So I was driving my 850 T5 out to dinner tonight, I felt a big bump and now the engine runs rough when I accelerate hard, generally over 2500 RPM, and doesn't feel like it's getting anything from the turbo.

The CEL came on when the bump happened. Did I lose my turbo already?

Update...

I took the car out this evening, drove it around the block about a dozen times, switched to sport from econ, something pushed through, now it is perfectly smooth under econ and sport. Any ideas what that could be?

It corrected itself. Wow, kinda like KIT in the Knight-Rider heh? Self-healing car!

OK, sorries. Jokes aside, i dont know what exactly happened.

But it if it were to happen again, please pop the hood and make sure to see if all the hoses are OK. Sometimes, if the air-hoses are torn or got disconnect, you will feel the loss of power too. Or if you have a situation called a 'blow-out' (Hehe, i just learnt that word) where your plug cables were pushed out of resting spot in the spark-plug holes.

Things like that.

Cheers.

I'm beginning to think my personality may be rubbing off on the car (it gets b****y when I push it too hard). This happened again tonight just without the transmission bump. The CEL came back on. I can accurately describe the sensation as when you're hitting the rev limiter...just at a quicker pace. The vibration is no longer consistantly hitting at 2500 RPM...sometimes it hits at 2500...sometimes it hits at 4000...but no matter what it won't climb higher than the RPM described. I tried toggling the sport switch again to see but nothing obvious changed.

Any ideas at all?

OK, firstly, read out the error codes stored in the CEL. I said codes cos there should be at least 2 of them. 1 from the first occurrence that deleted itself, and the other from this one.

Lets see what that says.

You have a 1996, that means OBD2, so you'd need a scantool to read the codes.

when i bought my volvo it was pretty "tweaky" with its shifting choices and RPM's.

it would hang onto 1st or 2nd under light accelleration and then hop in 4th at like 40MPH, and then... sometimes it didn't.. and the sport, econ, winter button did nothing (it seemed) oY!

after a tune up with plugs, wires, filters, "o" rings for the injectors, seafoam, all fluids including transmission it started acting much more predictable and the problems have not returned after 10k miles and the sport/econ button does what it should now.

good luck! :thumbsup:

Thanks for sharing wood.
:)

hey bear, that really didn't sound right :grin: and for VA, what have you done with your 850? tranny flush, tune up, etc? does it sound louder? is your tranny low on fluid?

Went out today and bought a OBD II scan tool. It had SEVEN codes!!! 3 of them were a misfire on Cyl. 3. 2 of them were a misfire on cyl. 1 and the remaining two were multi cyl misfires.

I cleared the codes, and the CEL hasn't popped back on. After I read the codes (in the parking lot of the auto parts store, no less) I bought a new set of spark plugs because that's the cheapest thing to replace for a misfire (according to the haynes manual I bought at the same time). I ran out of daylight before I could put in the new plugs. I'll put them in and check the wires tomorrow.

did you get stock replacement plugs? if so, get the wires and a coil. get it from fcpgroton.com, if i remember correctly, they have a tune-up kit that has the coil and the wires together. do it one shot. should take care of the misfire. it really gets hot under that hood and the wires take a beating with heat cycles. good luck and keep us posted.

I ended up getting Bosch Platinums...I did find plug wires on FCPGroton That's #2 in the list. The 3rd thing that could have caused it is the ignition timing...or a fuel filter...but I'd think if it were the fuel filter it'd be a bit more consistant.

SEVEN codes?
But all on Misfires?

OK, Good call.
At least its something easy. Bosch platinums are a safe bet.

+1 to TGM.
:)

As I was in working on the car this afternoon (it's still too hot to pull out the old plugs) I noticed the cable that goes over to the ignition thing on the driver side wheel well wa loose so I reattached it...I also noticed when I pulled the spark plug cover off there was oil on top of the head (picture to follow). I'm guessing when the previous owner got the oil changed the last time the tech didn't use a funnel? Or is there another...possibly more serious...explanation?

well, there is an easy check for that oil thing, is there any milky substance under the oil filler cap? on the dipstick? blowing blue smoke? if not, don't worry about it. is the oil new looking around the cap? or is it dried, semi-dired, etc.?

It was liquid...but far dirtier than what comes out of the dipstick. When I removed the liquid oil from around the top area, there was baked on oil underneath it. So, I cleaned it all off and now the aluminum parts look brand new just below the spark cover. Next time I change the oil in the car I'll pull that cover off to see how much oil is still on the top. It's leaking out about a quart every 1000 miles right now, so I'm thinking at the next oil change, I'll just replace the oil pan and gasket since that's where it's leaking from.

Hmmmm... There is a black rubber hose that goes to the top of the engine block. It connects to the oil-trap behind the intake manifold. If you want to see how it looks like, take a look at the pinned-up thread on this.

If the oil-trap is clogged, it may cause the spillout to the top of the engine, via the top hose. Look at the historical receipts, if it has never been changed in the past 12 years, this may be a good time to do it. Its great for a DIY project as well.

ampang- is the oil trap something that has to be emptied on occasion? If so...it's probably overflowing on my car because the previous owner had a thing for Jiffy Lube