Hello All,

I have a '99 XC with 114,000 miles. It was last tuned up at 90,000 miles. A complete tune-up: plugs, wires, air filter. The gasoline filter was replaced at 100,000 miles. In the last week, I've noticed difficulty in starting the car. I'll turn the key, and the engine starts, and then stalls. The second time I turned the key, the engine will start, but will then continue to idle normally. The car drives fine otherwise.

I've never had this problem with this car before. It is annoying. Any suggestions?

Thanks to all who reply.

Hugh

The fuel pump has a return flow preventer valve that may be slow to close, if so, things will get worse. The dealer will charge you for a new pump plus $1000 to replace it. Think twice, please.

Older cars, think early 850s, had the same thing, but they were close to the fuel filter. You could add one to the fuel line between the filter and pump for a nominal fee.

Klaus

Klaus,

Yikes! A $1,000 repair. I will try like the Dickens to avoid that route.
Based upon what you say, this condition will get worse. It's a nuisance now, but I concerned about the extra wear and tear I'm putting on the starter.

As always, thanks for your reply.

Hugh

The starter motor can easily take 20-30 secs of grinding before it gets hot. No big deal there, but that takes a lot of battery juice.

The AWD cars all have saddle tanks and a fuel pump placement that requires the tank to be dropped to R&R the fuel pump. Just a real poor design in my opinion. The back flow preventer is now part of the fuel pump.

You might want to put a bottle of fuel injector cleaner in the tank, just to see if it will clean out the backflow preventer valve. I doubt it, but it is worth a try???

Klaus

if you don't mind hacking the system up a bit you can install an external-to-the-pump fuel check valve like the ones used on my old 760. You can buy this from FCP pretty cheap.

I was intimidated by the vinyl fuel line system at first but now see it's many benefits and feel pretty comfortable with it. Find a local store that sells all the various lines and fittings and clamps and you'll be fine. Volvo seems to use 5/16" fuel line.

Judging from a quick look on FCP it looks like this 'external' check valve was last used on the 1994 940
http://www.fcpgroton.com/product-exec/product_id/5160/nm/Volvo+940+Turbo+Fuel+Pump+Check+Valve+1991-1994+(Bosch)

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1998 V70 AWD->FWD Turbo 200k+

It appears that you might have a problem with fuel pressure. Get yourself a pressure gauge and check the pressure while your cranking it, as well as 10-15 minutes after you stop.

The easiest way to do this is start the car, check fuel pressure. It should be between 375 and 395 kPa. I doubt it will be off, since the car seems to run normal except for starting. If it is report that and we'll walk through whats wrong...


After the first check, kill the engine and wait 10-15 minutes and check again. If the pressure has fallen below 200 kPa you have a leak somewhere. Check the injectors (this is a pretty easy check, take the rail and injectors off. Set them on top of newspaper on the top of your engine. Jump the fuel pressure relay (relay #103, jump pins 1 and 3 with a wire(top and bottom center pins) and the pump will turn on, let it go for 20 seconds then take off the wire). Let it sit for 20 minutes and check for wetness. The pressure regulator might also leak and its on the rail, it would cause wetness too.. If nothing you probably have the fuel pump non-return valve, other connections, and the lines to check out.

Tmannian,

Thank you for your detailed reply. I'm afraid I'm not sophisticated enough to do the system check that you suggested. But at least, your thoughts parallel Klaus's above. I guess I should be thankful I haven't gotten stuck some where yet. I'll aggressively follow up on this issue and will not wait for it to get worse.

Hugh