Replaced Purge Canister Hoses; Now I have a hard start when it sits

[1bigklutz]

1995 Volvo 850 Non Turbo with 89K.. Had to take car in for cv joint issue (suspension still seems off too, but i think its me) and I asked to see if they could JUST check the hoses as I smelled gas fumes and thought the purge canister hoses might be bad.. Also it smelled like it was running rich, you could smell some unburned gas and the gas mileage seemed to have dropped... They replaced them (didn't really ask them to, they just did) AND now it has a hard start condition after it sits for anything more than 5 minutes... The CEL had been on prior to all of this and then went off a few days before i could get it in, and after driving about 500 miles since, it has not returned on.. They claim they couldn't get any codes off the car either

I don't live near a good independant volvo person (if you know of one in the Morganton NC area lemme know) and this shop seemed sorta clueless... I don't have many tools either, but, I am starting to invest in a few...

Any ideas?? Anything simple I can do??? Missing driving my volvo.. Stuck driving the POS explorer

[Clemens]

They most probably couldn't get any codes because the 95 has the blinky box. Most mechanics don't have the experience to retrieve codes that way. Try resetting the ECU by disconnecting the batrery for a while. Be sure you have the radio code before you do.

[1bigklutz]

Mine has both the obdII and the blinky box.... Is there anything i can do with out codes?

[scot850]

It is hard to speculate on the issue without any codes. Have you tried to pull any codes from the 'blinky' box in the engine bay? If I recall there is a list of the codes and a how to in the owners handbook, and if you don't have one you can usually find it for free in soft copy format on line. If you only get 1-1-1 code then no codes are stored there either. But codes naturally only show if the car sees a problem. My view is that as parts start to fail, the systems don't always see the issues and yo may have a small number of issues that combine to a bigger issue.

If the purge/carbon canister hose(s) are broken you will get a smell of fuel/oil fumes as it will allow those circulating in the Evap system to escape to atmosphere.

Your fuel system may have vacuum or pressure leak somewhere, or the Evap hoses may have let the car run more lean giving better gas mileage. What mileage do you get? There is a thread on the issue in the last few days which may give you an idea if you have an issue or if consumption is normal.

Try the reset as suggested (radio code on hand) and see if you get any change. Also check into the actual mileage and let us know what you are seeing.

The CEL you were seeing may have resolved itself but strange it went off before the pipes were fixed.

As to the hard starts, that can be different issue but why it has happened after the repair I am not sure. There are a variety of know issues causing this, and one may well be the engine temperature (ECT) unit is failing/failed which can cause the engine to run rich and flood when trying to re-start. Other issues include failing fuel pump or relay. Check for fuel pressure at the rail of 43psi or higher after the cat has been run and switched off for 5 minutes.

Neil.

[misha]

...Your fuel system may have vacuum or pressure leak somewhere, or the Evap hoses may have let the car run more lean giving better gas mileage. What mileage do you get?

While vacuum leak DOES make a lean condition,car ALWAYS runs rich to compensate.
Vacuum leak can NEVER give a better mileage because the car ALWAYS runs rich in that condition.

I understand that your hard starts appeared right after purge canister hoses were replaced.If that is the case...then purge canister valve which is attached at cooling fan carrier might be bad letting the petrol fumes into the intake when engine is off.
Remove it and check it...it MUST be closed both ways when disconnected.

[1bigklutz]

So at 2:45 I decided to try the blinking box my self (In my driveway in my boxers, because i am the biggest night owl ever, bless my neighbors). I got 1 code... A 232... Too lean or too rich fuel mixture at idle...

I am going to reset the car as specified tomorrow when i get up, and I will check my gas mileage on friday.... I am wondering if i should just buy a purge valve just in case? Car has sat alot... Clean the maf as well...

Now if i could get the "service" light to go off, that be nice.. Tried what i read on here and no dice...

[misha]

Which port?

[scot850]

If you are not sure what our friend Misha is asking, each 'hole' you can insert the little wand on a wire into has a letter or number beside it. You can get codes that read the same from different ports but mean different things. He just wants to make sure we are trying to help fix the correct issue.

Good Luck!

Neil.

[1bigklutz]

the port that does the fuel codes (#2 i think, i followed on of roberts video).. i tried the starting one and nothing came up...

[1bigklutz]

I know port 7 is the service rest.. I plugged it in there, then pused the button until became solid, then in one second intervals i pushed One, then 5, then one..