Hi All, I am the owner of an S70 1999 AWD turbo charged Volvo.
Have a cel so I had the codes read at a local Advance and it is a p0301, misfire on cylinder one. The car sometimes will fire right up and sometimes I have to pray to the Volvo gods before she fires up.
A good friend of mine has replaced the spark plug, replaced the coil, checked the maf (seemed to check out fine) checked the fuel injectors (seemed to check out fine) replaced the turbo control valve.

I'm a single mom...hence not a lot of cash lying around.

Do any of the savvy Volvo enthusiasts on this board, think that it could possibly be an oxygen sensor or sensors needing to be replaced?

Any help and or feedback is greatly appreciated

 

Could be your throttle control but the missfire is likely your wires, distributer or bad plug gap. How old are your wires? They have the year and week stampped on them.

 

Normally with that cel is tine to replace the coil in the cylinder showed, normally it should work fine.
Hows the wiring to the coil?
Hope this helps

 

Darn it. I keep forgetting these cars have coil packs and not spark plug wiress.

 

Yeah, sometimes I would like to forget they have coil packs and not distributors.....

 

Have you checked the compression? Below 140 psi or so on cyl 1 would be your misfire (and hard to start). Has the car been sitting for long periods of time (like weeks or months)?

Did you clear the code(s) after the coil pack was replaced? I've heard these coil packs tend to die all at about the same time, but if that were the case you would see other codes being set for the other cylinders.

 

Thanks for all of the suggestions and advice.
I have not checked the compression..but the car has not been sitting as it is my daily driver. The codes were cleared after the coil packs were replaced and shortly thereafter the cel was back w/the same code.
Question..when I check the wire dates am I checking all wire dates? Most of the insulation to the wires is gone. I have been told that happens frequently w/this model.

Thanks again, this is a very knowledgeable board

 

Sorry but your car does NOT have spark plug wires and dates. However, sometimes the wires back out of the back side of the plug that goes into the coil pack. Unplug the coil pack wire and look down the hole and make sure the connectors are not backing out of the plug.

 

Was the replacement coil pack new?
Maybe you can try using coil pack 2 in position one, clear the code and check if it reads on coil 2 if so, then it might be the coil.

Get new plastic insulator and recover the wires with zip ties, im doing so as we speak..its cheap.

 

Thanks,
I will check this.

 

A friend is going to do a compression test on the car, what will this show me?

 

It will tell you if the engine is mechanically sound or not. You should have about 150-170 psi; think the spec is around 180 or so.

Significantly less (< 140) indicates a mechanical problem; worn valves, rings, etc. Something you need to ck because w/o decent compression doesn't matter what else is wrong, it's not going to run properly.

 

Thanks for the reply.

Compression checked and...low compression cylinder 1, 130.

Had codes read again and they are p1238 Air flow sensor
p1175 fuel something Volvo specific code.
and p0134 O2 sensor bank 1, sensor 1.

Friend cleaned the maf w/maf cleaner...did seem to help some.

So I guess I should have the maf and O2 sensor replaced?

Cheers

 

Oh yes and the misfire cylinder 1 is still there.

Thanks much.

 

what was the compression on the other cyls?

 

Compression checked good on other cylinders.

I talked to my friend yesterday and he did say when he was looking at the car he noticed oil on the turbo and thinks that poss it may need a new turbo cartridge and that could be the reason the spark plug keeps fouling out.

Make any sense?

 

No,
There's oil in the turbo for many reasons.
If it was bad it would affect the car a a whole, no only once cylinder..

Did your friend tried swapping the coil pack from #2 into #1? Unplug the both and swap them around.

 

So what's "good"?

Agree w/Elchopper about the turbo; will affect all cyls pretty much equally.

Like i said before, low compression will cause a misfire; don't care if everything else is perfect. If it were me, i would not consider putting more $$ into it unless you're going to repair the engine first, and that's going to be some serious money, unless you DIY. Considering the MY (model year), personally i would think long and hard before doing that..

Regarding the OBD2 codes, the first two are volvo specific so you'll have to ask the dealer. Last one says your O2 sensor is inactive; assuming it's not unplugged, it's going to need to be replaced (please don't ask about universal O2 sensors..). Anyway the engine being in poor condition can cause bogus codes too. Assuming you don't want to put a lot of money into this one (and I wouldn't..) i would start shopping for a replacement used car; sorry for the bummer news..

 

Hi Emily, I'm with GDog on repairs on the car. Low compression meads the motor HAS gone bad so please don't put any more money in it unless you're going to have that motor fixed. IMO, its better to get a car with a good motor and work/put money into it.

 

Thanks to all of you guys...yes I do agree the motor has/is going bad. Darn, I have been so good to this car. The person before me treated it like crap tho...there were major problems from the very beginning, electrical and so on.

Srry am just venting.

I will be so very careful when looking for a replacement used car.

Any advice/recommendations on a used car?

Thanx and u guys rock