NHTSA Complaint #10156021 — 2000 VOLVO S70

CAR BEGAN TO LOSE ACCELERATION ON 10-15-05 AND WOULD TAKE A FULL 2 MIN TO REACH 55 MPH WITH ONLY MINIMAL THROTTLE DEPRESSION (ANY MORE THAN ONLY THE LEAST WOULD CAUSE THE DRIVE TRAIN TO JERK AND REFUSE TO PROPEL THE CAR AT ALL). IF THE CAR WAS PULLED OVER AND RESTARTED THE PROBLEM WOULD CORRECT ITSELF FOR A WHILE (SOMETIMES THE GAP IN BETWEEN MALFUNCTIONS WOULD BE SEVERAL HOURS INITIALLY) BUT WOULD ALWAYS RETURN. RAN TROUBLE CODES AND THE OXYGEN SENSOR WAS INITIALLY FAULTY. REPLACED THEN THE ENGINE WOULD IDLE ERRATICALLY UPON STARTUP, BUT AFTER A PERIOD OF TIME (5-15 MINUTES) IT WOULD ALL OF A SUDDEN CORRECT ITSELF - RACING THE ENGINE SEEMED TO SHORTEN THE TIME PERIOD, BUT YOU WOULD HAVE TO DEPRESS AND QUICKLY RELEASE THE GAS PEDAL IN ORDER TO GET THE RPM'S SIGNIFICANTLY HIGH ENOUGH TO FACILITATE THE SMOOTH OPERATION. ONCE THE ENGINE RAN FINE, IT WOULD OPERATE WELL AS LONG AS THE CAR WAS NEVER SHUT OFF (IT WAS RAN ON A JOURNEY OF 1,000 MILES AND OPERATED PERFECTLY NORMAL). THE MOMENT IT WAS SHUT DOWN, EVEN FOR THE BRIEFEST OF SPANS, IT WOULD ACT IN THE SAME MANNER WITH THE IDLE FLUCTUATING WILDLY, BUT SEEMED TO BE PRONE TO STALLING WHEN THE ENGINE WAS WARM/HOT. VOLVO WAS CONTACTED AND RECOMMENDED DEALER DIAGNOSIS TO DETERMINE THE SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM. WHEN THE CAR WAS BROUGHT IN FOR SERVICE, I WAS ASSURED THAT IT "COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE THE COMPUTER(ETM)". HOWEVER THERE WAS A SOFTWARE UPDATE INSTALLED (HMMMMM.....COULDN'T POSSIBLY, BUT LETS ADJUST IT....HMMMMMM ) WHICH CORRECTED THE ROUGH IDLE INITIALLY. ONLY PROBLEM IS NOW THE CAR WILL NOT REACH OR EXCEED 4,000 RPM EVEN WITH THE CAR IN PARK (NOT UNDER LOAD) AND WILL STALL JERK AND REFUSE TO ACCELERATE UNDER HARD PEDAL PRESSURE AND WILL NOT DRIVE ABOVE ABOUT 70 MPH ON THE HIGHWAY WITHOUT PROTESTATION, LOSS OF ACCELERATION OR JERKING. ALL OF THE DIAGNOSTIC TROUBLE CODES STILL INDICATE THAT THE CYLINDERS ARE WILDING MISFIRING AND I'M GETTING SICK OF TRYING TO FIX VOLVO'S ENGINEERING PROBLEM. *NM