Help with 89' 245 please.

[maconmx5]

Hi everyone, I just purchased a 1989 Volvo 245 DL with an automatic transmission and unknown mileage. Basically it's doing what almost every other 200 series is doing that have the MAF's. With the MAF plugged in, it spits, sputters and will not rev, with it unplugged it idles fine, revs fine as long as I don't bury my foot in the pedal right off the bat. I have been tooling around for short distances with the MAF unplugged, but I want to fix it the correct way. What I do know is the O2 sensor is non-existent, the previous owner removed the catalytic convertor and the bung that holds the O2 sensor. I've also purchased another MAF and no luck there. My 92' Miata runs fine without a cat and is my daily.

I understand Volvo's are oddball cars, but I figure they work about the same as any other car. I can't afford to just dump money into the thing, since my hours at work are being cut drastically. I've cleaned the plastic doo-dad that's connected to the breather tube and engine block, right next to the fuel rail, and the IACV and throttle body. No luck with that either. I'd like to get this figured out so I can put it to work toting me to work and stop putting so many miles on the little red car.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I'm new to Volvo's and new to this site, if this is in the wrong section, I'm sorry, and if possible I can make a different one in the correct sub-forum and this one can be deleted. Thanks again.


-Marc

[maconmx5]

No one has any ideas? I was thinking of cleaning the connectors on the ECU, Idk if it will help, but it's worth a shot I suppose.

[rgk]

You can:

clean and tighten all of your electrical connections and grounds
check to make sure your rear fuel pump is operating
remove or fix the air thermostat housing located inside the air box, which might be closed
check and replace your air filter
clean your throttle body (separate it from the throttle position sensor - be careful not to spray chemicals on it)
clean your flame trap
check for vacuum leaks
clean your injectors, replace their o-rings and caps
check and/or change your spark plugs
check your distributor cap & rotor
check your spark plug wires
check for exhaust leaks
check your idle air control valve

However, I'm not sure how the ECU feels about the oxygen sensor not being there - you might be running perpetually rich. In this case, you might think about hitting up the junkyards and finding yourself a header pipe and cat.

I wonder why the PO removed them.