Help me save Christmas! 98 V70 no start/rough start Topic is solved

[scot850]

If you post a picture of your key I can probably tell you if you have a chipped key or regular. I have not heard of a 1998 with a chipped key here in North America, but then anything is possible, if for example it was a personal import. Are you certain it is a 98 and not a 99?

The 99- antenna reads a chip in the key before allowing the car to start. They symptoms are as abscated stated above. My friend with the 1998 NA showed all the same issues you are identifying with. Poor running if it started and would die shortly after. Disconnect the MAF and it ran well enough to limp the 100 yards home. Her MAF connector was totally green and cleaning it initially made it better but it soon died again. I fitted a spare junkyard one I had and the car immediately ran normally and continued for 4 weeks in winter until the new MAF arrived from Volvo. Her choice to replace than use a used one as she relies on the car as a single mum with kids.

If your Cardone one does not run, I have that used tested one here. I would consider selling it if you get stuck.

Neil.

[S Carlson]

Glad you made it to family for holidays. I had been following the thread.
volvolugnut

Yeah, I'm so relieved! It was a bit touchy with the Honda, as it hadn't been driven since mid-September, but the junkyard run was a good shakedown. Got a whine in the water pump, radiator is fin-rotted, interior got wet somehow, clutch smells slippy, and a couple of tires have slow leaks, but the only pressing thing was the aforementioned battery.

Thanks for all the advice and merry holidays!

The immob. Will cause a no crank or a start /stall condition depending on version.

It never causes poor running

Merry Christmas to all my Green Mountain friends

Merry Christmas to you, too! And thanks for all the support and advice you give to the Volvo community!

The line to the left side of the intake manifold beside the power steering reservoir (Passenger side of intake manifold). 1998's are a fair amount simpler, how old is the ignition coil located by the drivers side strut. Does the coil look overheated or damaged?

Just going back through the thread and I saw your response! Coil looks good. That vac line WAS cracked, when I replaced it in 2020 or so. I did a big bunch of preventative maintenance when I was locked out of work for the covid shutdown!

[S Carlson]

If you post a picture of your key I can probably tell you if you have a chipped key or regular. I have not heard of a 1998 with a chipped key here in North America, but then anything is possible, if for example it was a personal import. Are you certain it is a 98 and not a 99?

The 99- antenna reads a chip in the key before allowing the car to start. They symptoms are as abscated stated above. My friend with the 1998 NA showed all the same issues you are identifying with. Poor running if it started and would die shortly after. Disconnect the MAF and it ran well enough to limp the 100 yards home. Her MAF connector was totally green and cleaning it initially made it better but it soon died again. I fitted a spare junkyard one I had and the car immediately ran normally and continued for 4 weeks in winter until the new MAF arrived from Volvo. Her choice to replace than use a used one as she relies on the car as a single mum with kids.

If your Cardone one does not run, I have that used tested one here. I would consider selling it if you get stuck.

Neil.

I'm pretty sure it's a 98.
I think the connector was ok-looking, and actually had dielectric grease in it when I took it off. But yeah I'll clean it up a bit and check the wires.

The keys are with the friend who's making sure the car doesn't get towed for Christmas, so I can't photograph the actual keys. So, this is a random picture from the internet, but this is what the keys look like - with the exception that the one we have is much more worn. The Volvo lettering on it is practically gone.


One of the keys, which seemed to run the car fine before all this, didn't even have the plastic head on it. It looked like this:


I'm guessing there's at least no chip in the all-metal key, if I know anything about keys - but the no-codes start-and-stumble-stop was enough to make me question my knowledge.

[abscate]

That’s a key from a replacement tumbler. Confirms you do not have an immobilizer installed and it is pre 1999

We already knew that since you have a cap and rotor ignition system

[S Carlson]

That’s a key from a replacement tumbler. Confirms you do not have an immobilizer installed and it is pre 1999

We already knew that since you have a cap and rotor ignition system

All right! Glad not to have an immobilizer. I have no clue about what is usual for what market.
What is a replacement tumbler? You mean a new lock cylinder? Like I said, the key doesn't look exactly like that picture, it lacks lettering and texture anymore because it's so worn.

Yeah, pre-99 definitely also because it has a throttle cable, no? The thing is "basically" a facelifted 850, from what I understand. Is that basically right?

I'm starting to second-guess myself because there are no codes. When I see the car next, after the holiday, I will try to do a good inspection for cracks in the bottom side of the intercooler, without getting in trouble with the police for crawling under the car while it's parked on the street. I am starting to think about the speed bumps in Cambridge and the damage that they could have caused.

See this thread? Eerily familiar, except I have no definitive accident to have caused any damage.
viewtopic.php?t=15139
Seems that I should also be seeing boost values on my scanner. I believe I do not, and I thought the scanner or ECU just didn't see boost pressure, but I will check next time.

[abscate]

Pm me in the new year if you are near Cambridge. I’m there most weeks during semester meeting interesting people, like the guy who armed the Trinity test bomb.

[S Carlson]

Pm me in the new year if you are near Cambridge. I’m there most weeks during semester meeting interesting people, like the guy who armed the Trinity test bomb.

For sure! Would be great to meet you! I'm at the tail-end of a biochemistry PhD program at Harvard and it's getting brutal between breaking two bones this year and the whole family getting covid and this dang car! Lots of interesting people in Cambridge, it's true. I recently had coffee with the guy who did the experiment to prove that DNA replication was semiconservative. We could get coffee too!

[abscate]

Pm me in the new year if you are near Cambridge. I’m there most weeks during semester meeting interesting people, like the guy who armed the Trinity test bomb.

For sure! Would be great to meet you! I'm at the tail-end of a biochemistry PhD program at Harvard and it's getting brutal between breaking two bones this year and the whole family getting covid and this dang car! Lots of interesting people in Cambridge, it's true. I recently had coffee with the guy who did the experiment to prove that DNA replication was semiconservative. We could get coffee too!

One of the most elegant experiments in isotope labeling ever done….I’m usually over in Lyman or Pierce or the satellite campus 3 stops down the red line….

[MrAl]

If your car had an antenna ring, it would be a 99- car. It is a ring around the ignition key slot that illuminates the Pos I, II etc. It is highly unlikely your car has this. It does have an security system and this can be flaky especially when reconnecting the battery. You can reset the system usually by locking and unlocking the driver's door lock manually with the key.

Markets do vary on what they have so it is sometimes hard to define what every car has. European Volvos had immobiliser systems from around 1996 if I recall correctly.

Valet keys allow the car to be started but do not allow the trunk to be opened on sedans or the glove boxes. Pointless for a wagon except the glove box. Some cars have alarm systems that set off the alarm when the hood is opened if the car is locked. There are sensors built into the lock assembly for the hood.

Neil.

Hi Neil and Merry Chrismas,

So if my car has an immobilizer it would have a light up ring around the key hole where the key goes in?
Do you know what the keys would look like?
My keys have metal but also some plastic at the place where you grip the key to turn it and it is rather thick, i could post a pic if needed.
Any pics of a key that has the chip inside?

Thanks.

[scot850]

If you look at the key in the above image that is not a transponder chipped key: They look like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/282903560704?f ... Swt21au~7t

The plastic part is much larger. Now that is not so say that someone may have replaced the key with an incorrect one. I am not sure of the metal blades are the same and can be cut to fit a 98.

A very Happy Christmas to you and everyone else on MVS! Safe driving if you have to travel.

Neil.