Inherited this car from my in-laws a few years ago so I don't know much history prior to that.

Has been a pretty good car with the exception that it uses more oil than I would like, no leaks and I occasionally see a blue cloud coming from the exhaust, not sure if that matters but added for background.

Last week or so, it has occasionally stalled. It started on a day it had been run low enough on gas that I added some from a can I had. It drove fine for a few miles than sputtered a couple of times, we made it home without further incident. Did not re-occur so I assumed it might have been some bad gas or water from the can. The stuttering has happened a handful of time over the last two weeks or so. This morning I was driving and it actually stalled as I was driving. Coasted to the side of the road and turned the car off. After just a few seconds the car started fine and finished the drive home. Noticed that if I tried to accellerate quickly the car wanted to start stalling again, but if I just loafed along it seemed normal.

Any help to trouble shoot this would be appreciated. I have not looked for any trouble codes yet, still trying to find the procedure I saw somewhere before. When I find it in an FAQ somewhere I will see if I can add anything to the description.

Thanks in Advance,

Kirk

 

Welcome to the forum.

Go over my 1st & 2nd replies at:
https://volvoforums.com/m_48928/tm.htm

If you want to keep your Volvo going for a long time, I would do them. However, I would make the timing belt & its pulleys & tensioner as the top priority if service record is missing.

As to the current problem, see attachment. I'm about to go to bed, as I'm on the opposite side of the shore, zzzzzz......

Other members will be helping you as well.

Best of luck to you,


JPN

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/E5B88EFDB4364CA19EAC9686C450BAB2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/B2CB45CF1D504D24A135798D86D007AB.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/1426FD40C60E4F468D0FC2EA5A4CB0F3.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/3ED509583EB74594B2F7C896DA760ACC.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/A33800C5C1B64588803FD3FDE823709E.jpg[/IMG]

 

Or you can visit AutoZone and have them retrieve codes via OBD-II, see attached. Tell them that your car DOES have OBD-II, even though it is '95 car.

If the exhaust is blue, oil is burning. I would have the engine compression-tested. I would also replace the PCV components if not done recently.

I'll let other experts take over because this time I'm really zzzzz.....


JPN

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/1E23467722AC41D4BD7B517C2D3960F3.jpg[/IMG]

 

Thanks for the quick reply and help. I will probably try to limp the car into autozone over the weekend. Problem these days is that the weekends are usually busier than the weeks anymore, might not fit it in until Monday.

Might try to read the manual codes.

Kirk

 

Could be a partially clogged fuel filter. If you let it get low on gas, you may have sucked up some crud from the bottom of the tank. That is one reason I try not to let a tank get too low. I would try changing the fuel filter. At the very least it is a good bit of preventative maintenance even if it doesn't solve the problem.

Glenn

 

I had a similar problem with my '93 850. It started to stall more and more often and take longer and longer to start again. I replaced the fuel pump and it got a little better.
It turned out to be the fuel pump relay. I replaced it and the car is running better than ever.
Good luck!

 

Yes, it could be the realy as well.

 

Thanks again for the reply. Well it took much longer than I had hoped, but I ran the car into AutoZone and the scanner picked up the following codes:

P0133
O2 Sensor
CKT Slow Response
(Bank 1 Sensor 1)

P0133
O2 Sensor
CKT Slow Response
(Bank 1 Sensor 1) ****Not sure why it was reported twice****

P1310
Manfacurer Contrl.
Ignition System or
Misfire

P0304
Cylinder 4
Misfire Detected

P0305
Cylinder 5
Misfire Detected

Any help interpreting these by all the experts here would be appreciated. FWIW, I have driven the car around the past couple of days without incident. Not really sure what I should be thinking, but I kind of hate to let my wife or daughterbehind the wheel if it might stall again.

TIA,

Kirk

 

Did all the fault codes cancel O.K?

I don't think any of those codes are much cause for concern.

Check out your fuel system i.e. relay, filter and pump. Sometimes the pump inlet gets clogged if the tank has enough accumulated sediment in it.

Good luck!

 

+1.

Stalling & no-start have also been due to retiring fuel pump or the pump relay on the 850s as noted by other gentlemen. Also, how old are the ignition components on your 850? If more than 6 years old or unknown, I would inspect/replace the following items:

- Spark plugs (Genuine Volvo)
- Ignition wires (Bougicord)
- Distributor cap & rotor (Bosch)

You can get them for less than what you would pay the dealer, and they are the exact same parts used by the dealer:

http://www.fcpgroton.com/volvo850tuneup.htm

http://www.eeuroparts.com/home.aspx

The O2 sensors always seem to report some problems and can be ignored unless your state requires emissions inspections or if your mpg is suffering.


JPN

 

OK, It has taken longer than I would like, but between real work and the weather I have not felt much like crawling under the car. Changed the fuel filter this afternoon. Took more time to collect the tools and filter than it took to actually change it. By appearances it might be original equipment, the filter had tape wrapped around the connectors like mentioned here as original. http://volvospeed.com/Repair/fuelfilter.php.
Car has 140,000+ miles so if it was the original filter that could be significant.

I think I will drive it for a little bit and see if that fixed it before throwing any more parts at it.

Thanks to all who helped and gave advice so far.

Intend to do some of the tune up stuff mentioned as time and cash permit.

Kirk

 

Hi Kirk,

Glad you've replaced the fuel filter. Fuel filter is one of the most commonly neglected items, though not as bad as brake fluid.

Let us know who it goes.


JPN

 

OK, been dealing with this off and on now for a month. After discussion above, I decided to attack the fuel system a piece at a time (basically in order of cost: filter, relay, then pump/pick-up). Replaced filter probably 2 weeks ago and have been driving the car without any issues since (was feeling pretty good that I had it fixed, since the filter looked original.) My daughter had started driving it again. This morning, on her way to school, it stalled on her. She was able to get it safely to the side of the road and gave me a call. I went and picked her up and when I tried to start the car I noticed that the fuel gage was at about the same spot it was the last time it had stalled on me. Could not get it started, but came back aqbout an hour later with some gas and after adding some fuel, the car started right up. This would tend to lead me to think it might be pick-up related, except for the fact that I went through a full tank in the weeks that I was driving it.

I am not sure what the weather was before when it might have stalled, but today was drizzly and wet, so I wonder if I should consider rethinking my approach and going over ignition system. Intend to do all this eventually anyway, just do not really have time and money to do everything I would like to. Of course I don't really have time to go on rescue missions too often either.

Any further thoughts appreciated,

Kirk

 

Maybe a faulty fuel gauge, reading higher than it actually is?


JPN

 

While not impossible, I have not noticed any other funky readings on the guage so I would tend to discount this for now. My thought was that there might be a hole at this level in the pick-up, but like I said I ran through several tanks of gas while was driving it so that does not really make sense to me either. I guess I will keep throwing parts at it.

Kirk

 

If it started right after you put gas in it (ie you know there's gas in it) then a faulty guage reading could be the culprit. If the guage cluster had been removed for any reason, it's extremely easy to screw up the guage reading by touching the needle. All the guage needles are electronically driven and their "start" point is what they read from, so if the start point is inadvertantly moved up or down, the reading will move in that direction accordingly. There is no "stop" stick for the guages, so trying to reset to the original start position is guesswork at best. If the start position of the guage just got pressed by the thumb while holding the guage cluster, it would be enough to throw the reading of (ie it says 6 gallons, but it's really only 2 gallons in the tank. I think it's a good idea to purposely move the fuel guage up a couple mm's just so there's always a bit more in the tank than the reading shows. Nice to have that extra little bit of security imo. (In the 850 turbo I owned while in Sweden I purposely moved the speedo guage up 10kph since my girlfriend had a lead foot and felt comfortable at about 20kph above the limit. She never knew how many speeding tickets I saved her! lol)

 

The guages have not been off in this car. I had filled the car up over the weekend and usage was consistent with the guage reading. I am just noting that the guage has read the same at two different instances when the car stalled. The first time I was able to wait 5 minutes, start and drive home. If you put a hole in a straw it is difficult to drink once the fluid level reaches the hole, just wondering if the same thing is possible here. Is the pump above the tank and a "dip tube" extending into the gas on an 850?

I suppose it is also possible that the extra "head" associated with a higher fluid level is enough to help a pump that is getting weak.

I don't know, just looking for help from those of you who have been inside this beast already.

Thanks,

Kirk

 

OK, picked up a new Fuel Pump Relay the other day and installed it. Have been running the car a little bit and now that fuel is back to about the 12 gal mark on the guage, it is starting to stall again. Seems like I need to move on to the fuel pump or related pieces. Can anybody point me to a "how-to" for fuel pump repair/replacement?

Thanks,

Kirk

 

I would say either Moderator Tech or RedTurbo850 could give you the best instruction. I would do the replacement in a well-ventilated area and have a Class-B fire extinguisher handy just in case.


JPN

 

Kirk [/align]Looks like we are having the same problem with are cars ( and daughter ) I just changed my fuel pump , it took me 20 min.and I am no mechanic.vary E-Zthat's the good thing BUT The bad thing was it was about $400 and did not fix the problem . Mike[/align]