hi all,

i need a bit of help on this - sorry in advance for being a bit long winded.

on wednesday (march 28th) i took my car in to get it serviced at a local dealership here in toronto, and they said i needed a new fresh air hose since the old one was broken.

as i was leaving the dealership (volvo villa) and merging into traffic on a really busy street, i realzed my gas pedal was stuck and, and while the engine was doing god knows how many thousand rpms, the car was doing about 10km/hr (about 6mph). i was nearly rear-ended by a couple cars.

i carefully went right back to the dealer, and they brought out a mechanic to take a look. the air hose seems to be near the accelerator mechanism, he loosen something - and it seemed to fix the problem. i got home later on that night, and no problems.

last night (thursday), i got in my car in the underground parking, let it idle for 1 minute then pulled out of my spot. as i'm pulling out, the car suddenly accelerates (engine did about 4,500 - 5,000 rpm) and i nearly lost control of it. the accelerator seemed to jam now at the high rpm. the experience un-nerved me quite a bit. as i was going back into my spot the car did it 2 more times.

i called volvo villa this morning (friday)- they sent out a mechanic who claimed nothing is mechanically wrong with the car.

i made it very clear to the service rep i spoke to that this was not a problem until i took the car in to see them.

he also told me that the mechanic had no problems when it idled - but when asked, he also told me the mechanic did not try putting the car in gear.

he proceeded to explained that i should've had a throttle body service done (thanks - but they didn't mention any of that to me on wednesday) - and that this would cost $60, and i would have to bring the car back up to them. they said the flap in the throttle was sticking and causing this problem.

sorry - but there is no way the car is safe to drive.

i think they did something to my car while it was in the dealership, - this is too much of a coincidence.

has anybody else had a similar experience? any advice would be appreciated.

I also service at that loction. I have the gas pedal stuck too. Maybe it was created by them too. Anyway they also forced me to preform the throttle body clean up, which I insisted should be covered ubder sa safety recall #80, which cause a high idling rev. because throttle cable stuck.

But they say #80 had been done long time ago, and this time I have to pay.

After 4 months, the stuck gas pedal come back till now. And last time, I suspect they seriously scratched my lower front bumper on the driver side. I did not notice until 1 week later the snowing stopped and I wash my own car (below freezing).

Peter

thanks for the emails!

the mystery has been solved:

when they (villa) replaced my airhose (from the air filter into the engine) - it appears they installed the wrong part!

i went to robert motors (came away with really good impression of them - very helpful staff!) who found the problem. apparently, on many 850s - there was a modification done to that specific air hose part. i am guessing this was as a result of the throttle body recall issued on the 850s in 1996 - before i bought my car.

there's a second set of hoses (including a vacuum hose) that merges with the main hose (that villa replaced) just near the throttle mechanism. the mechanic told me, and showed me, that if you install the wrong hose for certain 850s (as it appears villa did on my car)- this merging area gets to too close to the throttle mechanism, can catch it and cause the throttle to either stick open or closed - both dangerous situations!

granted - my throttle body was dirty, the mechanic at robert motors showed this to me - so i had them clean it yesterday - but this wasn't the real problem!

anyway - i've asked volvo canada (they also seem to have helpful staff) sort out who is going to pay for the repairs to fix the first repairs... i also mentioned this to a lawyer friend of mine. his reaction was that if i had had an acceleration accident with the car, he would've gladly taken on my case!

if you own an 850 and you need this hose replaced (or have had it replaced)- be aware that apparently installing the wrong version of the part can lead to an accident!

I too live in Toronto and will never, EVER allow anyone at that shop to touch my car.

Not only do they have a reputation for replacing parts that aren't required, they recommend many fixes that are totally unnecessary. And a couple family friends with Volvos as well as my car, have left the dealership with mysterious problems just like yours. A couple years ago, my old 81' 765T that I used to own needed some work (can't remember what was needed) and after picking up the car, died after doing some grocery shopping on the way home. All I can say is STAY AWAY FROM THIS DEALERSHIP!!!

If you get the chance, there is a Volvo dealership a little off to the west that has incredible service. I can't say enough about them. If you can, I recommend you get your car looked at by someone at McMillan and Saunders.