Please help me find the no-start unicorn hiding in my 2001 Volvo V70 T5 Topic is solved

[gabemcg]

Hello Everyone--My 2001 V70 T5 it is stuck in my garage in no-start condition. I paid a neighbor who is a professional mechanic at a local Honda dealer to come check it out, he checked the obvious things and said the problem is "a unicorn".

Background
It is not a primary car. I haven't driven it regularly for a few years mostly because I work from home and share another car with my wife. The few times a year where I have driven it it has gotten progressively more unreliable. Misfires, rough idle, surging at idle, stalling (at idle, particularly if AC is on), intermittent check engine lights, and difficult to start after a stall while the engine was warm. I've did some things to try and troubleshoot, including a new MAF sensor, new plugs, and a new coil pack and injector on cylinder 1 which had the misfire. These things seemed to help temporarily, but the problems never went away completely, and came back worse than before.

In preparation to sell it I took it to the stealership and paid them to diagnose. They came back within an hour with recommendation to replace the PCV Breather Box for $900. I got the parts list from them and ended up ordering the Kit from FCPEuro and doing the replacement myself.

Notes on the work I did

• I removed the intake manifold and throttle body (white sticker= original @ 120k miles) and cleaned both thoroughly with Berryman's and replaced both gaskets
• When I removed the intake manifold I discovered that the vacuum hose highlighted in this picture was ruptured and so I replaced it.
• I did not remove or replace the crankcase vent hose because it did not seem clogged. I cleaned the inlet where the banjo bolt connects it to the intake manifold.
• For access I disconnected the rubber coolant pipe from the thermostat next to the intake manifold, and spilled maybe a quart of coolant in the process.
• I removed and cleaned the air pipe from the MAF to the Turbo, and removed and cleaned the PTC valve

When I had everything put back together I started her back up to recirculate the coolant so I could top off what had spilled. The car started and ran very rough for perhaps 20 seconds before the low coolant shut-off engine message appeared on the dash. I shut it down immediately and topped off coolant to the "cold" line, and restarted the engine, the warning appeared again within 10-15 seconds, and I added more coolant to the reservoir. When I tried to start the engine again it would not start, and has not started since then.

I then started troubleshooting and to be safe I replaced all of the plugs and all of the coil packs with new genuine volvo/bosch parts. I did make a stupid mistake by covering the opening of the rubber boot on the coil packs that slides over the plugs with dielectric grease, which I now realize was inhibiting spark, so I pulled the packs and plugs back out cleaned them all very well (no more grease) and reinstalled. I tested for spark and it is good. I also changed the oil since it needed it anyway and I couldn't think of anything else to do.

I've been working on this on and off for weeks trying to troubleshoot and I'm well over my head and level of expertise. I thought that bringing in a pro would help me find something stupid I was overlooking, but after over an hour of looking at it he was stumped. He did say that he would have been able to tell if something I did had caused the no-start condition, and that as far as he could see I did good work.

The only things that he thought seemed unusual was a slight smell of oil on the plugs, and a small amount of back-pressure when he put his hand over the "inside" of the MAF with the air filter box cover removed while I cranked the engine.

I had read about Lawnmower syndrome so I tried adding 1 teaspoon of oil to each cylinder before reinstalling the spark plugs and this may have been what he smelled, but I had done a good amount of cranking to try and get it to start after that, so most of that oil should have been washed out I think.

Other info

• Before I did the PCV system a potential buyer came and looked at the car and did a compression test on each cylinder, they were all within spec. He did a test drive and noticed lack of boost and rough idle and misfies at speed. He thought it seemed like it was in limp mode.
• There is good pressure to the fuel rail
• Timing belt was done at 107k miles
• There is spark at the coil, and brand new volvo plugs
• Battery is new and fully charged
• Starter/Engine cranks but doesn't turn over even after prolonged cranking
• Car has been on ramps for a few weeks now
• No stored ODBII codes (prior to disconnecting the battery and doing the PCV work I had the following codes: P0201, P1175 P0172, and P0303)
• I haven't checked the spark plug gaps, but I think the Genuine Volvo ones should be pre-gapped to .028
• No blown fuses, when I pull the one for the etm I hear it whine and click back on when I plug it back in with the key in POS II

Things I've seen researching that I have not ruled out

• ETM Position Sensor Failure?
• O2 Sensors?
• CAM Position Sensor/Crankshaft position sensor?
• Fuel pump?
• Relays?
• ECM issue?
• Unseen vacuum leak?
• Spark Plug Gaps?

Any help or suggestions is much appreciated. Thank you in advance!

[abscate]

Give this one a nice long shot (3 second ) shot of ether (starter fluid) and see if you can get it to breathe some fire.

But before that, you need to check spark at all the coils - your car has 5 total, one over each plug

[stinger04038]

Sometimes we overlook the most obvious, I see no mention of fresh fuel being put in the tank. You do state the car has been sitting more than it has been driven. If the fuel is new, my guess would be the throttle body, Volvo knew those were junk from day one. They actually extended the warranty on them because they had to because of so many complaints (believe me they didn't do it on their own they were forced to do it). I owned one of these first year models and there were so many problems (one right after the other). I hope you don't keep throwing money at it, the transmissions are also junk right from the factory and there is a very high probability it will fail, just a matter of when. There are no used transmissions to be found, because they all are junk, a new one runs about 8k, much more than the car is worth. These transmission problems run from 2001 and up, buyer beware. Another possibility is the car could be in Limp mode, which also relates to the transmission. I wish you good luck..

[gabemcg]

Sometimes we overlook the most obvious, I see no mention of fresh fuel being put in the tank. You do state the car has been sitting more than it has been driven. If the fuel is new, my guess would be the throttle body, Volvo knew those were junk from day one. They actually extended the warranty on them because they had to because of so many complaints (believe me they didn't do it on their own they were forced to do it). I owned one of these first year models and there were so many problems (one right after the other). I hope you don't keep throwing money at it, the transmissions are also junk right from the factory and there is a very high probability it will fail, just a matter of when. There are no used transmissions to be found, because they all are junk, a new one runs about 8k, much more than the car is worth. These transmission problems run from 2001 and up, buyer beware. Another possibility is the car could be in Limp mode, which also relates to the transmission. I wish you good luck..

Thank you. Gas is only a couple months old, and premium. The trans feels pretty good. I've already put about $600 into getting it running again, which is on the upper end of what I think I could recoup selling it as a running car vs a car for parts. If I had some certainty that it was the throttle body I would be tempted to look at one of the contactless 3rd party ones, but that is at least another $400... Ugh.

[gabemcg]

Give this one a nice long shot (3 second ) shot of ether (starter fluid) and see if you can get it to breathe some fire.

But before that, you need to check spark at all the coils - your car has 5 total, one over each plug

Thanks. I will give the starter fluid a shot. All brand new coil packs and plugs which I have tested.

[precopster]

Have you verified fuel pressure at the rail by means of the shraeder valve cap? I may have missed this but I didn't see a mention.

[abscate]

OP quoted

"There is good pressure to the fuel rail"

but I think Im going to reiterate did you measure 50 psi or just observe the squirt?

When it comes to unicorns, you have to get out the real test gear and get dirty...

[gabemcg]

OP quoted

"There is good pressure to the fuel rail"

but I think Im going to reiterate did you measure 50 psi or just observe the squirt?

When it comes to unicorns, you have to get out the real test gear and get dirty...

The neighbor did the test on the schrader valve with a tire pressure guage, while I cranked the engine. I don't know what PSI reading he got but he said it shot up when I turned the key, he seemed satisfied that it was good.

[gabemcg]

Give this one a nice long shot (3 second ) shot of ether (starter fluid) and see if you can get it to breathe some fire.

But before that, you need to check spark at all the coils - your car has 5 total, one over each plug

Thanks. I will give the starter fluid a shot. All brand new coil packs and plugs which I have tested.

I gave it a spray for 3 seconds on the air filter (is that the right place?) It did not seem to have an effect, cranked it for a good minute or so.

[abscate]

Hmmmm. No firing whatsoever?

That's pointing to no spark, timing, or lack of compression.