Hi

I have been posting my problems in other threads on and of but my with my issues I feel warrent a thread of their own. I will briefly describe the routing I have gone through so far.

Took car to dealer for service, mentioned that the car "jumps" on low revs, high gear when you apply pressure to the accelerator. Its a loss of power jump and there is a sort of "click" similar to if you rapidly apply acceleration and then take foot of accelerator quickly. However this only occurs in gear!!! In neutral there are no issues when revving up. Once you get to 40 mph the problems seems to go away, possibly as you are not applying much acceleration

In the dealer they noticed my pipe had perished from the air filter to the engine, so 20 quid and I swapped it over. The problem however turned into a worse issue with a spluttering sound, even in neutral, so I took it back to dealer.

I was told it was Distributer and Rotor.. so this was changed. This cured the spluttering, but the staggard acceleration hadn't gone away so again I went back to dealer.
I was then informed that my exhaust manifold had a crack in it, I visually inspected and they replaced it (which was hell to get hold of)
Still the issue was not resolved, however the car was smoother. The dealers and myself have checked the spark plugs and I have new leads.

I got the dealers to put the car on the OBD and it failed the Idle Control Valve, luckily I managed to get one second hand for good value. The car is much better in idle, but the problem remains.
I've examined Camshaft and sensor, no issues seem apparent

Just to recap the issue, it seems to get worse after a while of driving, when the engine has warmed up. Its only around 1500 RPM, when acceleration is applied. If feels like the car is bouncing and it drops in power. Sometimes starting the car it feels like it takes a bit longer to turn over, although this could have been the Idle Air control Valve.

Things I suspect, what order should I check?:

Oxygen Sensor
Temp Sensor
Fuel Filter?
what else?

My dealer has almost given up. Whats next? I got to find out a solution!

Car:

Volvo 850 2.5 1995
Engine B5252S, 10 cylinder, DOHC

 

What about things like the MAF, is that the ones plugged into the air filter box?


A few other things:

Thermostat - 850's have good cooling systems and the temperature needle should sit dead centre all of the time - if its sit below this then thermostat is not working properly - if it is jammed open then the heater will not work and the temp gauge will read cold all the time (especially at higher speeds)

-- my temp sits center but drop to about 1/3 at higher speeds.. is this ok?

 

Could be your MAF and yes it plugs into the airbox.

Also maybe your car is pulling timing or something. Fuel cutoff maybe, but I don't know why at that low of an RPM.

 

ok thanks, my volvo dealer have given up, they told me they cant fix it.

 

I know im clutching as straws here but is their likely to be a crack in the engine?

 

Hell maybe there is a crack in the engine if not in the transmission.

 

What about fuel pressure?
Rest pressure?

 

well ive changed the cam sensor, no joy, I've been adviced its the ignition coil by my dealer..


are volvos really this tempremental.. I've run out of ideas and help.. I think I may have to sell it.

Its really sad.. I loved the performance I had out of ths car but this experience has put me of volvos for life (as they say), I know people who keep cars running for up to 30 years and they can't work out whats up with it, the dealers have told me that theirs nothing they can do.

Ive had 15,000 miles out of this car, its 11 years old and its just done 100,000 miles

well 100,000 miles out a car is ok.. seen fords do far more

Im not a mechanic, im very technical minded, Not sure about how to check fuel pressure, shouldn't the dealer do that..?

 

You could buy a fuel guage and hook it up your self. Or you could have the Dealer check it.

 

i think I need to get the dealers to sort out what essentially will be their problem. I found some else is having the same problems and being fobbed of by the dealers

 

any dealership that would turn away a car with problems, isnt worth it to begin with - they should in fact be loving you, as you keep coming back for more work (thats a marketing / business view).

my advice: find somebody else to work on it - show them a list of everthing you have done, and have them go from there.

 

Problem sorted... I feel so well releaved..

Spark plugs changed, problem gone, thought the dealer had checked them.... oh my god!

 

Well I was wrong, 3 weeks (is it?) later and a new Radiator later and the problem has begun to haunt me again

There appears to be a built up of blackness around trhe ring of the spark plugs.

I've been told by a few mechanics to sell the car, but I love it, I dont want to loose it like this.. what the hell is wrong with my volvo.

 

All I can tell you is to not give up. 100K on these cars is nothing. I would not trust a dealer who did not even check the spark plugs. Have you replaced the wired, distributor cap and rotor? What kind of plugs did you use? Hang in there, you'll get it fixed.

 

Ok the research continues, if only for my love of this car and its sound!

I changed the plugs for Denso, apparently they are the correctly rated plugs, and correctly gapped, I used a trusted supplier for the parts.


I may have to add that the whole car is performing a lot better, so Im calming down a bit.

If I have more issues I'll question them in future threads


Thanks for the encouragement