misfires and sputtering 1998 V70

[songzunhuang]

I like pictures because they really help me to understand things and I am sure it'll help others who are curious. So I want to understand the vacuum hoses. I took off the throttle cover and I believe I revealed the vacuum tree.

Here's the area covered by the plastic cover. The cover went over the part to the right of the intake manifold pipes.

VacuumTree and throttle control areas are clearly visible in this shot.

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Now here's a closeup of the vacuum tree area. I have put numbered labels on each hose that looked like a vacuum hose to me. Can the more knowledgable folks here identify each of these hoses?

Closeup of the Vacuum tree with labels. Can folks help to identify?

VacTree_labels.jpg (299.66 KiB) Viewed 4069 times

Unfortunately for me, the only hose that looked even slightly worn and or brittle was #5 where it went into that cylindrical looking inline part that's half black and half white.

So I am still struggling with this problem. I see that someone posted a ECT as a possible cause. OK, now todig around to see what that is.

I'm looking forward to hearing back on the vacuum hose functions. Thanks everyone.

[songzunhuang]

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.

OK, it looks like the ECT is an Engine Coolant Temperature sensor. If your car wasn't throwing any codes for this, what made you decide to replace it?

Also, my engine stumbles whether it's hot or cold. It's also throwing misfire codes on ALL the cynlinders. I am not sure I get the connection of how the ECT would be directy affecting that. Mind you, I don't know electronic engine controls super well, but I am relatively mechanically inclined and wish to understand these things more.

Maybe I'll get to this, but I have a few other things to try first.

[dbo550]

I was suspicious of the ect because the temp gauge would act erratically. The ecu uses the signal from the ect to control the fuel mixture and the car would have to be cranked a long time to get it to start. I would make sure to address any vacuum issues if you think you have them. I have the vacuum and intercooler hose kits from stylin motors, very high quality and money well spent. If you do go the ect route make sure you get the volvo oem one, around $50 at fcp.

[songzunhuang]

Thanks for the info on the ECT. I have not had any temp fluctuation issues thus far. As for the vacuum, I think that it's more likely. I'll need to spend some cycles tracking it down. Nothing seems to be easy these days.

[volvooh]

Here is an update. I started this thread discussing the sputtering and CEL problems on my V70. Thus far I have replaced the plugs, wires, cap and rotor, as well as run a can a JB through it.

I just replaced the Cap and Rotor last week after another episode of sputtering on a rainy day. Rain seems to be the enableing factor.

The Cap and Roter were very worn, but we have not had a real rainy day to test it. I ran it through an auto car wash (best way I could simulate rain) and it ran fine.

I'll keep you posted.

[seanm3113]

I'm looking forward to hearing back on the vacuum hose functions. Thanks everyone.[/quote]

I believe you have another, well hidden vaccuum line to the left of the manifold. Between the temp sensor and the left side of the manifold. I had misfires on muliple cylinders because the elbow was cracked. I used carb spray to check it. It is part of the PCV system of hoses. Just a thought.

[songzunhuang]

SeanM3113,
Thanks for the heads up. I was looking in the area of the Temp sensor yesterday and didn't notice another hose. I won't be able to really dig into this again until later in the week though.

Update for those following the thread. The new ignition coil didn't seem to make a difference at all. I paid way too much for that OEM coil. So today, I called the nice folks at IPD and order one of the MSD performance ignition coils along with a new rotor and distributor cap. I got all those items for less than the OEM coil.

I put my old coil back into the car and returned the OEM coil. Shout out for the folks at Winchester Auto Parts. They have been extremely cool about my musical chair with the coil. I normally buy all my parts from them.

So I'll put those parts in my car this week. If nothing improves, then I've got an appointment with someone that is supposed to be an "electrical genius" when it comes to cars.

Epilogue - with the old coil back on, it's running just the same as before. Nothing better, nothing worse.

[songzunhuang]

Everyone, after several months and 3 service visits and about $670 later, I have fixed the misfire problem. As you may have guessed, it was something simple but I sure went through a lot of !*&%$ to finally fix it.

Let's cut to the chase. It was a bad wire from the coil to the distributor cap. Now, I don't know how 3 visits to 3 separate service stations didn't reveal this. The fact is, they just never looked. The wire was fried crumbly inside. When I tried to remove it, it just disintegrated in my hands.

Fried wire end and Distributor Cap.

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First place told me they found nothing. $100
Second place told me I needed plugs. $288
Third told me I need a new Crank Sensor. $60 (advice only)

Parts bought: $276 + tax
OEM plugs from dealer: $56
Crank Sensor: $72
MSD Ignition upgrade: $93
Cap: $33
Rotor: 22

So I proceeded to replace everything they told me. I thought I would share in pictures. I will say that the thing I really needed was a new wire. I got that wire from the folks at IPD along with their MSD coil upgrade. The mounting bracket for the new coil is beautiful, but it'll never be seen! That's too bad.

Here's the crank sensor I got. I was told that this was OEM. It came in a GM Delco box! No way I thought. Upon closer inspection, it was made by Seimens. Later when I took out the original one, I saw that it was a Seimens as well. BTW, this was not easy to reach as the mechanic told me. It was way down there and I had to remove stuff to get to it.

OEM (Delco?) Crank sensor was from Seimens.

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Here's the IPD coil kit. It looks so nice compared to the old boring black Bosch coil!

Beautiful cool looking MSD coil.

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First order of business was to drill out the old coil. Felt weird as it seemed I was destroying a perfectly good part. In reality it was probably damaged due to all those miles with a bad wire.

Drill out the oil coil. It's no longer usable.

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In this pic, you can see how nice the custom mounting bracket from IPD is. I love custom machined parts! It's also mounted on rubber to isolate it from vibration and also keep it from grounding.

I love custom fabricated parts! Too bad you'll never see this when installed.

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Here's what it looks like in the car (with the airbox removed). That nice blue wire is what saved the car.

New coil in, Airbox out. Blue wire was the key.

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Here's the finished job. The clearances are really tight but it seems to work.

Everything in with the new coil. Tight fit, but it does fit.

IPD_in2.jpg (86.4 KiB) Viewed 3031 times

So the moral of this story is....check your easy ignition parts yourself first before taking to those lazy mechanics. I bet all they did was plug in the reader and look at the codes. They never even checked the basics. My bad for thinking they would do the right thing.

Thanks for everyone who helped out and also those who took this "journey" with me. Now I can love our family car again.

Also, a big shout out to the folks at IPD (www.ipdusa.com). They spent time on the phone answering all my questions about what this could be. It was the folks at IPD that first mentioned that a blue "corona" around the coil meant that there's probably a bad connection because the system was discharging around the coil (causing the sparking) since it couldn't pass through the normal path, which would be the plug wires. The guy was spot on! Thanks.

[feddeytx]

Thank you so much for spending the time to post the whole story with pics. I was cruising the board because my V70 GLT will not start. I had just changed the fuel pump and relay to no avail. I had taken off the distributer cap but did not disconnect the wires. So after reading your post I went in the garage(very fortunate that is where my car broke) and blue spark city. My ignition coil wire looks even worse than yours, disintigrated when I went to take it off. I am sure I will be able to get her running quickly now.
Without your post I would still be chasing OBD codes.

Thanks
Mark

[songzunhuang]

Mark, woohoo! It'd be so great if this fixes it for you. If your wire was worse than mine, I am sure that it'll improve your situation.

I suspect that all the mechanics did was a "visual" inspection. From the outside, the wires and cap looked just marvelous. As you discovered, the inside is another story.

Let us know if this fixes the issue for you. We've driven our car around for a few days now and it's just wonderful again. I had been living with this misfire and associated issues for almost 8 months!

Now I am tempted to continue to upgrade parts from IPD! They are a great resource.

As for you, I guess you could just replace that wire and be done with it, but it's always hard to leave well enough alone.....at least for me.

Let us know how you fare!