I am trying to help a friend who really can't afford to take her 850 to a shop. I am not experienced in very complicated repairs and have no experience with Volvos.

The car has approx. 120K miles. Because of previous stalling problems, the alternator, spark plug wires, dist. rotor & cap have been replaced. Until now the stalling has not recurred.

The car has just passed the state emissions test, so I'm assuming the catalytic converter is O.K.

I understand, by searching this forum, that fault codes can pinpoint the problem. Are any of these codes readable without a special diagnostic tool? If they're not, are there any reasonably inexpensive things I can do (stabs in the dark) that might fix the problem. I don't know how expensive O2 sensors are, but that might be something I could do.

If I decide to undertake any work myself, I will get a shop manual. Any recommendations on which one to get?

If this seems like a problem that won't be easily solved by a well-intentioned amateur, I'd appreciate knowing that too.

Thanks for any input.


John

I decided that I was totally over my head in trying to fix the problem myself. A local small shop diagnosed the problem to be a camshaft position sensor. The cost will be $328.

I don't know if that's reasonable or not. I don't really have the time to go shopping for a better price.

Thanks for the responses.

A CMP sensor sells for $135 at fcpgroton.com

It only takes about 30 minutes to install.

I had already o.k.'d the shop to do the work before I read your message.

I think I could have done this. The next time something comes up I will more seriously consider doing it myself.

Thanks again.

How often was it stalling and under what conditions?
Does it have the connector under the coin holder (marked OBDII)?
What engine?...this affects what fuel injection was used and also the error codes

Subject: Sudden stalling
Date: Mon, 05 Aug 2002 12:22:34 -0400
From: pabloantoine
To: ozbrick

I have an '86 740 GLE and a '95 850 GLT, both normally aspirated.
I read all the posts about Sudden Stalling and I noticed that nobody
checked the item that was the culprit for the same problem on my 740 GLE
several years ago. CHANGE THE FUEL FILTER! See if muddy gasoline is
flowing out of the old one. If it is, there you are.

I had experienced absolutely the same stalls, with engine starting
without problems in 1-2 minutes, sometimes stalling at highway speed and
restarting (very scary though). I tried to diagnosticate in every way
and the mechanics always proposed something new. Up to that moment I had
been proposed to change relays, module (!), ignition components etc.
Thank God they were all so expensive I always postponed -hoping that
these stalls would become more "explicit"
Eventually the stalls became so frequent that I had a good chance they
will repeat with a mechanic. And it happened!
A honest mechanic told me that it feels like fuel starvation and
proposed to change the fuel filter to begin with and let me drive for a
while to see if the stalls happen again- a cheap item and a common sense
operation.

We noticed immediately that the car still had the original Volvo filter,
after 80k miles and 11 years of life! When he removed the filter there
was something like mud flowing out... The car never stalled again with a
new fuel filter.

I cannot guarantee this is 100% your solution, but is 100% common sense
to begin with before any further $ operations.

Pabloantoine