misfires and sputtering 1998 V70

Post by **songzunhuang** » 20 Aug 2009, 14:38

OK, for those who are curious I tried to video the bad Bosch Ignition coil in my Volvo so that you can see the sparks on either side arcing.

Here's a link to the video. It is a Windows Media file. The sparks are very faint in this video because I had to do this in amore lighted environment. My video camera wouldn't record correctly last night when it was dark.

http://www.thehuangs.com/Bad%20Bosch%20Coil.wmv

It's too bad as the blue arcing glow was much more impressive if you saw it in person. As it is, you an see the major arcs, but they are not so blue and impressive.

OK, I get my new coil today. I'll report back and let you know how it all goes.

Post by **songzunhuang** » 20 Aug 2009, 17:32

OK, here's an update for those following this saga. I got the replacement STI branded part. I replaced the old Bosch without too much trouble (hard to get to some of those darn bolts), but I got it in.

: The new vs. old coil. This certainly looks like the right coil. It's the exact same form factor.; new and old coil.jpg (128.76 KiB) Viewed 6900 times

The car started right up and ran well. I drove it around the block and no codes were thrown. But all is not well in Volvo V70 T5 land. There is now a loud continuous clicking sound coming from the coil that can be heard quite clearly in the cabin. The soudn rises and falles with the rpms. It sounds like there's still arcing of sparks going on, but you can't see anything from the outside.

: The new STI coil fit like a charm, but the operation wasn't so smooth.; New coil.jpg (121.89 KiB) Viewed 6901 times

I'm going to upload a few pictures for all to see. I tried this part because it carried a lifetime warranty and cost $130. So much for trying to save a few bucks. I have ordered a Bosch OEM replacement now for $170. This part is going back. There's no way I can deal with the loud continuous clicking that rises and falls in sync with the engine rpm.

Tomorrow, we try the Bosch part. Sigh....

seanm3113 · Post by **seanm3113** » 20 Aug 2009, 18:56

How do you keep you engine bay so clean? It seems that everyone on here has a clean engine bay and when I open my hood tomorrow I will have a fresh layer of dust..?

lexmia · Post by **lexmia** » 20 Aug 2009, 21:51

Make sure that the high tension wire terminal is properly seated in the ignition coil; if not, the spark jumping between the wire and the coil terminal could be the one making the clicking noise.

Post by **songzunhuang** » 20 Aug 2009, 23:09

Lexmia - what is the "high tension" wire? Are you talking about the one wire that plugs into the coil from the distributor? If so, I removed that and re-seated it a few times to be sure it was getting good contact. So that's not the issue. If this isn't the high tension wire, can you please enlighten me?

As for the cleanliness of the car, we like our cars clean. This one has 163K miles and it looks marvelous. The only issue is th interior leather which is getting quite dirty and worn along with the steering wheel leather. I've looked everywhere and there doesn't seem to be replacement leather seat kits for the Volvo. I'm not sure why. OK, that's a different topic entirely.

Back to this one, the parts shop tells me that my Bosch OEM replacement will be here in the morning at 8am. I'll have this sucker in and tested by 9am. Fingers crossed that it works a lot better.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 21 Aug 2009, 01:06

How do you keep you engine bay so clean? It seems that everyone on here has a clean engine bay and when I open my hood tomorrow I will have a fresh layer of dust..?

We are all just kinda anal about things. This may turn into a 25,000 post thread with people telling me what an idiot I am but I just leave the car running and hit my engine bay with the engine degreaser at the car wash on the corner every 3rd or 4th time I go there to clean up the exterior.

It often runs like crap on the 5 block trip on the way home but by the next morning everything is fine again and I have a nice clean engine bay. If it is running particularly bad I run it down the highway for 4 or 5 miles until things smooth out before I take the car home.

I do try to keep the high pressure rinse off of the distributor cap and the coil.

...Lee

Post by **songzunhuang** » 21 Aug 2009, 14:05

My Bosch coil came this morning. I picked it up and put it in the car. One thing I notice is that the $30 extra bought me much more facny packaging!

: Nothing like the OEM part. More fancy packaging and more money!; Boschcoil.jpg (135.17 KiB) Viewed 5301 times

But enough of that, how did it all work after it was installed?

: Installed and al ready to go.; Boschcoil2.jpg (152.58 KiB) Viewed 5301 times

So there's mostly good news. The loud clicking sound certainly went away. The car started right up and I drove it around the block again. No engine code lights appeared, but I did notice a little stumbling and the uneven idle problem. It's not as pronounced as before, but it's still there.

So someone suggested that I go to ipd and get a Blaster coil. I had no idea what they meant until I was surfing last night and came across http://www.ipdusa.com. Their coil looks marvelous and it's also only $110. I should of gotten that! I wish I just found it sooner. Oh well, now I will see how the car does for a while with this new OEM coil.

I still think I have the idle issue to tend to. I am thinking a PCV oil separator or the assortment of vacuum hoses. I saw a kit at ipd for $94.00 which basically replaces all the hoses. I am thinking that's the ticket. http://www.ipdusa.com/Volvo-S70V70-1998 ... -861-4158/

Anyone tried it before?

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 21 Aug 2009, 16:14

That price from IPD is competitive. Check with Darrell Waltrip Volvo and FCP as well. I do like that the IPD kits come with the worm gear style clamps. I can only use about half of the Oetiker style clamps that come with the IPD kits.

If you want to deal with the vacuum lines once and for all try Stylin Motors.

http://www.stylinmotors.com/

...Lee

Post by **songzunhuang** » 22 Aug 2009, 12:04

This morning as I was taking my daughter to an art class, our car started to stumble again when idleling. Not only that, it threw the misfire code again on ALL cylinders. I had P0300, P0301, P0302, P0303, P0304, P0305! What a downer after all this. It seemed so logical that the failing coil would be the problem. Apparently that wasn't the single culprit.

I'd like to draw on the wisdom of the folks on this forum. What other things do you think would cause a misfire on all cynlinders? I have replaced all the plugs in the last month. All the wires rotor and cap have been replaced in the past 2 years. Can a vacuum hose leak cause a misfire on ALL cynlinders?

I have seen mention of checking the hose in the vacuum tree. I have spotted the vacuum diagram sticker on my hood, but I don't see a mention of a vacuum tree. I am assuming that it's some place where many hoses meet. Is that under the cover for the throttle cable? Is that also the location of the manifold vacuum hose that is a likely candidate for a failing hose?

I'd like to start replacing the vacuum hoses, but I'd hate to embark upon a complete change when I am not sure that's the cause of my issues. Recall that I changed my evap core over the course of 3 days only to discover that this wasn't the issue for my A/C problem. I don't really want to repeat an exercise like that again.

I am scratching my head on this one now. Thanks for any help.

dbo550 · Post by **dbo550** » 22 Aug 2009, 14:23

My car was acting like yours so I replaced the spark plugs and it got better, but was still stumbling and would die every now and then. I changed my ect and now the car runs flawless, it wasn't throwing an ect code though.