NO acceleration - at all!

[Hermitladee]

Just bought this car. It had a check engine light on. Previous owner said he had taken it to the Volvo dealership and they said it was the catalytic converter. We took it to a local auto parts store that had a generic code reader, had the codes checked and it listed that as one option. The car ran smooth and had no other issues. That was last week. Today I filled the car up with fuel, drove across the street to a auto parts store to pick up something, came back out, started the car, pressed the gas pedal.... nothing! Not a darn thing. Shut the engine off, freaked out a bit, then restarted. Everything was fine. I drove the 3 miles to work without any incident. I'm going to take it to a local mechanic with the VIDA/DICE setup as soon as I can, but I'm worried about driving home tonight. Fifteen miles in the country - no cell phone service. Any advice???

[volvospeed70]

Just bought this car. It had a check engine light on. Previous owner said he had taken it to the Volvo dealership and they said it was the catalytic converter. We took it to a local auto parts store that had a generic code reader, had the codes checked and it listed that as one option. The car ran smooth and had no other issues. That was last week. Today I filled the car up with fuel, drove across the street to a auto parts store to pick up something, came back out, started the car, pressed the gas pedal.... nothing! Not a darn thing. Shut the engine off, freaked out a bit, then restarted. Everything was fine. I drove the 3 miles to work without any incident. I'm going to take it to a local mechanic with the VIDA/DICE setup as soon as I can, but I'm worried about driving home tonight. Fifteen miles in the country - no cell phone service. Any advice???

Was one of the codes ETM related? A clogged cat can cause the car to have no power if it really clogged but since you were still able to drive it around i'm guessing it's not fully clogged so it sounds like the ETM is giving you problems.

When your saying the car has no power what exactly is it doing. IS the car stumbling real bad to move, are you pressing the gas and the engine is reving but your not moving or are you pressing the gas and it like the gas pedal has no effect on the engine?

If i can get some more info i can help pinpoint the problem.

[Hermitladee]

The code was P1171. When I said the car had no power I meant nothing happened at all. I pressed the pedal and it did not rev at all. No increase in engine speed, nothing, just kept idling. I did run through the gears while trying to back out and then pull forward. Transmission was fine, just nothing happened engine wise.

[Astro14]

My car behaved like that right after I did some work on it...in my haste, I neglected to reconnect the ETM....

I would suspect the ETM in your case. Another failure (like the MAF) would put it into a default, lower power mode...but no response at all makes me think ETM...

[volvospeed70]

The code was P1171. When I said the car had no power I meant nothing happened at all. I pressed the pedal and it did not rev at all. No increase in engine speed, nothing, just kept idling. I did run through the gears while trying to back out and then pull forward. Transmission was fine, just nothing happened engine wise.

With what your saying i would bet everything that it's a problem with the ETM. There is a slight chance that the Pedal position sensor on the gas pedal could be faulty causing the etm to not get the signal but i have never seem one go bad before at the shop it's always the ETM.

When the ETM went out one the wifes car we got the replacement from xemodex which has a update version of the ETM. http://www.xemodex.com/technologyimproved/product/electronic-throttle-module-pre-programmed-with-software-for-2001-volvo-xc70/

[Hermitladee]

Another thing that would seem unrelated, but with Volvos, who knows... Every once in a while there will be a message that says Alarm System Service Required. It only stays on for a few seconds, and only comes on about every 10th start up.

I called hubby and he came into town and took it to a local shop with the VIDA/DICE setup. Since it was running fine at the time, mechanic said it would do no good to hook it up. He suggested using Seafoam to clean the fuel system out.

Then he said to not go on any long distance trips for a while, keep fingers crossed, and bring it back if it does it again. He thought it was unusual to have no prior symptoms. According to my husband, the mechanic said "sometimes electronic things just need to reset". Was hubby just blown off, or does the mechanics opinion seem reasonable?

[Hermitladee]

Husband just called... Mechanic remembered something that happened to another customer and wanted to give us a "heads up". He said to make sure that I don't depress the gas pedal when starting. He said something about the throttle position and pedal position switches have to agree, and if they don't, this could happen. I honestly don't remember if I had my foot on the pedal or not. It is possible. Has anyone heard of this happening before?

[hoonk]

Vida - there may be some stored codes, what does he charge to scan and print those out? (recommend)

Seafoam - IMHO all that crap does is transfer money from your pocket to someone elses. (I don't recommend, and I'm sure I have raised the ire of all the seamfoam advocates out there) But a (quality) throttle cleaning might be a good idea, although with a 2001 it is usually a waste of money. As others have stated you may have a throttle failure coming soon. When was last replaced? (99-01 throttles will ALL go bad)

"sometimes electronic things just need to reset" - Yes that is true, just like your home computer/network - reboot and things are ok again.

Alarm - Test yours by rolling the drivers window down, close doors, lock car, wait a minute - pretend to break window:p pull locking stick up and open the door - does the alarm sound?, lights flash? If not both you have a bad siren module - it will possibly drain your battery. A bad siren module can cause the alarm to go off when parked.

[Hermitladee]

VIDA - if this happens again, or if anything else pops up, yes we will take it back and have the codes read. He doesn't charge anything to read the codes.

Seafoam - haven't bought it yet. Might hold off.

Alarm - haven't tried your method of testing, but the alarm (or at least horn - is there a difference?) does sound and lights do flash when I have pressed the "alarm" button on the key fob.

[Willy]

Alarm service required could be the alarm module battery becoming weak.
The alarm modules also go bad from leaking batteries corroding the electronics.
Water in the housing of the alarm module is a known problem as well.
Although there is no reason to depress the gas pedal while crancking,
it is not forbidden and will/should not result in a problem as the one described here.
Willy

[Hermitladee]

Thanks for the reply about the leaking battery for the alarm. I asked about the alarm on another message also. http://www.volvoxc.com/forums/showthread.php?26215-Sunroof-won-t-open-Remove-rear-door-panel

I've got another question concerning it, but as to not have a duplicate Q&A, I'll post it on the other message thread.

[Astro14]

You've got multiple questions in this one thread.

- Alarm service required: likely the module. Fix this one later. It will eventually cause sunroof and other problems.
- Seafoam? Great way to lighten your wallet...not much good beyond that. Sure wouldn't fix your symptoms.
- Mechanic is likely right in that he can't duplicate it...but that doesn't mean that your car is fixed. Your ETM may be on the way out, or you may have another problem. If this mechanic has VIDE/DICE, have him run the ETM test...your car is the right vintage for ETM problems...

[Hermitladee]

Thanks for the advice. I will write that down... "the ETM test". We are more than likely going to pay the mechanic another visit tomorrow as he was quite booked up today. And yes he has the VIDA/DICE setup. We are lucky a local mechanic has one since we live in such a small town.