I'm new here - joined out of desperation trying to get help with my car problems!

I purchased a used 1996 850 last year with about 195,000 miles on it that had been very well maintained by its previous (and only) owner. I really loved the car, and had no problems whatever with how it ran for several months. But earlier this year, about 4 months into owning it, I started having problems with it stalling out. The first time I stalled at a red light. The engine started idling rough, RPM's dropped, and then the whole engine shut down, instrument panel lit up,and radio still blaring strong. I immediately restarted the car and it drove fine the rest of the way home. I was really freaked out and called the Volvo mechanic. He said it was probably a fluke. Over the next several months this became a recurring problem. First, only stalling at stop lights or when driving slowly through parking lots, but it has gotten worse. The ignition switch was replaced in February of this year. Over the past month, the issue is much worse. It's happening while I'm driving. The engine will start to surge or hesitate, and I can feel it start to shut down. Of course I try to pull over at this point, and as I soon as I star to break the whole thing shuts off and I'm forced to brake and then shut off the ignition. The car usually restarts immediately, after holding the ignition for a bit. A few times it has not restarted. Two weeks ago my car wouldn't start at all so I called AAA to tow me, and when the guy got there the car started for him. I have had Volvo, Precision Tune, Meineke, and AAA all try to diagnose this car. It will not reproduce the problem when it's in the shop. I've been told my fuel pump might be on the fritz, but no one will help test it or replace it until it's completely dead.

I'm tired of mechanics telling me that my car is perfect and there's nothing wrong. I've had the engine and transmission checked thoroughly, and a transmission service performed a few months ago. The check engine light has not come on at all since this problem has occurred, which makes it much harder to diagnose. Finally last week we had a tune up at Meineke and ended up replacing spark plugs, cleaning the fuel injector, and replacing the distributor cap and rotor. They also tuned the electronic ignition, but none of this helped. Today I drove the car less than a mile from my house, and at 55mph I felt the engine sputtering and starting to go out on me. I ducked into a neighborhood just in time as it shut off. This was very disconcerting, and the problem seems to be getting worse!

The most disappointing thing is the Volvo mechanic was the least helpful and charged me a ton of money for basically nothing. If anyone has heard of this problem before and has suggestions of what might be wrong and how I can get a mechanic to actually HELP me, that would be much appreciated! I've spent lots of money on this car and I really want this fixed! I'm starting to get really scared driving it. Thanks in advance!

 

One thing you might check is your ground cable coming off the battery. I have heard said of others experiencing the same issues as you and the poor connection at the ground sometimes does the trick, especially at the mileage you indicated. As you, I am new to Volvo too. A lot to learn

 

It sure sounds like a fuel delivery problem that could be from various reasons. In line fuel filter could be plugged, the pick-up sock on the fuel pump could be plugged. If there's enough debris to restrict flow it could cause the car to "run out of gas", and then when it sits idle or is moved the debris can fall away until the next time it gets sucked into place. I had this happen with a different vehicle with the same symptoms.

The possibility of an electrical glitch with the fuel pump relay circuit could do the same thing. I'm not entirely familiar with the system, I've never had to do work on mine. The next time your car stalls, turn your radio off and cycle the ignition switch on and off. Listen for the fuel pump to cycle (folding down the trunk access will make it more pronounced) and if you hear it run, then the relays and pump are running.

If you don't hear the pump you have a problem there. The next step I'd take is to disconnect the fuel pump connector and hook it to a test light. When you turn on the ignition, the test light should light for a few seconds. If not, there's no electric feed to the pump. Then you'd have to trace out the relay and check for current there. If the light does light, it's likely your fuel pump is bad.

 

Hey RedBox, sorry to hear that your car is stalling and driving you nuts. If you go to the 850 section, and hit the search button and type in "stalling" you will get a lot of results. Volvo Forums - Volvo Enthusiasts Forum - Search Results

The #1 problem is the fuel pump relay. I have one that you can try if you'd like.
Look here at step #6. Compression Test - Volvo S70 GLT, 1998 You can click on the pics to make them bigger.

 

Hey, I feel your pain, since my 1996 NA 850 wagon was on a similarly maddening jag for a few months. I started out where you started — new plugs, new wires, new distributor and rotor. I replaced the fuel pump, filter and relay. The old pump had weak pressure, and the new pump put out a mighty torrent of gas. But the car still stalled. I replaced the cam position sensor with a used one from a UPullRParts operation. No real change. Then I cleaned the air intake, checked for vacuum leaks and replaced some faulty hoses at the vacuum tree under the trottle cover, plus replaced the MAF sensor (this after the check engine light came on with a code for this sensor). I also jammed the intake on the airbox into a permanently open position (there's a thread on that somewhere here. The thermostat that controls the little trap door gets stuck so that a steady stream of heated air is fed to the engine.). Okay, this was not exactly a scientific approach, so I don't know what the truly effective step was. For that matter, maybe it was a combination of aged, failing parts. But so what, since finally the car is running without stalling. It's such a pleasure to have the thing running reliably after months spent fearing that the next stall would be in some truly ridiculous location. The frustrating thing was the unpredictability. I thought at several stages that I had solved the problem because I'd go for a few days without a stall. And then whammo — stuck in a stalled vehicle again. My condolences and best wishes…

 

Like others have already mentioned this is classic symptoms of fuel pump on its last legs. Not to say it can't be something else, but typically electrical issues that give these symptoms would set off a CEL, which you say you don't have. Loosing fuel pressure will not set a CEL (strangely..). Could be the fuel pump relay but that typically causes no-starts; not dies while running symptoms.

But what I really find interesting is that you expected the tow truck driver to diagnose it... AAA is an auto club that happens to provide a towing service; they don't fix cars and their tow truck drivers certainly aren't qualified to diagnose driveability issues.

And the other "repair" chains you mentioned; I wouldn't take my kids' radio flyer to; they're parts changers for the most part. Looks like they changed a bunch of parts and didn't fix your problem, did they? Did they offer your $$ back?

Now you would hope the Volvo dealer tech could figure this out since he's probably seen this dozens of times (oh wait, this was at the dealer, right?) but maybe you got a greenhorn. In any case I would not assume the best techs are at the dealer; in fact they might be the worst in town..

I would look for recommended indy volvo shop near you; that's your best bet. Or fix it yourself...

BTW: this case is most definitely solvable, by a qualified tech..

 

Before you spend another dime check this link out. Usually when a pump fails it fails. One way to check relay is to jump pins 18 and 57 and see what happens. Relay is located under fuse panel on drivers side above the firewall.

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/for...pic.php?t=9681

 

Thanks guys. Had a friend of a friend who is a Volvo mechanic take a look at it and he thinks it's the fuel pump or relay. So we took out the old relay and are testing it out to see if that fixes it. So far no stalling - we'll see!

 

my 850 had a similar issue. would stall at idles and rarely would stall going at slow speeds.

with mine, the CEL eventually came on and it turned out to be the MAF sensor. i replaced the fuel pump relay as well, as thats what everyone initially thought it would be as well.

good luck, these cars are great once you get them running in tip top condition.

 

Not true, mine did the exact same description he was having until that one day when it just did not start again. Heed the warnings signs.