Uneven revs and cutting out

[Pliskin]

Hi,

Can anyone shed any light as to what this might be.......

I have got a 2000 V70 2.4 petrol auto which when I start it up from cold or warm will quite often fire up normally and than cut out unless I purposely keep the revs up.

Also when I am slowing down to stop, either in traffic or when parking the revs will drop to almost nothing and just before it stalls it recovers and goes back to normal.

Unfortunately on a number of occasions it does stall, which isn't best ever.

Any suggestions ladies and gentlemen?

Regards to all.

[stribo]

Sounds like ETM issues, it may just need a clean.

[Pliskin]

The car is going in tomorrow to hopefully sort this stalling out, which is beginning to get worse.

If the cleaning recommended by Stribo doesn't sort it and the ETM has anyone had any experience of the contactless ones from the States listed on the bay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290916223350?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT#vi-ilComp

Regards to all

[Pliskin]

Bit of an update, I had the ETM looked at and it was given a clean, after which it seemed to improve. Unfortunately the problem resurfaced and very nearly got me killed after the engine stalled just as I was turning across on-coming traffic, which included a huge truck carrying rock from the Derbyshire quarries.

I sent the ETM off to Volvo Diagnostics and he fitted the contactless system but the problem still won't go away.

Anyone got any suggestions as I can't use the car as it isn't safe to drive.

Regards to all

[Dream3r]

Check he injectors, maybe they're spaying unevenly.

[Pliskin]

Cheers mate, I will give it a whirl, if you pardon the pum

[Pliskin]

Pum, whtf is pum?

[nosh]

as its an auto take to a transmission company & get it read for gearbox faults .. could be your torque converter or a seal gone

its just a thought as i know 1 or 2 geartronics that have had this happen ..

[deathrider311271]

have you had the car read with vida dice? or the etm checked with the test within vida dice? any lights on dash? it could be a number of things

[Ettienne]

Could be an air leak also I had similar. Need to read the codes

[JamesT5]

My opinion is either a Vacuum leak or ETM, with the later being where my money is.

[Pliskin]

Well the problem has been solved and it was down to a faulty air valve leading to the injectors.

On the way home it was a lot more responsive but the tickover was a bit higher than normal and the revs were not dropping as fast as normal when braking.

When I fired it up the following day the engine management light came on and so back to the garage I went to be told it was the sensor that controls the camshaft settings.

Apparently it is a common fault with many of the original ones being replaced, which coincidently mine had in 2009.

The mechanic gave it a few quick taps with a rubber mallet and cleared the code.

She is now running really well and the pinking it had previously suffered from also appears to have gone.

[JamesT5]

Well the problem has been solved and it was down to a faulty air valve leading to the injectors.

On the way home it was a lot more responsive but the tickover was a bit higher than normal and the revs were not dropping as fast as normal when braking.

When I fired it up the following day the engine management light came on and so back to the garage I went to be told it was the sensor that controls the camshaft settings.

Apparently it is a common fault with many of the original ones being replaced, which coincidently mine had in 2009.

The mechanic gave it a few quick taps with a rubber mallet and cleared the code.

She is now running really well and the pinking it had previously suffered from also appears to have gone.

Mine has been cutting out and stalling but only on start up, but nothing as bad as yours was, my ETM is fine as Vida hasn't logged anything for it and it shows 'green' on the traffic light facility when I read the codes. I'm glad you got it sorted anyway, these P2 models are a ruddy minefield when it comes to fault finding.

[M-R-P]

Nice to see a solution here, I know someone with very similar symptoms on their 2000 2.4 N/A, which I'm due to look at soon.

:)

[JamesT5]

Nice to see a solution here, I know someone with very similar symptoms on their 2000 2.4 N/A, which I'm due to look at soon.

:)

Another 'Driveway repair' Martin? :D

[M-R-P]

Another 'Driveway repair' Martin? :D

Yep - on my new driveway too :)

Funny story - it's my dentist who owns the car. I came in for a checkup and said "oooh... I need your number... my car is playing up and getting worse, can you look at it?"

"yes" I said...

"it'll cost you £18.50 for me to look at it..."

"£55.50 if I have to do some minor work..."



I've been holding on to that joke for years, I knew I'd be able to use it one day :)

[Pliskin]

Nice to see a solution here, I know someone with very similar symptoms on their 2000 2.4 N/A, which I'm due to look at soon.

:)

I/We spoke too soon. Shortly after I got it home the ETM light came on again and all the original faults resurfaced, I took it back to the garage, had the codes read, which identified the ETM as the culprit so back it went to Volvo Diagnostics, who after taking a lot longer to do the original repair sent it back, during which time the car was sat on the drive. The ETM was refitted and guess what the fault codes are still there and the car is still unusual.

On the subject of all things unusual, I am not totally convinced that the ETM that I returned is the one he sent back. Although I know ordinarily a non original ETM needs to coded to a particular car, I have been told that on occasion a none original will work, albeit roughly.

I have suggested this to the guy at Volvo Diagnostics who denies it but couldn't answer satisfactorily the points I raised.

I am now resigned Does anyone know if the ETM has a serial number inside it.

[Pliskin]

Sorry should have said " I am now resigned to buying a new ETM and starting from scratch, which when all things are considered will take me well past what the car is worth" No change there then

[stribo]

I think there is a procedure to recoding a non original ETM to your car, I believe it involves just leaving the ignition on for 20-30mins, then turning the ignition offd, then starting the car. Hopefully someone can confirm whether this is the case, maybe worth a go before you go down the route of a new ETM.

[jamesy12345]

A bit late but might be useful...

http://xemodex.com/us/pdf/ETM%20Flow%20Chart%2099-00-new-final.pdf

[Pliskin]

Thanks for the replies guys

[LeeT5]

My opinion is either a Vacuum leak or ETM, with the later being where my money is.

Good job you're not a betting man :smirk:

[MoleT-5R]

A bit late but might be useful...

http://xemodex.com/us/pdf/ETM%20Flow%20Chart%2099-00-new-final.pdf

that's a very useful piece of info you found there, I wish I was better at searching the web as obviously it is out there if you know where to look

[jamesy12345]

that's a very useful piece of info you found there, I wish I was better at searching the web as obviously it is out there if you know where to look

it might be a bit biased since that is the company who sell replacement ETM but yes looks useful

[Pliskin]

Just had a reply from the guy at Volvo Diagnostic who has emailed me a printout for my car from vida.volvocars.biz, which unfortunately doesn't make a huge amount of sense to a mechanical numpty like me. He has suggested a software update as he says the printout shows that it hasn't been done for 10 years.

I spoke to the garage who states that a software update won't help because the fault codes that have been thrown up relate to a hardware issue within the ETM itself.

Can anyone please shed some light on this for me, many thanks.

[LeeT5]

Just had a reply from the guy at Volvo Diagnostic who has emailed me a printout for my car from vida.volvocars.biz, which unfortunately doesn't make a huge amount of sense to a mechanical numpty like me. He has suggested a software update as he says the printout shows that it hasn't been done for 10 years.

I spoke to the garage who states that a software update won't help because the fault codes that have been thrown up relate to a hardware issue within the ETM itself.

Can anyone please shed some light on this for me, many thanks.

If you take your car to a dealer the first thing they will do is update the software, remove etm, clean and refit. Then road test. In the dealers defence it will probably run sweet for a short while so they'll end up giving you the car back and see how you go.
If you plump for having the ETM replaced immediately then it will still need software to run on your car.
My advice would be to try the software update. It can't do any harm and would get done on replacement anyway.

[Pliskin]

If you take your car to a dealer the first thing they will do is update the software, remove etm, clean and refit. Then road test. In the dealers defence it will probably run sweet for a short while so they'll end up giving you the car back and see how you go.
If you plump for having the ETM replaced immediately then it will still need software to run on your car.
My advice would be to try the software update. It can't do any harm and would get done on replacement anyway.

The problem I have got is that one person is saying that a software update will sort things and the other is saying that won't help because the fault codes that are showing indicate a hardware fault in the ETM, who is right?

[LeeT5]

What's the fault codes?

Will start ECM XXXX

[Pliskin]

I'll get them from the garage tomorrow, cheers

[Pliskin]

Hi Lee,
The codes were ECM-532D and ECM-980F.

As I might have mentioned before my mechanic and I are not convinced that the ETM that Lukas at Volvo diagnostics returned to us after the first failed repair is my original one. The initial repair involved the removal of the side panel facing the front of the engine, which was screwed back and sealed with a red sealant, when the second repair came back there was no evidence of the first repair and the main panel on the side had been removed and resealed using the same red sealant, plus the burnt-on carbon that we had removed from the inside of the housing had mysteriously reappeared.

Anyway to cut a potentially longer story short after getting no joy from Lukas, who suggested a software update for a hardware problem a brand new one has been fitted at £348.

I haven't approached Lukas for a refund but I think it would be reasonable to ask for it as he must have some way of examining the entire unit and not just think that one particular fix will have sorted it before returning it.

Regards to all

[LeeT5]

ECM-532D MIL requested by throttle unit.
ECM-980F MAP sensor. Faulty signal 12

I'm certain a new ETM was the best course of action.

How does it drive now?

[Pliskin]

ECM-532D MIL requested by throttle unit.
ECM-980F MAP sensor. Faulty signal 12

I'm certain a new ETM was the best course of action.

How does it drive now?

Thanks for that Lee, it is running fine now. Sorry to be a PITA but what does MIL and Map sensor mean?

[Dream3r]

Thanks for that Lee, it is running fine now. Sorry to be a PITA but what does MIL and Map sensor mean?

Map sensor measures pressure in the manifold. Mil is the engine management light. Acronym stands for malfunction indicator lamp if I remember right.

[Pliskin]

Thanks mate

[LeeT5]

Map sensor measures pressure in the manifold. Mil is the engine management light. Acronym stands for malfunction indicator lamp if I remember right.

Spot on.

[Pliskin]

Is there any way this guy could have tested it before he started work on it, without having it hooked up to a car?

[LeeT5]

Is there any way this guy could have tested it before he started work on it, without having it hooked up to a car?

Possibly. He would have needed to have known the resistance readings for the terminals and which are live and earth, but that would only confirm what has already been diagnosed.

[Dream3r]

With ECM's/ME7 ECU's I have a test rig. I make sure they work when they arrive and before they leave.

[Pliskin]

Thanks for that guys, I will try and appeal to his better nature but I am not holding my breath.

On a brighter side she is running as sweet as a nut, the pinking that used to be a pain in the posterior has gone and she doesn't seem to want to hunt out every petrol station in the country as much.

[Pliskin]

Just a quick update, I wrote to Lukas at Volvo Diagnostics and suggested that the ETM should have been checked for codes before assuming it was the contacts that were causing the problem and although he hasn't said as much, he has refunded almost all of the repair costs, which I must admit came as a big surprise. Thank you Lukas.

[Pliskin]

Bit of an update, with the refund I got from Lukas I ended up getting a new ETM fitted and it ran fine for a few months. I took it over the tops to Whitby over the weekend and it started playing up again and felt as though it wasn't firing cleanly, weirdly enough on the motorway the temp gauge barely got to a 1/4 but in towns went to normal and then back to a 1/4 when we got back onto the motorway. I got it home but the following day within a couple of miles it started jerking like mad and would barely make it up hills and the dreaded engine management light came on.

Seeing as the new ETM is only weeks old I took it back to the garage who told me that oil and other carbon debris had entered the ETM from the pipe coming from the breather box and had also leaked from the bottom of the securing jubilee clip onto the electrical cable at the bottom of the ETM.

He cleaned both of them up and it is now, touch wood running ok but he has told me that it may very well happen again.

To make things worse he contacted Volvo who told him that seeing that there has been oil contamination any warranty is null and void. Thanks a lot Volvo.

The car has got 113k on it and is none turbo, is it likely to need a PCV renewal? I have got to admit over the last few months I have spent a small fortune trying to sort out a car which is only worth four or five hundred quid but at the moment really suits my needs but I am seriously considering calling the man with the flat-back and jib.

Any replies appreciated