Hello all,


My mother's '99 S70 (base model) is suddenly acting strange. I took the car for a quick 75-mile round-trip jaunt this morning and it was running perfectly well. Shortly after I returned to my town to put gas at a local station, it started acting erattically. I noticed that when I stopped at a red light, the car was idling, acting as if there was a misfire in one of the cylinders. It seemed to have that "chugging" sound to it, as I believe it was struggling to hold that idle. The sputtering made no sense to me. When accelerating from the stop light, it got up to speed normally; however, the sputtering and erratic idle continued. I stopped at the gas station to get gas and I shut the car off. It started fine, then I noticed another thing. About half a mile from my house the Check Engine light came on. The thing is this: The car will sputter and chug at idle and when accelerating up to 20 mph. After it passes 20, the sputtering goes away and it sounds just fine.

We had the ETM's software updated last summer, per the silent recall that Volvo had. I know that those parts have been problematic with 1999-01 Volvos. I really don't know what's going on with the car- if anybody has any idea how to help, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

You are describing exactly what had been happening with my 98 s70 t5...others I have read as well...massive tuneup didn't do anything but I had some sensor replaced and it hasn't happened since. It was at 4 shops and no one could get it...finally at Han's Auto, Balto (work only Volvos) they got it and were least exspensive.

Have you had the recall done? Your Mom should have received a recall letter?

We don't know how many miles you have on your car since the last tune up, but start the car up and let it idle for a few minutes. Turn it off and check all of the spark plugs for color. You may indeed have a misfire, which could be caused by a bad plug (rounded electrodes) or a coil that has gone bad (they do that).
If you have an Autozone close by, have them check the codes to verify if it is a misfire.

Klaus
--
1975 164 w/174,800mi (Sold) 1995 850T w/91,000mi, 1998 V70R w/129,000mi

Klaus,


The car is only a few miles away from turning 78,000 miles. I don't believe it has had a tune up since we bought it four years ago at 39,000. My mom doesn't drive it a lot.

Huh? You haven't had a tune up of any kind in over 40,000 miles???

My car starts showing little signs of an overdue tune-up at 22-25k miles. (More reluctant cold-starts are the most common indicator here.) As such, I've altered my spark plug change interval to 20k miles instead of the factory-specified 30k miles. Granted, my car is a turbo, which wears away at spark plugs faster than a non-turbo, but at 40k miles, you're way overdue.

Let's start by replacing the plugs and air filter.


--
Jim Rothe, '99 S70 T5M,
http://www.jimrothe.com/volvo/index.html