OK so I've been having intermittent problems with my wagon for a while now, but it's beginning to become a serious (and scary) issue. For some time I've experienced rough/high idling in neutral. More annoying than detrimental and still got me from point a to point b albeit with a good amount of noise. Very recently I've experienced bucking while accelerating. This has also been intermittent. I have had a low idle now which caused several instances of stalling while stopped. Most alarming is that I have been experiencing a lack of acceleration upon giving it gas while in gear (on the highway). It's almost as if the car is dead. This is accompanied by the bucking. After a little while it seems to "catch" eventually, and I am able to continue my commute. The car went almost a year with only being driven 10 miles or less at a time. In the last two months as the problem has increased I've been commuting a total of 30 miles round trip each day. Could this be my oxygen sensor, fuel pump or injector, or is my baby on its way out? Also, will I be able to perhaps perform some of the maintenance to remedy this problem myself? Any advice would be very much appreciated!!

 

Really, there's an entire list of things that could be wrong...and I'd bet it's more than one single item. First, know that turbo cars generate more heat under the hood than regular cars. Regular cars (n/a) need vacuum to run smoothly and make your climate control vents move and provide for power brakes. Turbo cars need this too, but they also generate positive pressure in lines that normally are vacuum only in n/a cars. It's a good idea to replace ALL the vacuum hoses under the hood every few years w/ a turbo car. Your car has an intercooler, a big air cooled radiator that cools the charged, compressed air coming out of the turbo. The connectors often leak. The hose that leads from the air filter box to the turbo often actually collapses under full throttle when old and oil soaked...effectively starving your car of air. Your car sn't dying...just needs some tlc. Start feeling some of the medium size rubber hoses under your hood. I bet they are rock hard, probably split.

 

Thanks for your perspective and advice, swiftjustice! I took your advice and went for a good tune up - new hoses, plugs, all that jazz. For a few hundred bucks, and of course lots of TLC from the volvo-lover mechanic we went to, I got my 740 back to running like a top!

Thanks again for the advice and reassurance that she wasn't about to bite the dust!