Complete loss of power, stalling

[Alfa Andy]

2006 V70xc, 90k, original owner. About a month ago I noticed, always while on the Interstate, that at times (about once a week), while driving 60-70mph, the engine would, all of a sudden, lose all power. That is, one moment you are cruising at 60mph, minimal throttle opening, and then, the car begins to decelerate (the rpms decrease to idle speed) and increasing the throttle opening has no effect. The car slows for a moment or two or three, the speed slows 5 or 10 or more mph, and then it fixes itself and you accelerate back to cruising speed. This happened occasionally for about a month, with increasing frequency recently. Also, the engine stalled, while in park, once or twice. Always, after these episodes, the engine and car worked perfectly until the next episode. I discussed this problem with my longtime friends at the Volvo dealership. I would like to add, there are no set or pending MIL codes, and at no time has the Check Engine Light illuminated. I was instructed to remove and clean the electronic throttle-body. I purchased a new gasket and performed the service. The throttle was somewhat dirty, but not not filthy. You could still see a clear opening between the throttle plate and the bore, when the throttle plate was at rest. While doing this I noticed the crank case hose from the oil separator to the valve cover was broken at the bellows. I went back to the Volvo dealer and purchased an improved hose (#8692217-6), no bellows. As per the dealership, I also disconnected the battery cable for a few minutes. After reassembly the car ran normally. A week went by with no issues and I thought that I fixed the problem. Wrong. Today it happened again. While on the interstate at 60 mph I lost all power, coasted to 30mph, tach at idle speed, then all of a sudden, back to normal. HELP!!!

[Alfa Andy]

Well, it happened again today. Same as before, cruising at 65mph, complete loss of power. I had to quickly find my way to the shoulder, car gliding itself with no forward thrust. Engine speed decreased to idle speed as I found my way from the left lane to the shoulder. Pressing on the gas pedal did not increase rpms or forward thrust. If anything it made the idle seem a little rough. With no thrust I decided to use the brake and stop the car on the shoulder. I pressed on the gas pedal once more and again the engine did not rev up, it seemed to stumble a bit, but still held an idle speed. I pressed again on the gas pedal and off I went. Back to normal.The time from the onset of the problem to when I regained power was about 20 seconds. Car ran 100% perfectly the 5 miles back to the house. At no time did the check engine light come on. At home I rechecked for stored or pending codes. Again, there were no codes of any kind. The diagnostic tool that I use is a generic obd code reader, not the high-tech factory tool that the Volvo dealer uses. Does anyone have any advice on diagnosing this problem? Thanks.

[sjonnie]

Sounds like your ECM is running Windows 98 :D Might be time for an upgrade.

[JRL]

YOU cannot check for stored codes unless you own a VIDA-DICE
Otherwise take it to a Volvo dealer, codes WILL be stored

[Astro14]

From what you describe, it could be the throttle transducer, the ECM, or the ETM itself...worth having someone with equipment and experience diagnose it...having the power go to zero in traffic is dangerous...

[Alfa Andy]

Fixed! The problem was occurring with much more frequency now, so I went to the Volvo Dealer and had the codes read. Two ECM codes. 280B, Fuel pressure sensor-signal missing. 290C, Fuel pressure-signal too high. The parts department sold me a pressure sensor, part #31272730(Bosch 0 261 230 110). Funny, the part # on the failed part was #8699449, Bosch # was same as above. I purchase through a local garage, so I got the discounted price $165.00 ($210.40 list). I asked, and was told that the sensor was easily accessed at the end of the fuel rail and that the installation was straight-forward. They were correct. I carefully drained the pressure in the system at the schrader(?) valve on the one end of the fuel rail, and removed the one torx bolt on the other end of the fuel rail and replaced the sensor. It took no more than 10 minutes. It has been 5 days and over 300 miles of driving and not one occurrence. Just one problem though. They also told me that I had 2 DEM codes. 000B, and 0007. They said that I most likely needed a DEM temperature/pressure sensor, but that I would have to make an appointment for more (under car perhaps) diagnosis. Does any one know what they are going to do with this next step? Is it a matter of checking values (resistance, voltage ?) at a sensor? I could do that, if I knew what to do. I'll ask again. Help!!

[dpaton]

JRL mentioned:
"Your Haldex pressure sensor could need a cleaning"

in a AWD thread - I don't know what that entails though.

Post #5 - http://www.volvoxc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19808

[dkuphal]

I read this thread recently, though it was written 2 years ago. The problem description matched what was happening with my car, and for a long time, no engine light came on. Finally, when a check engine light did appear, I went to an auto parts store with a generic code reader and got a ""p0193" which is ECM 280C "Fuel rail pressure sensor circuit high". While running the engine, I checked the fuel rail pressure with a guage on the valve at the end of the fuel rail. At idle, the pressure would be at about 70+ PSI, spiking to 100 briefly after reving the engine. I replaced the pressure sensor at the other end of the fuel rail with a Bosch part from my local parts store for about $90. I disconnected the battery during the part swap. After replacement, I bleed any air out of the rail through the valve. I rechecked the pressure and it then held at about 60 at idle and did not change with reving the engine. I have since driven over 300 miles without a problem.

[Allen]

Nice work.

[Leto Atreides II]

Started running into similar problems in my '05. Finally ordering a DICE device to diagnose, since the CEL isn't coming on and my normal OBDII reader doesn't see anything. Ordered this one:

http://www.dx.com/p/vida-dice-volvo-diagnostic-tool-219543

Aliexpress doesn't ship to Washington state, and I've had good experience with dealextreme before.

[Leto Atreides II]

Meh, DX ended up not being in stock and I'm in a bit of a rush so I bought one from a US based shipper. Should be here in a couple of days. Meanwhile, while driving today I had my regular OBDII reader hooked up to my phone running Torque showing the fuel pressure. Normally it was around 300 kPa but it spiked a few times to ~585 kPa (but the engine did not lose power today). With these readings, combined with my earlier loss of power (dropping to idle as described in top post), does it point to a failing FPS? The car has also given me the "Fuel filler cap loose - open" message.

[DYZ]

Mine had the same symptom and was getting worse. I thought it was my fuel pump on its way out, but decided to try the cheaper/easier part first which is the FPS. To my surprise, it fixed the issue. You can buy the sensor ($51) here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005F9IZTO/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (made by Bosch). You would have to pay more than double the price if you buy Volvo Brand (also made by Bosch).

[Leto Atreides II]

Yah, I've had it in my cart for a few days already. :) Figured I'd wait until I get the DiCE unit to be sure first. But will DiCE be able to pinpoint the problem or might it still be any one of a number of issues?

[DYZ]

My regular code reader didn't find any code. Good luck getting your DICE working. I returned mine after wasting countless hours.


Yah, I've had it in my cart for a few days already. :) Figured I'd wait until I get the DiCE unit to be sure first. But will DiCE be able to pinpoint the problem or might it still be any one of a number of issues?

[Leto Atreides II]

Returned your DiCE? Or you mean regular code reader? I'm hoping I won't have too much problems with the DiCE as I've already played around with VIDA as a standalone app without an issue.

[DYZ]

I returned my DICE, not my regular OBDII reader (my lose is $25 shipping to China which the seller doesn't want to refund). Google "volvo dice blue led" and you'll find plenty of bad stories about these "blue LED" dice. Also see my thread here: http://www.volvoxc.com/forums/showthread.php?25397-Be-aware-of-those-cheap-DICE-with-all-blue-LEDs

[Leto Atreides II]

DiCE unit works great. The version of VIDA that came with it would not install at all (2013A) into my Win 7 Pro installation. I found a 2014A version that works great though (after finally finding a working patch and figuring out that no versions other than IE9 would work). Finally got the stupid DRL "feature" turned off. In the diagnostics, "ECM-2900 Fuel pressure. Faulty signal" came up as a fault. I'm ordering the fuel pressure sensor now.

[Aussie70]

Mine had the same symptom and was getting worse. I thought it was my fuel pump on its way out, but decided to try the cheaper/easier part first which is the FPS. To my surprise, it fixed the issue. You can buy the sensor ($51) here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005F9IZTO/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (made by Bosch). You would have to pay more than double the price if you buy Volvo Brand (also made by Bosch).


Well, I've had some issues with my MY2006 xc70 2.5t...

Total loss of power after sitting at the traffic lights for a few minutes - this has happened twice, once it wasnt too bad, but yesterday I had no power (everything still ran smooth & no dash lights or other symptoms). It was like a massive 'flat spot' that lasted about 2 sec & then the car took off like a rocket like normal.

I think I might just buy one of these fuel pressure sensors & see if that helps, dont really want this to happen again :\

[Aussie70]

hmm, my xc70 doesnt seem to have one of these on the fuel rail

[Iroll_]

I've had a cam position sensor fail this way without showing any codes. Might be worth while to take the cam position sensor out and clean it. It's easily accesble and can sometimes have shavings on it that cause it to read incorrectly.
Apply some dialectic grease to the electrical conectors( not the magnetic part) and clean the shavings. Easy to do and cost you nothing.

Figured this out after I replaced a fuel pump/filter plugs, FPR, MAF and coolant temp sensor on a previous Volvo.

I would also carefully apply dialectic grease to sensors that are safe and easy to access.
As electrical components age, the electrical conectors oxidize ( normal). Removing and inserting the electrical conector several times ( with dialectic grease) helps remove the oxidation while also "grounding" and insulating( from moisture) the electrical connector. I learned this from an old Mercedes mechanic and have used this trick to fix many a intermittent issues on Mercedes and Volvo's.

[Aussie70]

i will give that a try, thanks very much.

[Iroll_]

i will give that a try, thanks very much.

For certain. Good luck and please let us know how it works out!

[Aussie70]

i pulled it out & it was totally clean/spotless.

i had a big flat spot today, pulling away from a busy intersection - this is not good...

Thinking about looking at the accelerator pedal switch - maybe theres a bad electrical connection down there, problem is i get this issue only about once a week now, but its a pretty serious problem :\

[Iroll_]

Have you checked this?
http://www.volvoxc.com/forums/showthread.php?17517-first-post-not-the-last

This XC90 owner( XC70 uses this too) had similar symptoms to yours-FPM:
http://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-xc90-9/xc90-pem-fcu-replacement-tutorial-71534/

[Aussie70]

well, my car has never stalled/cut out completely, thrown a code or hesitated at all at highway speeds - 70/80 MPH (like the symptoms from that link)


99% of the time it runs perfect - it only ever has a totally 'dead accererator pedal' for up to 2 seconds is after coming to a stop/near stop - not a good situation to be in at all.

its an extremely dry coastal climate here, so we dont have the corrosion issues with snow/salt/rain etc.

my cruise control works fine, but I only use it on the highway where I never get this issue.



thanks for trying to help Iroll.

[Aussie70]

ok, my car is still trying to kill me, but good news, I have had the codes read.

Can someone tell me if this code could be a hint at what my 'random power loss' is being caused by & what i need to replace?

ECM-120D Air mass - signal too low DTC is found active


thanks!

[Aussie70]

clean/replace MAF sensor?

[Aussie70]

i pulled the MAF sensor out a few weeks ago & cleaned it with carby cleaner a few times (i doubt it had ever been done before)

good news! since doing that I've never got the dead accellerator/flat spot issue, hopefully thats all it was

[Aussie70]

its still been 100% fine ever since cleaning the MAF - case closed!

[Aussie70]

well the 'flat spot'/no repsonse issue came back with a vengence over the weekend - I cleaned the maf & even unplugged it but it was still terrible - just about every time i slowed down or stopped there was a delay from the throttle of around 3 or 4 seconds....

I replaced my battery & ever since then there has been a remarkable improvement - I'm not saying its totally fixed just yet - but it sure feels like it.

[howardc64]

I had an 01 with following symptoms that sounds a lot like yours

- intermittent no throttle response for a few seconds during drive
- intermittent engine shutdown coming to a stop
- no codes

New MAF fixed it for me. However, its an expensive and somewhat blind gamble. I had a 2nd 01 so swapped parts to help with diagnostics.I guess thoroughly testing the MAF wouldn't have helped in my case since the problem was intermittent.

http://howardsvolvos.webs.com/engine.htm#449431638

[Aussie70]

mine would never stall/stop running at all & the flat spot/no engine response would never happen under power at very light or heavy throttle inputs.

the car would allways have been idling away at about 600 rpm & then nothing from the throttle application for up to 3 seconds.

The weather has just got cold here & the car started doing this almost constantly - I do know the battery (looks to be 10 years old!) failed a 'load test' which is what prompted me to put in a new one - hoping it would help with this flat spot issue - seems it defintely has!

cheers