Ive got a question for you all… I own a 1998 Volvo S70 with a turbo. As I was driving the other day I shifted the car from 4-5 gear. After I had the car in 5 gear, it chugged forward. I pulled to the stop light and the car stalled. It started again and I made it home. I checked the fluids and they were low so I added oil and power steering. It drove fine for the rest of the day until later in the evening when it chugged again after shifting. I then drove it the next day and the car completely died at the stop light. I couldn’t restart it. It would turn but wouldn’t stay on. There was also a strange smell coming from the engine after trying to start it again. Ive been told possible fuel pump or maybe the catalytic converter because of the smell… Does anyone have an experience with this happening with their s70? or any car ?
If this is your 1st episode of these symptoms in your '98 S70 you’ve been very lucky. I gave up on Volvo’s completely after bad (very expensive multiple repairs) on a '98 V70XC and knowledge of similar problems on an '00 V70XC owned by a family member.
I’d check the MAF as a 1st step. Had similar symptoms on my '98. I also had the fuel pump quit on the '98 which was a very expensive repair as the only pump available was a Volvo part. Either could be your problem, but lots of other possible too.
When did you have the plugs, dist. cap, rotor, and ignition wires replaced. If over 30K miles ago you are overdue for all these basic tune up parts.
well the repairs on the car have been very expensive lately… this is the first time this has happened tho. I have just spoken to the technician and he said possible air flow sensor? he said the fuel pump was not needing to be replaced…
The “air flow sensor” the tech mentioned is the MAF or Mass Airflow Sensor. It is a “wire” somewhere in the intake tubing to the airbox (that’s the box where the air filter resides) and its job it to tell the computer how much air is moving by it.
The wire can break, but more often just gets dirty and needs to be carefully cleaned. This shouldn’t be a big deal, but in a Volvo a new MAF can run a few hundred bucks.