Hello all. I'm a newbie to this site and also a newbie Volvo owner.

I have a 1999 V70-R AWD.
Love the car but am having a problem with it running rough, or, not running at all. I recently ran out of gas and a helpfull person stopped and let me use a couple gallons of gas he had in a gas can. Well that got me to a fuel station, filled up and ran fine for 5 days. Then it was hard to start and idled rough. It did that for a couple days, now it won't start at all. I borrowed an OBD-II scanner and found a 0300 code (random missfire). I pulled the spark plugs and found dark and sooty plugs with a foul smell. So I think I may have got some bad gas in my tank. I will put in new plugs after work. I am also replacing the fuel filter tonight and would like to know if I can drain the fuel tank (short of dropping it).

Any suggestions or opinions?

Thanks a bunch!!!!

Brian R.

Brian,
I've had a 99 V70R for about a year and a half and have a fair amount of experience with the car.
From the sound of your description and the error code, it may be simply coincidental that the car is miss firing after the out of gas episode. It would be of benefit to try to determine if the spark plug fouling is due to fuel or oil contamination. The reason I'm making this point is that these cars react badly to poor maintainance, like infrequent oil changes in particular. You mentioned that you are a new owner. Any service records? If the oil wasn't changed at least at the recommended interval, or allowed to drop low at any point, the shaft and or seal assembly in the turbocharger may be damaged and leaking oil into the compressor, which then blows it directly into the combustion chamber, gets partially burnt and rejected out the tailpipe, fouling the spark plugs, the catylytic converter, maybe the oxygen sensor and everything else in its path. Some indicators of a bad turbo are oil on the inside of the intake piping and/or oily residue on the inside of the tailpipe. In my case there was even oil on the back window. Any smoke out the back during acceleration is a bad sign.
I hope it's something simple, but maybe this will give you some help. If it is an oil problem, the new plugs should at least get the car running again.

Thanks Mark!!

Yep the new plugs and fuel filter got the car started. That was 4 days ago. This morning it was -10 deg's outside and the poor car had to spend the night out of the garage. Well it turned over, yet would not start. It would make a small attempt to kick over but would die as soon as I let off the starter. A little starting ether in the air box didn't help any. So off to the parts shop to buy a block heater (hose heater) and try to warm the frozen beast up.

Were is the easiest point to access the air intake to check for oil from the turbo?

Thanks again.
Brian R.

Brian,
Curiosity brought me back to your dilemna. I didn't realize that your winters were so cold. Volvo has definite recommendations for oil viscosity for low temperatures which may help your problem. Check your owners manual.
To answer your other question, the easiest place to open up the intake system is at the connection between the turbocharger piping and the intake manifold. If you're standing in front of the car, there is a large black metal pipe that runs from the turbocharger next to the fire wall straight towards the front of the car between the airbox and the valve cover. At the transition from metal pipe to rubber hose there is a clamp you can loosen and separate the pipes.
If you get the car running again, I think the tailpipe test may be the easiest.
If you floor it and look in the rear view mirror (briefly, of course, things can get out of hand quickly in that car), and see any type of grey smoke the turbo is probably damaged. I'm curious if the error code has reappeared, and if the plugs are starting to degrade again.

Mark

Mark;

The plugs did not "foul" up like the old ones I pulled out. I finally got it started again and it ran decent with more throttle input, yet idled very poorly and appeared to be rich. Well I took it to the dealer and they tested the thing over and over. They claim that the new plugs I put in (Bosch Plat. 4) are no good for turbo charged volvos. The 4 grounding prongs are no good, they claim. So they threw some OEM plugs in it and they say it runs great. I will pick it up tonight.

Well I opened up the air intake pipe and found some good amounts of wet oil on the interior surface of the tubing. The dealer claims it is a normal amount. Man I would think that much is a bad thing, but what do I know.

Thanks again Mark. Here's to crossing fingers it is as simple as spark plugs. ;)

Brian

Brian,
Been off the board for a while. If the plugs have the same heat range it really shouldn't make a difference, but that's my sole opinion. They may be right about the oil. Some oil is normal, it's just difficult to guage. There are a couple of devices in the fuel injection system that can make the car run rich when they fail. One is the oxygen sensor(s). The other is the air mass meter or sometimes called the mass airflow sensor. The engine management system defaults to an overly rich mixture when it doesn't get a signal from either of these devices, which keeps the car running, although poorly. Without these defaults the car would quit or risk a lean condition which could result in extreme engine damage, especially on the "R". Usually any problems like this would kick on the check engine light and generate an error code.

Good luck, Mark