I believe I finally fixed (I hope) an occasional stalling problem. Now I know this is a tricky problem (not always the same solution) that affects many people, so I though I would share my experience.

Last summer my car stalled while driving uphill 500 feet after leaving the house in the morning. It re-started really easy but idle was rough and it would not rev up or move forward when put in gear (automatic), so I had to tow it to the dealer. The dealer didn't find anything wrong with it (they couldn't duplicate the problem) so they cleaned the battery connections (the green stuff was all over)and hoped for the best. The car run fine for the next two months, but then the car died twice at consecutive red lights. The difference this time was that when I re-started it right back after stalling and reved it up full throtle, I felt it 'clean up'. Then it run fine for another 3 weeks and then the same thing happend....it stalled twice when driving back home;I was able to re-start appliying full throtle, but the second time I got the checkengine light. The car then run fine, but next day I took it to Advance Auto Parts for a free scan, and I got P0102 (MAF or VAF circuit low input). (I didn't know how to use DTC back then...now I couldn't live w/o it...Thanks Klaus).
I took the MAF out and cleaned it with qtips, and also replaced the airfilter (it was about time). Next day I drove the car for 150miles and it run great and the check engine light desapeared.
The car run for 5-6 months or so w/o stalling, but then it started stalling more often (once a week or so). The stalling would usually happen right afther leaving the house (on all weather conditions)...the car would start again easily and drive fine. However, we also started to notice misfires (barely noticeable) while driving at 60-65 on the highway. By now I was very worry and all the net searching on the issue was very worrisome as the problem seems to be different with each story (but very popular). I tried a couple of fuel injection system cleaners, but it didn't solve the problem. By now, it was time to replace the spark plugs (27K miles old), so I took it to the dealer (original volvo spark plugs). Not a single missfire, or stalling attempt ever since....this was a couple of months ago, and I really think it solved the problem that otherwise was getting worse. I will be replacing my spark plugs every 20K miles from now on....car runs crisp and clean.



94 850 turbo wagon 52K miles.