lose power on sweeping right hand turns. The lousy Volvo dealership was never able to resolve this problem under warranty, and two highly recommended foreign car specialists couldn’t fix that problem after the warranty ran out.

This was just one of a very long list of problems that I learned to live with on that lemon. If anyone does have a solution, I would be interested in hearing it, even though I got rid of the car in 1981!

thanks. i just looked back today to see your comment. i’m going to take my problem child in next week and will let you know what my extra special specialists say. they are great and i remain hopeful.

I must ask,pump in tank? if yes continue,any trouble filling tank before pump install? did they get something wrong putting the tank back up?

Fair chance pump is external,I just don’t know.

Your car does have an in-tank pump as well as the external pump, but I don’t think that is the problem. There is a rubber hose that goes down to the fuel pickup. When it gets old and splits, the tank will only empty half-way before it starts sucking air in through the split in the hose. On an 18-year-old car, this is not surprising.

I have a '91 245 with a gas gauge that wanders a bit when the tank is less than half full. When I go in to replace the gauge sending unit, I will replace that hose as preventative maintenance.

If you fix this yourself, be CAREFUL. It is critical that you make no static or mechanical sparks while the tank opening is loose or open, or it will blow you up.