Volvo Repair: 1995 850 Volvo-Intermittently Not Starting, coolant temperature sensor, flash flash flash

Question
Car has 190K-well maintained, second owner (me). No turbo. No previous repair issue. Car runs fine and then every other month or so the car will not start.  No clicking noise like a starter. Just whines and whines-can't tell if it fuel or spark.  After a few minutes, if I pump the gas a couple of times and hold the pedal to the floor it will finally choke and cough and start.  Runs rough for a minute, white smoke out tailpipe.  Then it is fine for another month or so.  No lights on dashboard light up.  

Answer
it could really ebe many things.first I would check for codes in the fuel system.if no codes and I had to guess I would guess possible engine coolant temperature sensor.but his is just a guess.



behind the passengers side head light are 2 small black boxes,1 marked A ,and 1 marked B.on box A there is a small wire insert the wire into the hole marked 2 then turn the ignition key to position 2 but not started.then on the box narked A push the small button for 1 second then release it.the small red light will flash a code back as a 3 digit number.there is a short pause between flashes for a single digit and long pause between the different numbers.example:
a 121 would look like this flash.....flash..flash....flash
write down each code,then after the first code repeats its self then press the button for 5 seconds the light will light when pressing button then go out when released,then the light will light steady again when it does press button fo 5 seconds again,this should have reset the check engine light.let me know the codes. i will tell what they refer to.
         Rege