Hi guys...

I'm new to the forum but a long time Volvo owner.
I have run into a problem with my lovely car - maybe someone has any ideas.
English is not my main language so forget me if I describe things a bit strange

So the problem:
I very often now get a strange reaction from the car - RPM tends to get really low sometimes and motor even dies when I'm standing still with motor running.
Actually at first when this started motor also died sometimes while driving but there was a broken vacuum tube which got replaced. Now after that it hasn't died while driving but sometimes I get a sudden loss of power - for example RPMs drop from 2000 to 1500 for a couple of seconds and then go back to 2000. Usually this will cause the lambda light to appear (but it doesn't light up every time).
I have now monitored RPMs while standing still on park and I see that usually idling is not stable and dies. To get the motor running again I have to hold down the gas give ignition several times continuously.

When I go to get it fixed by Volvo dealership they just read out error codes and they tell that they don't see the problem that moment - so they just clean some sensor connectors etc.
Regarding error codes then once they told me that it was a "general" error that may refer to several things like turbo pressure or air sensor.. Last time there was a error that referred to rotor and collector casket (don't know I got the terms correctly) which they suggested to replace.

As I have been to service 4 times and going back I was hoping to get some ideas or maybe someone has experienced something like that.

 

Sounds like you may be losing fuel pressure intermittently. If so, most likely the fuel pump relay and/or the fuel pump. How many miles/km on this car?

Are you a DIYer at all or are you dependent on you local volvo dealer or shop? Need to get the codes that they read out for you and post them here. Or you can get your own OBD2 scan tool; not too expensive.

 

Thanks for the reply..

250 000km.

With my previous Volvo (740) I was much more hands on but not that much on this one. Changed fuel filter, spark plugs and air filters and other small things... so not much.
I'm not very confident touching electronics or engine parts of car that may mess up a lot of things.

But local dealer is currently doesn't charge because I already payed once for the fix and they told it should be OK and it isn't. Otherwise I would find some other service to investigate it.

I have considered buying OBD2 but haven't got to it yet... I probably needs a SW for PC? How precisely and how much can be monitored with it?

I know error codes which were read out the first time when vacuum tube got fixed: EFI-231 and EFI-414

 

I agree with GDog. These cars have a history of fuel pump relays going bad at this age and mileage. Has the relay ever been replaced?

 

Cars from 1996 on (and some late '95s too) are OBD2 codes which are four decimal digits; was there a leading 0 in front of those?

You are at the right mileage for either fuel pump relay and/or pump failure. You could pop a new fuel pump relay in there yourself; very easy. If that doesn't fix it then you have a spare relay... Actually i don't like recommending that (guessing) but with intermittent issues that's often what you have to do (unless you want to hook up a test light or meter to your fuel pump and monitor it?).

 

Heck, that's what a lot of dealers do. You go pick up your car and you find that you are charged for 3 parts and 2 hours of labor. Then they tell you that all 3 parts were bad. Yea right! They changed a part, that didn't work so they changed another. To be honest with you, I'd rather they did that than chage you 3 hours of ts and not fix a thing.

 

I don't know about the fourth digit - I just wrote out what they wrote on my bill...
Well my car is at the service... I'll see what the result will be...
But shortly I'm just getting impression that they don't put very much effort into finding the problem... I have tried to find out if they even have seen the problem themselves or are thy just looking at the codes and guessing...
I just hate that there are "desk" people between me and the mechanic.. this time I specially asked to find out if they see the problem or not.

But if things aren't getting better then I just have to go to another service... and I will probably think about the relay... is the relay box under the bonnet where fuse box is? I know where it is in 740 but haven't searched it on V70.

I have also been thinking about getting the OBD2 tool... I found there is a ScanTool (OBDLink SX) distributer around here.. Do you know if that is OK for V70 with the SW they provide? Or is it possible the get the SW for free - I actually found a co worker who has a OBD tool but he uses it on his Audi so SW probably won't work with Volvo

 

OBD2 codes are common across all vehicle manufacturers; it's an automotive standard. If you're interested read more about it here and here. So your friends scanner should work. If you buy one, just ask them to make sure it supports your vehicle.

Here's a link about repairing faulty fuel pump relays; includes pic so you can find it.... since you used the word "bonnet" am assuming you're not in the USA; layout may be different if yours is right hand drive or something.

 

There are 3 cars that need a special OBD-II code reader. I hear that BMW's, VW's and some other car will need a special code reader.

 

Where did you hear this?

All the OBD2 P0xxx codes are generic across vehicle manufacturers; the P1xxx codes are manufacturer specific. OBD2 codes only deal with engine/emission issues. That's why systems like SRS are not covered under OBD2 and have manufacturer specific interfaces.

Here's another good link on the topic of what OBD2 is:

below text from link:
If you can plug your PC into your car and get real time data, then you can get real time data from the BMW. OBD II is a universal convention. Nothing about it is proprietary, except for some of the specific codes that might come out.

 

I read that when I was shopping for a code reader. A few of them stated that they would not work on those cars, just give a generic code.

As for hooking your laptop up to your car... does one need some special software? My code reader came with a cd disk and I do have a code reader that has a parellel cable, also a laptop with a parellel port.

 

Ok guys... I'll got some status... seems that my car is working for now - at least didn't see any problems during weekend - problem was with the air mass meter. Other things they changed didn't fix the problem so I got those parts for free - so at least something good came out if this adventure.
Anyway thanks for the help but I will probably still consider buying the code reader