Volvo 480 Club Europe

My -89 Turbo was stalling and couldnt get up to high revs. Classic filthy fuel system I thought and got some fuelsystem cleaning additive and put it into the gastank. Now, the car became difficult to start firing on 2-3 cylinders and after some 30 seconds it was running on all four. Then smoke was coming out of the pcv system, probably unburnt fuel heating up somewhere. Sparkplugs looks black and smell petrol.
So, where do I go from here?

I'm getting closer to be an ex-480 owner......

Sorry, I've no idea but I wanted to wish you luck as an '89 turbo is worth persevering with!

When was the last time your fuel filter has been changed? It is pretty hard to reach and even harder to remove as it becomes stuck after years of use, so many times it is "forgotten" during regular maintenance.
Also, how do your distributor and rotor look like? Not firing of cilinders and a smell of petrol on the spark plugs doesn't sound like a fuel issue, I would rather point to the ignition.

Distributor, ignition cables and spark plugs are brand new. Everything worked well untill i put in the cleaning additive. If some goo got dissolved and stuck into the fuel injection system maybe could explain why it doesn't start up right away.
So, my next question would be how do I clean the injectors?

[quote="amazontommy"
So, my next question would be how do I clean the injectors?[/quote]

they ar enot 'too' difficult to remove from the manifold, soak in the same stuff you used to 'free up ' the gunge from the pipelines?

ideally after soaking them then run them spraying into a clear jar to prove all clear. wheech out the plugs to make it easier to spin over (andtake main lead off dizzy first?)

Cleaned up sparks and injectors and now the car starts up fine, but........ still coming up white smoke from the pcv tube. A sticky burnt smell like old Ford Granada electric spontaneous combustion failures . But there shouldn´t be any Electric parts involved here, just the intercooler and the catalyst.
Should I try to take apart the catalyst and clean it or just let it run until the smoke disapears or the car goes up in flames?
Anyone who has experinced anything similar?

Just run it gently and hope that not too much muck / fuel is lurking in the CAT as the extra fuel causes them to run TOO hot

you can't really clean a cat, we tried once after it decided to check out the contents of the deep fat fryer (cold) and it wasn't easy . .. .

worst case is that it won't pass emissions, best case is it will! !

EDIT, don't worry about the CAT, your car is too old to 'need one', (required form 1992 onwards) if really worried about flames simply remove internals and gain a few more ponies There is a sensor PRE-cat but not after it so it doesn't care on the output, later (around 2005 on?, then DUAL sensors, one in, one out)

Alan 480 wrote:Just run it gently and hope that not too much muck / fuel is lurking in the CAT as the extra fuel causes them to run TOO hot

you can't really clean a cat, we tried once after it decided to check out the contents of the deep fat fryer (cold) and it wasn't easy . .. .

worst case is that it won't pass emissions, best case is it will! !

EDIT, don't worry about the CAT, your car is too old to 'need one', (required form 1992 onwards) if really worried about flames simply remove internals and gain a few more ponies There is a sensor PRE-cat but not after it so it doesn't care on the output, later (around 2005 on?, then DUAL sensors, one in, one out)

I'd tend to go the other way; Get the thing hot hot hot....

As you say, you can't clean the cat, it's not needed for the MOT, so get it up and running and get it hot.

Does the car get regular use? How old is the oil?

Time for an update as I have devoted the winter to my Alfa. The origin of the smoke when starting the engine comes from the turbo. I think the turbo is gone as when driving the car before I could not go more than 65 km/h plus not finding the 5th gear. Anyone who has experienced a turbo gone smoking?

There's currently someone selling a turbo on eBay

Thanks for the advice but I already got a spare turbo to put in. Just would like to know what happens when smoke comes out of a turbo. Tha cause.

Usually it's a sign of either bearing or seal failure.