Folks, I need some serious help here.

This evening I was driving from work and I think the car made some sort of a hissing noise (I had the radio on so I could not hear properly) and my car simply stopped and died on the spot. Now the engine turn when I turn the key but it does not fire up. Any suggestion before I dump this thing and RUN to buy a HONDA.

Things preceeding this unfortunate event.

1)About two weeks back I gave the car a very good wash.
2)Then I noticed that it was fogging inside the car. This has never happend to this car
3) A week later the SERVICE light would come on for about two minutes before driving and then go off. This lasted for a week.
4)Finally, yesterday I opened and cleaned the pollen filter. There was a lot of crap. Added some water because the radiator fluid seemed to be low. Checked Oil etc. and they were fine.

Today I drive from work and this happens. Please help. ANY suggestion would be helpful.

I have 93 850 also. My car cut out on me 3 times the other day. Started it 2 of those times. Last time died for good (or so I thought). I tried to start a couple hours later and started right up. I was only able to drive it for about 3 miles and same problem occured again. If this is the same thing you are experiencing it's the CAM SENSOR. First place I took it replaced ignition coil and this did not fix the problem and now I am trying to get my money back.
Hope this helps.

When you washed, did you wash under the hood? If so, might
have a look for any standing water (water can get under the
plastic valve cover cover, etc.).

The same thing happened to my car at about 118,000 miles, it turned out to be the fuel pump.

Good luck tracking the problem.

Service light is just an oil change interval reminder, and goes off after two minutes (there's a way you can reset it yourself). It's not serious.

Stopping in the middle of the road IS serious, though, but not as serious as you might fear. My first thought is the situation you describe is consistent with the fuel charging system (fuel pump, pressure regulator, cold start injector, or whatever's in these things). Volvospeed or Haynes might have somew advice as to how to track down the problem.

Another potential problem would be lack of spark. Check ignition wires, especially the main coil wire.

Have AAA take it to your nearest independent Volvo mech for a scan. No dount there's a code stored.

It's a nine-year-old car. How many miles?


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(98 S70 T5SE misc mods, mostly lighting) (92 940GLE)