ongoing fun with the v70

mwilkerso · Post by **mwilkerso** » 23 Apr 2012, 13:35

Its been a while since I have updated my status on my 1999 volvo v70 xc. I have stated in previous posts about our ongoing project, and all of the problems we ran into.

Here's a summary of my experience/progress:
I bought car from craigslist for $4000 with 101k miles. Upon driving home in the car from the sellers location 2 hours away in vancouver, wa, it started snowing and I was able to detect something wrong with the car but I couldnt put my finger on it. I had no dash lights or obvious malfunctions, but it felt like a gust of wind was hitting my car. I know this sounds obvious while snowing, but it was definitely a dragging feeling in the car that was intermittent and almost felt like a rough shift, but while at constant speed.

Anyway, we made it home and I wanted to do some of my own maintenance to the car since the craigslist seller was unable to provide me with any info on the car. I found out he purchased the car from an auction and according to the carfax, everything was clear on the car, and the only reports found were title transfers and maintenance records ( all routine stuff ). So we set about doing a list of repairs I felt necessary:

-timing belt kit
-fuel filter replace
-k&n air filter upgrade (found a rat's nest in the airbox- gross!)
-cabin filter replace
-serpentine belt replace
-oil change/filter change
-spark plug change
-new battery

This is about when the fun really began. After these repairs I test drove the car and got a cyl. 3 misfire code, then replaced the ignition coil and boot, which worked, and cleared the code. Then I found anti-freeze leaking all the way by my passenger rear tire, so I replaced the heater core after tracing it back to there.

Among these repairs I ran into the issue of my car starting itself when the battery cables were reconnected. Thanks again to this forum and others, I traced the issue to a remote start box and a key-bypass system. After disconnecting them completely, my car wouldn't start and I was becoming very frustrated. Turning the key would turn the car over but it wouldn't start. After a day of being pissed off, I realized my problem. I removed the collar around the ignition where the key goes in, while fixing the remote start problem. Its the thing that has the marks on it showing which ignition position your key is in. Well, apparently this thing has a magnet, that when not in contact with the ignition, prevents your car from starting. Anyway, reconnecting everything solved the issue.

So I test drive the car again. Everything's great, heater works, car is fast and fun to drive. Until, that is, the ETS light appears. Soon, the volvo is limping home, and I'm very pissed off. The car has all the classic symptoms of etm failure, i.e. hunting at idle, staying in limp home mode, etc. I don't hesitate to get on xemodex and order one. It gets here in about 4 business days, and I immediately install it upon arrival. I was so excited I already had the old throttle removed days before the new one got here. So, I install the new throttle with the aid of this forum, as usual, and the instructional video on xemodex. The hard part was putting the intake hose and clamp back on the throttle, after the throttle was bolted in. I wanted to attach the hose, then bolt the throttle in, but the hose clamp seems to cover the bolt holes when its fully in its place and tightened. I eventually got the hose on and everything back into place and I was ready for a test drive again!
Oh and by the way while doing this repair I put a new crimped connection on the battery terminal, not soldered, which I will talk about at the end of the post.

This time everything was great. The new throttle is really awesome, it has no play and just feels so damn precise. I feel like my car has had performance upgrades, and its really a blast to drive. I'm so confident I take it to work 12 miles away...

The drive to work was great, until I entered the city. The drive to work is 11 miles of 55mph constant and about 1 mile of downtown city. When I stopped at the second redlight, my abs light, red brake light, and parking brake light came on. When I pulled into my parking spot, the ets light came on and I stalled. Needless to say I went into work disappointed.

While on lunch break, I moved the car about two city blocks, and nothing was wrong with the car. No dashlights, no obvious problems. So I park the car and return to work. When I leave work at 11pm and get in my car, I start it and nothing is wrong.
I begin to drive and I notice the electrical system seemed to be strained. The lights were sort of dimming, and I came to a stop sign. The abs lights came back on, along with ets and cel. I accelerated around the corner and got into the right light, which luckily had parking spaces near, and my car stalled and died.

The symptoms were that of a dead battery. It was nighttime now, and I realize the back door redlight is on like it open. So that explains the dead battery. The door must have been open for days, draining the battery constantly. So my friend comes to town and brings his jumper cables. We try charging and jumping the car and it would start for a brief time, and idle fine, but then stall out and die. I even tried to drive it while i was started and I ended up stalling out on the beginning of the freeway. So my friend just tows my car the 12 miles back home. This is where my car has been for a week now while I rigorously read about the problem until I get time to work on it again, which will be 2 days from now.

One of my questions is, why would the car stall out after jumped?

My first thought is the crimped crappy battery connection I did. I left the fuse end alone and just cleaned the battery end up and crimped a new 4gage terminal onto the 4 B+ cables.

I purchased the things I need to solder the connectors on the battery end. I know I need to probably solder the fuse end as well. I have some 6g wire laying around, can I just solder a connector to it, bolt it on top of the old fuse-end terminal, and solder it in with the other B+ cables? I do intend on resoldering the fuse end connection as well, just not replacing the whole wire. And I was thinking adding the 6g wire on top would help?

I also intend on doing the ABS module repair on this forum. I've read up on it quite a bit, and I think we can tackle it. This should address the ABS lights.

I guess the only other thing I can think to do is take the radiator cover back off, and check my connections to the starter, alternator, that I didnt knock them off while doing the throttle repair, and just generally check back over my work that Ive done. Any other suggestions would be appreciated and I hope this post will help others get through any problems similar to mine.

Thanks,
Matt
Pacific Northwest

Post by **jblackburn** » 23 Apr 2012, 13:49

It sounds like your battery cables are overheating, specifically the ones to the fusebox that distributes power to the rest of the car. This has the effect of kinking a hose and only allowing a trickle of water to come out while pressure backs up behind it.

Check the cable into the fuse box for corrosion at the fuse box end. If that looks OK, I'd start over and replace all positive battery cables with new, thick-gauge ones.

mwilkerso · Post by **mwilkerso** » 23 Apr 2012, 14:00

If i do completely replace the four b+ cables, should i go with 1 4 gage wire? Or stick with 4 6 gage wires?

Post by **jblackburn** » 23 Apr 2012, 14:10

Honestly, I think a thick 6-gauge wire would do a better job.

Get rid of the other wires currently there; they may be creating a parasitic drain that can overload the system.

mwilkerso · Post by **mwilkerso** » 23 Apr 2012, 15:50

Another fun update:

i just moved the car by having my girlfriend steer and brake while i push. I had to do this to allow for trash pickup. Lets just say this car is heavy as hell. So when i go to take the key out of the ignition ( had to turn it on to get steering), it wont come out. Im guessing this has something to do with the shiftlock button or something. Maybe all the steering without any electricity has reset some sort of lock? I dont know but this isnt really the worst worry I have with the car now.

So I suppose I will try the single heavy gage wire replacement for the b+ cable and the ABS solder job. Any other input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt

Post by **Pauloil** » 23 Apr 2012, 18:10

I have extra B+ cable lying around, you can have for 40 dollars. my cable have a voltage drop of 0.2V under load. when my batt only had 12.3 volts, I did the B+ replacement. 12.6V after!

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=35208

Post by **jblackburn** » 23 Apr 2012, 18:20

Pry the button out on the shifter with your fingers and it'll let your key go.

Not that anyone's gonna steal it anyway without a working battery

Volvos are fat hunks of lead. I had to push mine back through the neighborhood when it died on a test drive.

Post by **Pauloil** » 23 Apr 2012, 18:21

volvo voltage drop testing is done under load at 2K rpm with fan on high, rear defroster on, and headlight.

http://www.aa1car.com/library/voltage_drop_testing.htm

Post by **BEJinFbk** » 23 Apr 2012, 19:10

The shiftlock overide button may also be stuck partway down.
I'm guessing that you pushed it to get out of park and move the car.
It needs to be all the way up to release the key. Most of these cars
have had something spill on the console and make that button sticky.

I would caution you to be careful about scratching that button up when
raising it back up to it's original position. It fits in the console opening with
very close tolerances and chewing up the button can cause real problems.

I wrapped it with a a small chunk of innertube to protect it from
the 6" channel locks that I used when it happened to me.

xtwister · Post by **xtwister** » 23 Apr 2012, 22:18

When I bought an s70 a couple of weeks ago I sometimes couldnt get the key out either.
I ended up removing the shift knob since the button didnt release 100%
I lubed it up and havent had an issue with removing the key since.

Did you resolve the floating feeling on the highway when driving it back? I had a similar when driving the car back. It was the rear trailing arm. I was worn. I could actually push the rear wheel left and right in the wheel well a couple of inches. On the highway it felt like a gust of wind was constantly hitting the side of the car.

Replace the clamps on your IAC. I did the PVC since I pulled up the IAC assembly It must of broke the seals (since the clamped hoses would rotate) and then shortly after it was throwing misfires and idled like crap. Then it would run fine for the 1st 20 minutes and run bad again.

I also had the ABS failure but i think I fubared that on the repair. It worked the first day and now I get a module failure code. I will redo that again to see what i did wrong. You may want to rethink doing it yourself because that module is a pita to open up.