I own a 1999 s70 volvo. I bought it used about 2 1/2 years ago. As of a year or so ago I have been experiencing difficulty starting up the car. I turn the key, the car starts but then within a second the motor stops. I can repeat this process forever, the only solution is to press on the gas until i take the car off park and actually begin driving it. This problem takes a more dangerous edge as the vehicle has a tendency to stop in intersections while I am waiting on a red light, or when I slow down to turn curbs. I have to stop the car, turn on the hazard lights, put it in parking, retry turning it on, press the acceleration until i can take it off parking and then drive off abruptly. Does anyone know what the cause of this is? Any solutions? I have brought my car to a volvo dealership ( and multiple other car repair locations) and no one has been able to fix this.
Your help is appreciated,
Thanks.

 

My first thoughts while reading your post was "I wonder what he has done to cure the problem so far" then when I read that you took it to a Volvo dealership who specializes in repairing these cars, I'm at a loss.

I guess my first question would be... did the Volvo dealership charge you for doing nothing? Post all of that it could be a number of things. I'm not up that much on the post throttle cable models but on the pre-99 cars they have a vacuum tree under the throttle in the motor area that you can sometimes find a torn vacuum hose connector. These vacuum elbows sometimes leak air causing problems at low engine speeds.

My second guess would be the dreaded ETM problem that people whine about all the time with the '99 and '00 models.

Third area of concern would be a loose wire that may be grounding out randomly. Like from a cam sensor or something of the sort.

Again, I would check every vacuum connector. Pull them off, turn them around and make sure they are not torn or worn out. The way you described the problem it sounds like it has gotten progressively worse.

Lastely I'd like to encourage you to stay in touch to let others know how and when this problem is fixed. Is your car a turbo model or NA?

 

Any CEL or ETS light? Do they work?

 

Check fuel pressure, make sure it's to spec, and that it builds immediately. Clean the MAF. Check for codes, even if there's no lights. If there are codes, post them here.