my car a 1.7 340 has done this a couple of times now. when i'm driving it looses power and when the accelerator is pressed its as if i'm pressing the break. When u come to a stop it cuts out, but restarts straight away and will be ok.

at first i thought this could be down to the fuel running low and dragging crap into the carb, but it did it again today with almost a full tank of fuel.

Anybody help?

Hello, carburettor idle solenoid. I would disconnect it with the ignition on and check it clicks everytime you reconnect it. If not, then you can get a new one from a carby specialist. Cheers for now, bogbasic.

P.S. could also clean out the vacuum tube from the carb to the rocker cover. I think there is one on a 1.7, certainly is on a 1.4. There is a restriction inside that can get blocked with soot.

cheers i'll take a look

I have the exact same problem

Check the float as well, especially when you have sudden power loss in (fast) right curves. Chances are your float simply sinks, thus overflooding the float chamber.

Simple test for the float: get it out of the carb and off the carb head, then pick a small bucket filled to the brim with water. Let the float rest with the metal hinge side on the edge, if the float sinks for more than about 1/3 of its height then it's dead. It's supposed to sit quite high on the water.

There are some nice pics of a broken and a new float on the dutch volvo300club forum: forum.volvo300club.nl. Sorry for not bothering to lookup the entire link for you

the mixture screw falling out can have the same effect (from my experience)
also fuel filter could be blocking, passing not enough fuel.

and maybe warped/loose carb?



Cheers
will

Check, all that Germ says are common problems, too, causing the same kind of symptoms.

And while you're at it, check the bolts on the manifolds as well. Chances are one or two are a tad loose (check under the heat shield as well!)

Fuel filter sounds fishy here.