I have an 03 s60 non-turbo with 120,000 miles that has recently started sputtering and stalling. going up hills is a nightmare, getting the vehicle to travel over 45 mph is difficult. they've hooked it up to a couple of machines but can't seem to figure out the issue.

is there a common problem that they might be overlooking? volvo dealership is throwing hands up suggesting that it might be a catalytic converter issue but with no certainty. my mechanic thought it had something to do with the fuel sensor (if that's correct - forgive me, i know nothing about cars embarrasingly enough), so he cleaned it out but to no avail.

any help would be very much appreciated. thank you - jon

 

Sorry to hear about your delema. Since there are no dtc's present in the system after this happens, it leads me to belive that it is fuel related. The most common fuel problems are due to bad pressure sensors and fuel pumps. However, when the sensor acts up it almost always sets a code. Also, since it sputters when going up hill I suspect a problem with the fuel pump because all the fuel moves to the back of the tank away from the pump. If the pump has every been replaced it may be mounted in the incorrect position or the pump may simply be faulty and not keeping fuel around it at inclines. Hope this helps

 

thanks for your suggestions. what you say makes sense. i did a simple google search last night and found out that there was a recall on the fuel pressor sensor:

Recalls - Search Results | Safercar.gov | NHTSA

That being said, since we already took a look at the fuel pressure sensor, which seems to be the issue raised in the recall, if you were me what would you next have looked at? would you still say that it's possibly the fuel pump? or knowing now that there was a recall, would that lead you to believe something else is the issue now? again, thank you very much for taking the time to respond to a complete stranger in distress. very, very thoughtful of you and anyone else who's willing to chime in.

thanks - jon