Hey everyone. Thank you in advance for reading my post and for your time.

My latest issues with my 2004 Volvo S60R started several months ago. I started smelling fuel and the odor became stronger every day especially in the back seat where my 2 year old sits. I took the car in to my local Volvo dealer and they said there was a broken seal in the fuel pump and they would fix it for $1,400 which I didn't have. I researched a bit online and found there was a recall for that part and told the dealership and they claimed the previous owner already did the recall. After arguing with them about it, they finally agreed it would be in their best interest to replace the part than risk my car blowing up with a 2 year old in it.

Several days later they gave me my car back and it stalled on the drive home. I started the car 5 times, each time driving about half a block before it died. Finally the battery quit so I pop-started it 2 more times and finally hit a hill where I was stuck. I towed the car back to the dealership. The next day they told me the fuel pressure censor went bad and again it would cost $1,400 to replace. I argued it was something their mechanic must have done because it was fine before I brought it and he claimed it was unrelated and the mechanic never touches the fuel pressure censor when changing the fuel pump. I called another Volvo mechanic and he told me you do have to do something to the pressure censor while changing the fuel pump and it is likely the mechanic damaged it. Besides I found out there was also a recall on the fuel pressure censor so again I argued with the guy and he was obviously irritated and said "Fine! we just changed it, come pick it up no charge"

So within 2 days I notice a bigger problem. The car seems to run great on short trips. However, after driving for 20 minutes or longer the car will start to cut out on me when I give it a good amount of gas or try and accelerate quickly. The problem seems to happen more often the longer its running. It wont stall, and the radio doesn't cut out, but the engine will just quit as if I took my foot off the gas. It happened dozens of times, several of the times were at very dangerous merges where I nearly got hit because of this. So I took it back to the dealership. They said it's my alternator and I have a bad battery both need to be replaced and it will cost (the magic number) $1,400. I called the other Volvo mechanic and he told me to get my car the hell out of that dealership, and he'd take a look. So I towed it to him and he said he agrees the alternator is bad and the battery had been shorted out. He'd fix both for $1,000. I got a 3rd opinion and he told me the alternator and the battery are fine. But I didn't know what else to try so I replaced the alternator and the battery.

It made no difference. I still have the same problem. The car runs fine until 20 or 30 minutes of driving then the engine cuts out on me when I give it a good amount of gas. I cant risk driving my kid in a car like that and really don't have the money to let mechanics guess what the issues are. The car was running great before I brought it in for the fuel pump and now it seems cursed. Any advice would be very appreciated.

Thanks.

 

You'd need to have fault codes checked first but you may have a turbo control valve issue.

And FYI, the second mechanic who said the fuel pressure sensor is involved with replacing the fuel pump is wrong. It isn't touched.