what is a map sensor

[smarzig]

For this issue mine wound up being the pedal sensor that the dealer nailed down and fixed.
I finally have pickup. Weird that it went after my belt snapped and I had it replaced along w. the ac comp/pulley....

[stuartg3]

Okay - so here's the solution to my problem - clogged catalytic converter. I was reading around on this and other forums and kept hearing that a a clogged converter would not necessarily throw a code. I dropped the cat and blew through it with a leaf blower - determined that it was indeed plugged but didn't trust my diagnosis so I put the car back to together and gave it to a reputable shop to diagnose. After having them quote the replacement I went to the dealer and bought the cat (same one that they were going to use) at $50 dollars less than they were prepared to charge me, and did the work myself (saved about $300). Car runs like a champ.

FYI - I talked to several muffler shops about putting a new cat on the car. Most wanted to cut the old cat out from the headpipe and tailpipe, weld a new generic replacement cat in and bolt it back to the car. What made me think was the one guy who said "we don't do that anymore". I asked him why and he said that they had too many import cars that would not run well on a generic cat and his shop had to reperform the work with a factory spec cat. I took the plunge and bought the $1150 Volvo cat.

Thanks for all of the help from the forum - I appreciate having you guys (and gals) as a resource and thanks to Matt for making it happen.