850 Glt, 1995, MAF sensor and Solenoid problem

bonafidetide · Post by **bonafidetide** » 17 May 2011, 16:21

I bought my volvo back in Feburary, and it ran pretty well. It had the service engine light on when we purchased it, but nothing major. We drove it for about a month without problem. We started the car one day and the check engine light came on. It was idling very funny. It would idle really low, and sputter, then die. Then you could restart it. But it continued. Instead of reading our own codes, as we are new to Volvos entirely, we took it to our mechanic. He HATES working on volvos but ran the codes for us. It pulled a MAF sensor and thats it.We tried cleaning the current sensor from the directions provided in another forum, but it didnt help. We drove the car for while(like a day)with the MAF unplugged, because it ran a little better. Then the flashing arrow of doom came up while we were on an incline at a stop sign. We lost acceleration when beginning from a dead stop or slow down. The hubby cleared the arrow code somehow, and we parked the car for about a month. We finally got the money for the MAF sensor and installed it this morning. It didnt sound any better. We took it to the mechanic and had him clear the codes. He read them again and one came up for a solenoid. Replacing the MAF sensor didnt help. It was still idling rough and dying. Funny thing is, when you unplug the MAF sensor, it runs better. It doesnt idle quite as rough and takes longer to die, but as soon as you plug it back in, it messes right back up. The acceleration issue only happens about half the time, and once you get past 30mph or so it runs great, and shifts fine. But once you slow down, it idles rough, and if itdoesnt die before you go again, it wont accelerate about half the time. Please give me some kind of idea to wh this may be. A dealership is much too far of a drive, and I couldn't afford it anyways.

And like I said, i'm new to volvos, so try to put it in easy terms. LOL.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 17 May 2011, 17:52

On a '95 you don't need a fancy code reader - it came with your car and you can read codes in your driveway.

http://volvospeed.com/CheckEngine.php

Pull the codes from both port A-2 and A-6 for the engine problems and post them back in this thread, we can help you from there.

Depending on your ECU you may or may not have any codes at all from port A-6 so don't be concerned if you don't have any action at all from that port.

Also post and then clear any codes that you have from port A-1 - that is the transmission controller diagnostic port and it will likely remember what the transmission was mad about.

...Lee

digitalnomad · Post by **digitalnomad** » 18 May 2011, 10:23

I'm having the same issues so I'll detail it and hopefully we can both get straightened out.

1995 850 Turbo Wagon, ~140K actual miles (odometer gear broken)

About a month ago check engine light was already on and car died at a stop light, wouldn't restart. Towed to shop and was told fuel pump needed to be replaced per read code. I went with it, but decided to start doing my own repairs after that.

Everything was fine for a week or more, then check engine light came back on and car was hesitating during city driving and dying occasionally when I stopped.

Got codes read. Sorry I don't have a record of them, but they were for misfire in 2 cylinders and MAF sensor. I replaced these parts myself: plugs (Autolite copper), wires (NGK), cap and rotor (Bosch). I cleaned the MAF sensor with CRC Electronic Cleaner (per some forum threads) instead of replacing the sensor. I discovered brittle tubes on the TCV (the top 2) and replaced (yellow) to the top of waste collection and (green) to underside of MAF outlet.

Put it all back together and enjoyed a victory cruise. Cleared the codes the next day. Ran beautifully for a couple days and check engine light hasn't come back on, but it is hesitating again in city driving and dies randomly when I come to a stop, but will restart and get me moving again by getting back into gear and hitting the gas pedal!

Here are my diagnostic codes from under the hood (including code descriptions from www.matthewsvolvosite.com/volvo-repair-database/volvo-850-trouble-codes/):

A1

111 (No faults found)

A2

414 (Boost pressure reduction from TCM)

A3

213 (Left rear wheel sensor, no signal on moving off)

214 (Right rear wheel sensor, no signal on moving off)

142 (Faulty brake pedal switch, open or short)

A6

-nothing-

A7

113 (Fuel gauge open circuit)

122 (Temp. sensor interval too long)

B1

211 (Driver’s side damper motor position sensor open circuit or
shorted to 12 volts)

325 (Recirculation damper motor active too long)

B2

122 (Speed has not exceeded 22mph or no speed signal (not a code
to worry about))

B5

111 (No fault detected)

B6

-nothing-

digitalnomad · Post by **digitalnomad** » 20 May 2011, 10:25

@bonafidetide I'm interested to see the results posted from the codes that you find. I'd love to dive into fixing mine, but I'm not experienced in interpreting these codes and knowing what I should be honing in on first.

I just saw another forum thread that sounds similar to what we're having issues with:
www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39237

To answer a question that was posed in that thread, I DID gap my spark plugs to .028.

aero850T · Post by **aero850T** » 20 May 2011, 11:28

One quick question. How old are your vacuum lines? If they are original they may be leaking and causing the misfire and MAF issues. Basically your engine is taking in air that the MAF does not know about. As a result you are not getting enough fuel to go with all that extra air. Causes hesitation and misfires. Had this problem on mine recently.

digitalnomad · Post by **digitalnomad** » 20 May 2011, 16:21

CORRECTION: "I discovered brittle tubes on the TCV (the top 2) and replaced (yellow) to the top of waste collection and (green) to underside of MAF outlet."

(green) to underside of MAF outlet >>> I meant (blue)

digitalnomad · Post by **digitalnomad** » 20 May 2011, 16:37

aero850T wrote:One quick question. How old are your vacuum lines? If they are original they may be leaking and causing the misfire and MAF issues. Basically your engine is taking in air that the MAF does not know about. As a result you are not getting enough fuel to go with all that extra air. Causes hesitation and misfires. Had this problem on mine recently.

Are you talking about these hoses?
www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6941

If so, then yes, 2 out of 3 replaced. I discovered brittle tubes on the TCV (the top 2) and replaced (yellow) to the top of waste collection and (blue) to underside of MAF outlet. I didn't replace the (green) hose going to the turbo because I don't have any way to get under the car yet (to reach up to the turbo end) and it doesn't look reachable from under the hood. Anyone have experience reaching the turbo end of the green hose? Reached from under the hood or under the car?

If those aren't the vacuum lines you're talking about then please give me more specifics on which ones. I'm a noob at this auto maintenance for the most part.

digitalnomad · Post by **digitalnomad** » 20 May 2011, 17:45

I found this in the repair database on repairing or replacing the fuel pump relay:
www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9681

I guess I'm going to have to check this out and see if it could be my issue. Or one of many issues...

If this fuel pump relay is in need of repair/replacement, shouldn't I be getting a diagnostic code for that? I've looked over the trouble code list and I don't see anything at all about this relay.

aero850T · Post by **aero850T** » 20 May 2011, 22:01

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... php?t=6941

Look at the second diagram. It shows more vacuum hoses. There are 2 that come off the intake manifold just after the throttle body. One goes to the purge valve. There is a tree off where the idle air control valve is by the throttle body. On mine I found the ones that go on the intake manifold near the throttle body were rotted through.

digitalnomad · Post by **digitalnomad** » 01 Jun 2011, 16:15

Since my limited auto repair knowledge had only gotten me so far and the vacuum hoses I found brittle and replaced didn't solve my hesitation and dying problem, I decided to take it to the local dealer for an $89.95 diagnostic. They told me the mechanic found hairline cracks, with a magnifying glass, in the solder of my fuel pump relay! Son of a $*@&!!! (Note my previous post about me pulling that relay out, inspecting it, and saying it looked fine to me.) They put a new relay in, test drove it a couple times throughout the day, and said it seemed to have solved the problem. I hope that is the end of this saga because I thought "problem solved" when my fuel pump was replaced about 4 weeks ago (not by the local dealer). I'll post again here in a couple weeks to confirm that relay was it if there are no further issues.

The mechanic did say that I should be able to just solder over the cracks and keep the old relay as a spare. From what I've read in these forums, many people keep a spare relay in their glove box.

@bonafidetide I hope my posts help you figure out your issue. I'm still interested to find out what your solution turns out to be.