Identifying small vacuum line 1985 240

[steve roche]

Hi-

I'm brand new here, and somewhat new to Volvos. I have inherited a 240 Turbo (1985) but I suspect it is no longer
a Turbo. I haven't gone looking for the engine code, but the turbo-shaped part is not present--- just standard
intake manifold and exhaust manifold and engine.. It's been running well until lately. It starts ok but stumbles badly
upon acceleration.. every time. I find I have a huge vacuum leak which I have narrowed down to the flame trap..
(it has disintegrated) and also, the vacuum tube to the carbon canister has a split.

My question-- while pulling the flame trap pieces out from under the intake manifold, I see a small-diameter YELLOW
tube (not a wire) and it's melted on the end. It's a hard plastic tube and not a rubber tube. Probably melted from touching the intake manifold or something.

Where does this vacuum tube go? I believe it had a rubber elbow on the end, also very tiny diameter.

It's a 1985 240 DL, and it's a fuel injected engine. It does not look like a turbo engine, so I am assuming it was swapped.

I'll be getting a new flame trap assembly and replacing the vacuum tube to the canister, and this should hopefully
stop the stumbling-upon-acceleration. With open vacuum lines tied off, the car starts and idles ok.

This is an old car and it has lots of dodgy electrics and vacuum connections, but it has run smoothly for the few months
we've had it. Thanks for any advice-

steve

[steve roche]

I should have specified "small vacuum line" instead of "vacuum tube"... it's not an old radio of course, it's a hose. ..

[billofdurham]

Steve, welcome to Matthew's Volvo Site.

The '85 240 had a choice of 3 turbo engines: B19ET; B21ET and B21FT. If, as you suspect, it is no longer a turbo engine it may help if you can find out which engine is fitted.

"vacuum tube"... it's not an old radio of course, it's a hose. ..

I remember those radios. I have an old Philips car radio,in working condition, in my garage and we called the vacuum tube a valve - even more confusing.

Bill.

[steve roche]

Thank you for replying. On the timing belt cover is the number B2300 and the date of the last timing belt change (4 years ago).
It's not printed; it's written with the unsteady hand of an alcoholic car repair shop-owner. (which is not a problem! Really!)
So I am assuming it's either a B23 or a B230. I am somewhat familiar with what turbo equipment looks like, and there appears to be none. The images on Google also help me see what I do not have on this engine.
The Haynes book has few diagrams, but I've found this book to be pretty cryptic in almost all areas of Volvo repair.
(I've been working on cars for 20 years... it just is a terrible book, for me at least.)

That said, I am looking at a huge vacuum leak, and this tiny tube may or may not matter much. The new flame trap is on order,
I've tied off all the vacuum lines going to anything, so the car starts ok, and idles well. There is still the flat spot when you
give it gas, but I can't know the end result until I get the new flame trap put in, and I get the other tubes replaced.
This is one of those cars where there are four things wrong at once, so you never can tell which repair was the charm.
I a still in the "Undo the last repair shop's rubbish" mode; so diagnosing new things is more difficult. But vacuum lines
seem to just pop out every time the engine lopes to one side, upon acceleration.

Tell me this, if you could? Can I get this running well again, based on old-fashioned diagnostics (fuel pump, vacuum leaks,
timing, spark, etc) or will it always be about the electronic sensors? Because that sort of puts it in a different (expensive) league.

steve

[billofdurham]

The Haynes book has few diagrams, but I've found this book to be pretty cryptic in almost all areas of Volvo repair.

I agree in respect of the 240 Haynes. Other Volvo models and other makes seem to fare better.

If the engine is the B23 then it is from 1984 or earlier. The B230 came in in the 1985 model year. Perhaps your "alcoholic car repair shop owner" had a speech impediment and added a 0 too many.

Both the B23 and B230 came in A, E & F variants. The A had a carburettor, the E was injected and the F was injected with a Lambda sensor (oxygen sensor) and catalyser. So you have either the E or the F. Is it fitted with a cat and O2 sensor?

I have checked all of my vacuum diagrams and can't find a line as you describe it. Can you see where the other end is attached?

I have found that the older cars can usually be sorted out the old fashioned way as they don't rely too heavily on the more sophisticated sensors.

Bill.

[steve roche]

Thanks-
It has the fuel injection and the lambda, and I've gone ahead and fixed it. I'll make a new post of it because it's some basic
stuff that other people might want to be reminded of. Except that it runs fine now... and I still don't know where the
little vacuum line was supposed to go... when I can work on it off-street and clean out the engine compartment,I'll trace it.
Right now it is one big black grimy mess under the hood.

[steve roche]

Hi-
I fixed my problem of hesitation and stumbling, and I thought I would post it here, since there were some real basic
things that I overlooked.

I have an 85 240 DL, with a non-original engine (B230 perhaps). I inherited it, and I began to depend on
it too soon. It hasn't been very well taken care of.

It ran fine for a month and then began stumbling and stalling last week. (it also passed smog before all this)
I found that since the engine likes to hop to the right when you punch it, some vacuum lines routinely get disconnected.
Probably an engine mount issue. Also, electrical connectors, like the MAF thingie. I found that it was disconnected also.
Still, it would start up but it didn't like to accelerate.

My flame trap was melted down and so there was one big vacuum leak. Both carbon canister lines had come off,so there
were two more vacuum leaks. I replaced those, and the car was still no better.
Then I realized that the MAF sensor
had become unplugged by itself somewhere along the way.
Also, the charcoal canister had been hooked up backwards.

So basically it was all about vacuum leaks, the Flame Trap, and loose electrical connectors.
I unhooked the negative battery lead
before hooking back up the MAF because I heard it can be fussy. Then I hooked the battery back up,
and started the car, and it
seems fine. Horray.

So I had three different issues at the same time here, instead of just one problem.

steve

[rgk]

Steve,

Could you describe the proper way of hooking up the vacuum lines to the charcoal canister? I see it has three or four spots for input/output, but I only have two lines coming in/going out of mine.

Thanks!

[rgk]

It would be good to post the fix in this thread or at least provide a link to the fix thread. Thanks, and congrats!

[billofdurham]

It would be good to post the fix in this thread or at least provide a link to the fix thread.

I have merged the two topics as I agree one does carry on from the other.

Bill.