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Stumbling Stalling Rotten Eggs! V70-XC70

Here's the scenario:
98 V70R 70K miles - has been running fine, my wife was driving it, gas light came, went to the gas station and fills up. Very soon thereafter car begins running poorly, stumbling, erratic idle and then stalling. The station was a no-name station, it has been raining for weeks here in NJ, so I'm thinking bad gas. I buy a couple of bottles of dry gas and put it in. I was able to get it home, but it did stall and stumble a couple of times.

I let the car sit overnight, go out and start it, it fires up each time without incident, but is having trouble holding idle, sputters, then stalls. But eventually it catches. When the engine is running it sounds fine, then it will just faulter, sputter and almost die and either catch itself or stall. Again I'm thinking that there is water or something in the lines so I am increasing the revs and holding it at betw. 3K and 4K RPM. It sputters a touch here and there but seemed to be running fine. I'd let it drop back down to idle and then repeat. This seemed to be working, the engine sounded fine, but then it started stumbling again. Each time it stalled it would fire back up on the first crank as it always does.

Then all of a sudden it starts throwing a crap-load of smoke out the exhaust. Nothing is coming out of the engine, no leaks, no smoke no nothing. But the tailpipe is smoking badly. The smoke was whiteish - I was thinking I may have blown the head gasket, but its not as white as I've seen when that happens (although it has never happened directly to me). The smoke smells very sulfury - like rotten eggs. I stopped the engine, cursed the car, then threw caution to the wind and started it again. It smoked, but not nearly as bad and again rotten eggs.

By way of background the air pump went on it a couple of months ago causing the Check Engine light to come on and stay on, I was planning on getting that taken care of as the colder weather set in. Unfortunately I don't have anything to pull the codes.

Any ideas or guesses? Thanks!

-Dave








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    Stumbling Stalling Rotten Eggs! - Update V70-XC70

    Here's the latest:
    My indy tested the gas and it was fine. The culprit appears to be a faulty Air Mass Meter screwing up the mix. Hopefully no permanent damage to the catalytic converter, but he doesn't think so.

    Thanks for the help!
    -Dave








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    Stumbling Stalling Rotten Eggs! V70-XC70

    Don't blame your wife. The fact that the air pump is not working will cause the engine to run rich, and not help matters any. Bad gas is a good possibility, so get a 10 gallon can and siphon out that much from your tank and refill the tank with some known good stuff.
    The bottom of the tank is where the pickup hose is, so any water will be pumped out first. With the white smoke at the exhaust, you may be decarbonizing you cylinders and filling up the Cat with junk. The sulphur smell comes from running rich on a poor grade of gasoline.

    Klaus
    --
    (1975 164, 1995 854T, 1998 V70R)








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      Stumbling Stalling Rotten Eggs! V70-XC70

      I was thinking catalytic converter too...some bad stuff going through can clog it up and mess it up...you may be in for a new one down the road or sooner than you think and they are not a cheap item. Another thought along with this is the fuel filter. If not changed yet, I would recommend changing it out and see if that makes a difference. It too can get clogged causing some of the symptoms your car is having. I would syphon all of the no-name gas out and refill with Chevron Techron or similar grade of good gas. The white smoke your describing sure sounds like water vapor in your engine. Keep an eye out on temp. guage as well as any new codes. You don't want your engine messed up on the account of some bad gas. Good luck
      --
      1998 S70 T5 Emarald Green Metallic, 2004 V70 2.5T Ruby Red, Previous Owner of Black '94 850 Turbo Wagon. My cars have been running so well lately they've got me worried.








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        Stumbling Stalling Rotten Eggs! V70-XC70

        Thanks for the replies guys. I did check both the coolant tank and there is no oil floating, no bubbles bubbling which would suggest a blown gasket. I also checked the oil in the car and there aren't any signs of frothing. So far so good. Again, she starts up on the first crank, although I didn't push it today and decided to just have it flatbedded to my indy volvo mech.

        When I did start it and let it run for a bit while I checked everything indicated above, there was no smoke, but definitely stinky rotten egg smell - surprisingly strong. So I am thinking the catal. converter and I'll be visiting that station in the morning to put them on notice. I'll let the Board know what happens and what my mechanic tells me.

        -Dave







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