Rough Idling / Reduction of power

cread · Post by **cread** » 08 Dec 2011, 07:19

I have a 1996 Volvo 850 Turbo, its been running fine up until last night. Temperature last night was 28F. But last night I jumped off my mother-in-law's truck. Battery was completely dead so it took awhile and i had to maintain high rpms to charge it. Later when I left to go home, the car didn't want to maintain any idle, and actually would sputter/surge while driving it ( I thought maybe because of the cold weather). This morning still very cold out, I went out started it to warm up for 15-20 mins before driving. Well it had very low idle rpm's about 500 rpm , and then would sputter to 1000 rpm and repeated this the whole time, bottoming out to where the car would almost die while idling. On my way into work after its warmup, it constantly sputtered and surged and would not gain power and rpms were going from high to low. I tried flooring accelerator to gain power and speed, rpms would occasionally increase but with no speed/power increase. I never was able to get over 40-45 mph. Whenever I had to stop i had to slip tranny into neutral and pat the gas to avoid the car shutting off.

I have a code reader and got these codes, two or three of these have been present for awhile but haven't affected performance or operation of vehicle.

P0133

P0172

P0301

P0440

P01310

I am working on a very limited budget and could use some help here. Can anyone tell me based on the symptoms i've given which of these codes are the most pressing and need immediate repair to make this vehicle drive without the problems i shared above.
Thanks
Calvin

Post by **jblackburn** » 08 Dec 2011, 07:39

Welcome, and thanks for pulling codes already! Definitely a help.

Hmmmm.

You've got a misfire in Cylinder 1. Remove that spark plug and see what's going on with it - it may not be firing.

The P0172 and P0133 codes are probably related to a vacuum leak, or could be related to the P0440 leak in the EVAP system. Safe to ignore those for now, but you can come back to and fix those later.

In the meantime, try disconnecting the mass airflow sensor connector on your way home. It's on the tube just after the air filter box. You should be able to drive it this way if the airflow sensor is bad, but it will be down on power. Does the car behave any better?

Another thing you could try that (may) be related - disconnect the black line into the intake manifold from the purge valve on the radiator shroud. If the charcoal canister is filled with gasoline and the purge valve isn't closing, it can flood the intake manifold with gas fumes. If this works as a temporary fix, please plug off both ends of the line.

cread · Post by **cread** » 08 Dec 2011, 07:48

Ok, thanks I will pull # 1 plug and check it out, clean it up and regap if neccesary to see if i'm getting spark and solve that problem. And then I will disconnect mass airflow sensor while at work and drive for a few miles as I work in middle of nowhere and see how car behaves and get back to you.

Thanks ! Hopefully i can report with some good news

cread · Post by **cread** » 08 Dec 2011, 07:50

QUICK QUESTION

I don't have my repair manual with me at work right now. If i am standing in front of vehicle facing engine compartment, where is cylinder 1 located ?

Thanks

Post by **jblackburn** » 08 Dec 2011, 08:01

Passenger side.

I edited the post after you responded. Make sure to check out the purge valve as well (near the battery side of the radiator).

cread · Post by **cread** » 08 Dec 2011, 10:36

Ok , I pulled the number 1 plug and it was fouled pretty bad, and needs to be replaced which i will do today. For the meantime i polished it up with emery paper and got almost all the carbon off. Reinstalled and started car, still same thing spitting sputtering on idle and under power. So next i disconnected mass air flow as you suggested and it ran better. It idled almost completely normal in park, I drove around for awhile and i had more power than I had before with no sputtering/surge while driving; however while in drive and at a complete stop, engine still doesn't want to idle and tries to shut down. Other than that things improved. So I'm assuming I need to replace the mass air flow sensor correct ? will that help with the lack of steady idle while in drive ?

Thanks

P.S. Also can you advise on the P0172 , P0133 codes also , I've had not so good gas mileage and believe this is problem. If possible please provide checklist to troubleshoot with and how to correct these. Thanks again you have been awesome with your help !

Post by **jblackburn** » 08 Dec 2011, 11:02

Yes, I believe your mass airflow sensor has died and you will probably need to get a new one. The general consensus is that the parts store ones DO NOT work (or for very long). You'll need to source and OEM Volvo or Bosch replacement - which probably means going to an online store.

The P0172 code is always a bad vacuum hose, and the P0133 and gas mileage could possibly be a direct result of that. Start by checking at the left side of the intake manifold for the hose that connects behind the power steering pump and alternator.

You can see it here:

If that vacuum hose is disconnected, you have two options:
1) Try to get a new elbow and reach down and connect it to the existing hose. Space is tight and it's a pain to work on with the intake still in. I ended up doing this:

Or run a length of vacuum line up and over the top of the engine temporarily to connect to this hose at the back by the turbo (top most hose on that intake pipe here)

If that hose isn't the issue, check all other vacuum lines into the intake manifold for cracking, as well as that EVAP hose from the purge valve into the front of the intake.

Hope this helps.

santem · Post by **santem** » 11 Dec 2011, 17:01

I can't help with the codes but I can offer this. I had somewhat of the same problem. After purchasing my 2000 S70 the battery would always die, had to replace the non OEM with an OEM battery and so far no problems and I also got a P0440 code. Was able to make that go away by disconnecting and reconecting the hoses to the EVAP solenoid in the front engine compartment near the radiator. One question, do you know when the sparks plugs were last changed? I found some oil had spilled onto mine leaking into the housing and possibly into the crankcase, causing my car to not start normal especially in colder weather, for your issue I would change the sparks plugs its easy, non expensive, and really good for your car anyway. I bought a set of 5 from IPD for around 45-50 dollars. Heres a link on how to replace the spark plugs Spark plug change tutorial volvo 850 s70 v70 xc70 c70