I recently purchased a 2000 S70 SE manual trans. I had it three days and had some major problems with it.

The car drove fine for about 300+ miles. Suddenly on the way to Chicago I lost most power. The car would barley accelerate, though there was no rough idle, no check engine light, no nothing, just a SEVERE lack of power. Pushed the clutch in and floored motor with RPM's barley reaching 3,000. I was "limping" to an off ramp when the power was restored with a sudden jolt. The car then ran as if nothing happened. This is part 1 of the horror story.

The lack of power came back. I was already on my way to drop my friend off at his brother in law's body shop so I limped the few miles there. Again, no check engine light, no shaking, just a severe lack of power. Clutch in or out it did not matter. Like I said; in no gear and floored the car would barley go over 3,000 rpm.

At the body shop they were thinking the heavy rain we were having swamped something. We gook the coils off the plugs and blew some air into where the plugs were. Some oil came out, which made me cringe on my 3 day old car… They blew everything out, put the coils back on and started the car. It ran fine. I waited about an hour and was leaving. This time I started the car and it was very obviously not running on all cylinders. The check engine light came on and it was shaking bad (this is the first time the check engine light came on). It appears one of the coils was shorted out. The body shop is thinking the oil did it. I’m in a bind, as I’m not even sure the dealer is going to fix the 3 day old car. Illinois and Wisconsin do NOT have the 30-90 warranty periods most states have. It’s “buyer beware”.

The car is being towed back to the dealer where at the very least they will cheaply or freely fix the valve cover oil seal, which is no doubt bad (stop me if I’m wrong) and the bad coil or coils will be replaced (one way or another). My concern is this may not be the only thing wrong. I simply do not understand how before this happened the car lost so much power, but continued to run as smooth as glass. When it first happened my first thought went to the drive by wire throttle system I’ve heard they have.

One way or the other the valve cover oil gasket and coils will be fixed. But I’m worried the “stalling” or lack of power problem will occur again. I’d rather not have my “new” baby in the shop every other week or get stuck on long drives which I like to take. Hoping the all knowing “Tech” will know some answers here or anyone else that might have some ideas feel free to chip in.

I just don’t understand how if the coil was failing on the way to the shop how it could still run smooth as glass. How could there have been no check engine light with such lack of power, and why would it have suddenly came back so quickly at one point?

 

Have the codes checked... It kind of sounded like a faulty ETM. See if the ETM has been replaced and or at least cleaned. There should still be a 200,000 mile 10 yr warranty on this item. If not and it is the problem and they do replace it expect to pay anywhere from $900-$1200 for the replacement and it is a Volvo only replacement item.

 

What other research I've done that looks like it might be the culprit. I think the two incidents were not related. The car has 92,000 on it and is a 2000 so it sounds like it would still be covered until January is that correct? Seems like Volvo had a LOT of problems with these units...

Even if not Volvo wouldn't cover it, I bought an extended warranty that I think woud cover that regardless. The only thing the stupid warranty DOESN'T cover is gaskets, which just ticks me off...