IF UR 740 IS ROUGH IDLING,LOWSPEED STALLING,TACH CRAZY,HERE!

[OrangeAirsoft]

I had this problem a month ago, and after about $700 in repairs, I learned a few things from my volvo mechanic. Steep price for a volvo 740 lesson, I hope you don't need to spend as much money by reading here...

The vehicle is a '86 740 Turbo Sedan. I love this her, but like most women I've fallen in love with, it has a few issues. It started when the tach acted crazy, going up and down between 200rpm and 1100rpm. It got worse, and would stall for sure after driving half an hour. I contacted this volvo mechanic in north hollywood (very friendly, a bit costly, but all volvo mechanics are costly). They know what they're doing, and it is definately worth the visit.

The first thing he replaced was the idle control valve. This improved the car to about 75% of it's former glory, but it was definately NOT the only problem. The things are known to fail in higher mileage 740's so if you're tach is going up and down, this is the definate fix... remember though, that it may not be the ONLY problem.

The mechanic was a perfectionist, he wouldn't stop at just that level. The car would still stall, though not as often as it used to be before replace the ICV. To eliminate other problems, he cleaned the injectors and checked for leaks/misfires. He found a misfire on #3, which explained the "rocky" engine" That meant replacing the plugs and wires too (they needed to be replaced at some point anyway). He said the distributor is ok for now, and he just needs to clean it. So he went and test drove it, and it was even driving much better. But still it would stall after driving it hard, and lifting the gas suddenly.

Later, he said he must test the fuel pressure regulator, and true enough, it smoothed out the ride further.

I had a noisy main fuel motor, and he replaced that too along with the fuel filter, which was filthy when he pulled it out.

All in all, I spent about $700. I did not have enough money, and the mechanic agreed to post dated checks for the balance. Most mechanics wouldn't do that for a first time job.

After that I drove the thing to EZ lube, who did synthetic oil change, transmission oil, and checked everything that needs oil. Another $156 but it was necessary. The car drives much better now.

Two things when fixing a rough idling, stalling car: idle control valve and fuel pressure regulator. Both of them are easy to install, and most people who know how to work a wrench can replace it. I did not know how, but I do now, thus the high labor fees.




Oh, and if there is someone out there who can figure this out out, I have a rattling sound when accelerating, but it is hard to pin point where. I believe it is coming from the rear of the car, but i can hear it on the side when i'm next to a wall or another vehicle. Another thing, my water temp guage is 0. The thing would pop up to life once in a while, and would go to the middle (normal position). But most of the time, the thing is just dead. How can I fix that without spending a fortune? I still haven't figured out how to take the instrument panel out, coz I was planning to squirt some WD-40 into that stuck guage. Thanks in advance.

[OrangeAirsoft]

some people also say to check the throttle position sensor, but mech says you only need to change that if your car is idling crazy and idling high, like in the 1500rpm range.