Hello

I'm looking at a friends 97 Model S70 5 cylinder..Normally aspirated.

I'm a old 240 and more recent 940 man, so it's quite a different ballgame when I open the hood on this car.

From reading a lot on this site, I find that Volvo has really taken a beating... well the consumer more so...on these cars with the "fly by wire" throttle control.

My friends car will suddenly lose throttle, and the car will stall...although the engine doesn't die, just goes to idle.
We live on a mountain, so when the car stalls going up it can cause quite a problem.
It also stalled on her when she was in the left lane passing a truck on the freeway.
She said that it scared the s**t out of her.

Also, when the car is idling, the idle will surge up and down continuously.
If I turn the ignition off and restart the engine, the idle will smooth out most of the time.
Also, the stall problem will disappear (for a while) if the engine is turned off and restarted


The thing that most concerns me, and the reason for my post is something I discovered yesterday while test driving the car.
I live on a hill and have a long, straight driveway.
While driving up my driveway I stopped to check how the car accelerated, and to my suprise, the car would not have any throttle response as long as the brake pedal was depressed.

The problem with this is the lag time in the engine response between the time I released the brake pedal and the time the engine would develope enough power to move the car.
This resulted in the car going backwards down the hill for some distance before the engine developed enough power to stop it and then move the car forward.
If I applied the brake to stop, I was in the same situation again.
I finally used the parking brake to hold the car so I could get throttle response.
What a crappy design.

Is this brake thing normal?
Did Volvo design a car that would not accelerate unless the brake pedal was fully released?

My friend didn't realize that the car would react this way, although she had been driving the car for a year or more.
Needless to say, it suprised and scared her pretty good.

I have decided that the Throttle Control Module is at fault, and I understand that it is really expensive to repair.

Does this sound right?

I'm really suprised and disappointed that Volvo would place such a crappy and un-safe design on a car.
That plus the interference engine and rubber timing belt make it worse.
The timing belt on one of the 5 cylinders engines is a b***h to change.

I told my friend to sell the car if she could and get her a 240 or 940 if she wanted to drive a Volvo.

Any response or advice would be appreciated
steve