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SAS and cat issues troubleshooting help 850

Hello All,

My 96' 855 NA had been running rich, along with hesitation on acceleration and has now thrown the secondary air system codes.

I reset the CL, and test drove it, two minuets later the CL was flashing?!
Then the car died on the spot with not start.

I have a vacuum diagram, I checked for leaks, cracks can't find a single one...

I found that the air pump was working but not the purge value (on the rad. shroud).

So I replaced it wit a good used one and I can hear the pump turning on at start.

New plugs, wires, cap, and rotor and car started right up; mpg is much better and hesitation is gone.

Now I get the same SAS code misfire in cylinder 5 and 02 rear bank code along with the rotten egg smell.

Could all this be due to a bad cat?

PO had the cat "rebuilt" by a Volvo specialist, and its guaranteed for the life of the car.

I checked with said specialist and he said he would honor the deal but he was 100% sure it was something else, and he needed a day or two with the car...

After asking around I heard horror stories from old clients saying he told them "you need a new trans, Volvo's are known for trans issues; but I can get you a rebuilt one for half price and guarantee it for the life of the car"...

Later clients took their cars to the dealer only to find he had done nothing more than spray painting the trans red or black- no repair or replacement both cases were resolved after threat of law suit.

I don't want to go down that road.

All ideas welcome!

Cheers,

greendread








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    SAS and cat issues troubleshooting help 850


    Cats cannot be rebuilt, PERIOD. Take it from one who designs and has them manufactured.

    The rotten egg smell is likely indicative of high sulfur-containing gasoline.








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    SAS and cat issues troubleshooting help 850

    SAS will not cause a misfire, it only is supposed to work until the engine starts to get warm, about 2-3 minutes after cold start only.

    A misfire in #5 is usually brought on by an over-rich condition due to unmetered air entering the intake manifold. To find a leak, spray some brake cleaner/TB cleaner on any suspected vacuum lines and the intake from the air cleaner. If there is a leak, the idle will change. Don't forget the intake manifold gasket, it can leak, and the vacuum tree next to the throttle body.

    You need a better shop, CAT converters cannot be rebuilt! And your cat is OK for now. It is possible that your Front O2 sensor has gone bad, usually does after running rich for extended periods of time.

    Klaus
    --
    Proud owner of a 220S. If I had more room, I would have more Volvos.








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      SAS and cat issues troubleshooting help 850

      All my thanks folks,

      I didn't want to go buying up too many bits. I do need a better shop, the Swede I used has little time for Volvo projects with business falling off. Jean Villters if you are ever in the Suburban/central PA area, he's almost a saint!

      Cheers,

      greendread









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    SAS and cat issues troubleshooting help 850

    I don't know much about cats, but I would be surprised that even if you could "rebuild" one, it would cost more than buying new. The PO probably was lucky if the only thing the "specialist" did was to give it a buffing, hope he didn't replace it with junk. What is the O2 code? I don't know how the two sensors react to the cat, but I wouldn't think it would cause a misfire problem. Is the mileage only better or is it good? Bad cat or O2 sensor might be causing the car to run too rich.

    --
    '96 850 and '83 244 DL both at about 190K; the '81 GLT 245 @ 280K is available







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