chugging

strueblood · Post by **strueblood** » 17 Jun 2010, 14:40

Just a few hours ago our XC70 wagon started to chug like it dropped a cylinder of something. I put more gas in just to offset and water the might have got in the tank. Stll chugs! It feels like there's a plug wire loose, the check engine light came on and flashed when it was running very rough at ideal. Thanks.

Steve

Post by **bigdaddylee82** » 17 Jun 2010, 15:08

What makes you think you got water in the tank? "Chugging," loosing power?

If you have water in the tank put some Heet in it:

There are a myriad of other possible causes, more details of the car's history, tune ups, and maintenance would help.

- Lee

850tech · Post by **850tech** » 17 Jun 2010, 15:14

If the CEL is flashing it means that there is a severe missfire condition which is bad enough to cause significant Catalytic Converter damage, check for bad plugs or a bad coil first.

And DO NOT drive it when its flashing or you WILL damage the Cat.

strueblood · Post by **strueblood** » 17 Jun 2010, 15:17

Thanks Lee,
The maintenance is up t date although I don't remember the last tune up. I thought maybe water or bad fuel because of how quick it came on and it is a humid day. I also thought about oxygen sensors because of the check engine light.

strueblood · Post by **strueblood** » 17 Jun 2010, 15:18

Where are the plugs located? I briefly checked and couldn't detect them yet.

Post by **bigdaddylee82** » 17 Jun 2010, 15:37

Plastic cover on top of the engine that says Volvo on it. It has some torx bolts around the perimeter. Remove the cover and you'll have access to the plug wires and plugs. What year model is it? Is it coil on plug, if so I would suspect a failed coil.

- Lee

850tech · Post by **850tech** » 17 Jun 2010, 15:38

under the palstic cover directly behind the oil cap. Once off you will see 5 coils (black boxes with wires to each) under the coils is the spark pugs.

After looking first for obvious fault, if you still can't see the problem you can try starting the car and while its running rough disconnect each coil only one at a time. If it runs worse or stalls, move on to next, But if there is NO change you know that the fault is with that cylinder. Then all you have to do is firgure out if its coil, plug or something worse like compression (don't worry not too likely)

Post by **xtrattitude4u** » 17 Jun 2010, 15:49

This happened to me yesterday. The car lost power and died. Tranny warning lights came on and all. It turned out to be a cracked vacuum line. Check all the vacuum lines you can find. There should be one on the left side of the intake manifold that is a usual suspect.

Post by **polskamafia mjl** » 19 Jun 2010, 17:24

Or you can read your codes and find out a) what cylinder(s) is(are) misfiring and b) if there are any other clues as to what is going on.

850tech · Post by **850tech** » 20 Jun 2010, 11:07

polskamafia mjl wrote:Or you can read your codes and find out a) what cylinder(s) is(are) misfiring and b) if there are any other clues as to what is going on.

Yeah that would be much easier, but I figured if he didn't know where the spark plugs were, the chances of him having a scanner were pretty slim.