About 2 years ago I had a fuel injector failure. Just bout a 98 v70 xc awd and a week later the engine cuts out and I coast to a stop, power steering seemed to turn off. Took it to a Volvo specialist in Seattle and they said it was the fuel injector, and they replaced it. No similar symptoms until two years later.

Filled up on gas a few days ago, engine power cut out, electrics stayed on. Oil and coolant lights came on with the check engine light, and power steering turned off. Throw it into neutral with hazards and roll to the shoulder. Turn the car back on and it is fine. No dash warning lights. Today I lost power again and the same symptoms. I noticed while driving that right around 60-65mph I would have a split second reduction in power, almost as if my transmission was shifting gears, but in a fraction of the time, and my RPMS didn't rise or drop. Transmission was replace by the owner at a Volvo dealership about 15k miles ago.


Does this seem like a fuel injector failure to you guys, or might I be missing something? Could it be something else? If it is a fuel injector, what could cause it to fail within 2 years? I'm not an expert but that seems fairly quick for a new part to fail unless something else is causing it.

Gonna call a mechanic in the morning and get it in as soon as possible, but I don't want to pay to replace a part that might not be the issue.

 

Did the car set a check engine code? If so what? Injectors failures are fairly uncommon (besides, even if one failed the car should be able to run rough on four cylinders). I'd be looking at other electrical bits in the fuel delivery - fuel pressure ok? fuel pump relay, injection relay, fuel pressure sensor. You may also want to check system voltages - battery, engine on, engine on with system loads. After those simple checks you'll need to read into any codes and try to see if you lost spark (coil/wires/connectors) etc.

 

it has five fuel injectors. Failure of one of them would not cause any of the symptoms, so I would just forget about that and think about what could cause sudden shutdown but then the engine would start right back up.

One option, honestly, is just water in the fuel. Great advice above also.

 

So I took it to my mechanic and he said he wouldn't take it until more symptoms show up because he had no idea where to start. Said he didn't feel right just reaching into my pocket and taking money without giving something back. Guess I should be thankful for that! He told me to keep driving it until it throws a code or it starts causing more symptoms so he knows where to start. He also mentioned that since my key sometimes has a bit too much play it could be that the contacts in my ignition coil could be slipping when I hit a bump or pothole, causing engine shutoff. However, I'm not sure this is the issue since as soon as I left his shop, I had a problem that didn't cause full engine shutoff.


Anyway, as soon as I pulled out of his shop, I drive about a mile and the engine starts losing power, giving me lots of hesitation. Suddenly the 3rd gear dashlight (the large orange arrow) turns on and I essentially can't move, but the engine is still running and the idle is a lot rougher. Almost like it is in drive with both the parking brake on and a foot on the brake and gas pedals. Throw it in park, turn it off. turn it back on, no dashlights and it runs perfectly. Was able to drive it the last 5 miles home with no problems whatsoever.

I normally wouldn't have a problem driving my car until it starts showing more indicators that point in a certain direction, but I commute 20 miles to work and 20 back for a graveyard shift, so I can't exactly chance getting stranded.


Is it possible that this is an electrical problem? Maybe some sort of relay or sensor that is going bad? Fluids? Could my transmission be the problem? It has less than 20,000 miles on it.

Help me out here, I'm grasping at straws!


He also said don't bother going into the dealer to get this problem diagnosed because they don't know how to diagnose a problem correctly. I'm still willing to take it into the dealers if they can give me a free/cheap diagnosis that is accurate.