is 139000 the magic mileage?

[cn90]

jablackburn is correct, a bad MAF can elude you!

However, in my case, the CEL shows the classic code of P0103:
http://www.obd-codes.com/p0103
(My MAF died at 100K miles)

A new MAF later, the car is happy!

$150 is considered cheap for a BOSCH MAF. Wait until you see the price for my 1998 BMW 528i Siemens MAF, it is $350!

[jfuhrman]

Yikes! Well, i guess I'll go get the codes read, see if it points to anything specific... if not and it's some generic codes, I'll disconnect the sensor. If disconnecting it seems to correct the idle fluctuation & fan, I'll get a MAF on the way. Hopefully this will be it for another 6 months. the last 2 months have been killers LOL

[jfuhrman]

I discovered the issue - it was most definitely the MAF. The wires were completely severed - chewed in half - along with the insulation mat on the hood.

Saturday morning - when I first noticed the issue - we took it an a brief errand. When we finally parked - the weirdest thing happened, a ground hog scurried out from under my car and across the parking lot. Really odd - we all thought - to see a ground hog running across a parking lot, but we simply dismissed it as cute. Not until tonight did I put 2 and 2 together. I opened the hood when I got home to disconnect the MAF as suggested earlier - What the... the insulation mat was completely distroyed - looked like something had nested in it. Stuff was all over - did the local shop screw up something when they did the coil replacement? then I looked down at the MAF sensor - the wired were cut - no chewed - through... definitely causing some issues!

After about 45 minutes (and some help from my 3 YO son) everything was wired back together properly - reconnected the negative mattery terminal - and she fired right up. no more erradic idling, no more ETS and no more CEL! mystery solved. Bastard Ground hogs though... who'd have thought!

[cn90]

Glad you found the problem.
1. Garage sabotage is usually clean cut by pliers (I doubt it but it is still a possibility).

2. Rodents eating wires usually leave chewing marks.

Check the rest of the car for any other wiring damages, check underneath too.
Sprinkle a little paprika on the lower part of the engine, rodents hate paprika.

[whoa]

Ha! Need to add that to the troubleshooting checklist. Vacuum leak, fuel filter, groundhogs, PCV, . . .

[jblackburn]

LMAO, now THERES something I wasn't counting on!

[Japedo]

hahaha, I took the spare tire out of the XC last month and saw a mouse running around down there! Luckly with two kids under the age of two, the mouse was able to find enough fruit loops in the car to keep him from eating wires.
Set a trap under the spare tire and that was the end of him.

I laughed to myself...... I wonder if the volvo dealer has a flat rate for rodent removal? lol I should have called


As far as 139 being the magic millage, I wouldn't say so. I didn't do anything more then whgat I would consider normal maintenance on my 94 850 T untill 305miles when the originall tranny went bad.
And my XC has 159milees on it now, it has had athe tranny done at 88miles but just normal maintenance since then.

But I Consider electrical sensors, timing belts and such normal maintenance. It is expensive maintenance but if the car is payed off it's not a big deal, usually works out cheaper then always haveing a car payment on a new car.

Good luck, get that car tuned up and you'll have many miles ahead.

Curtis

[jfuhrman]

here's some pictures...

[jblackburn]

[cn90]

here's some pictures..

I re-read your original post, when you had these issues of idling etc., did you even open the hood?
If you did, were you able to see the nasty stuff from your ground hog?
LMAO!