Volvo S40 Losing Power

[Jac]

Hi all,
Does anyone know what can be wrong with my car. It can drive fine at one point and then I could go out again 5min later and I would have no power at all. I had it serviced by my local garage and they said air filter etc.. is fine. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!

Jac

 

[Pique318]

It could be: Fuel pump/fuel pump relay/fuel filter.

It could also be faulty spark plugs/HT leads/coil

Did they check all of these ?

I'd bring it to a place with a diagnostics machine immediately when it feels like it's losing power. Get them to plug in the car to it and check the sensors. As a lot of intermittent problems are with sensors failing or about to fail, this could be a good first step and cheaper than replacing expensive parts that are potentially fine on a trial and error basis.

 

[kevin 1]

Jac,

I had a similar problem to you. My S40 randomly lost power every now and then (no warning lights been shown on the dash). Does it go back to normal after you turn the engine off and on? I like you was very reluctant to carry the car to the dealer as I was worried about the huge bill I might receive.

After two unsuccessful attempts at local garages I carried my car to a dealer where he plugged it in to the diagnostics machine and he found the problem straight away. There was a broken connection between the ECM and the throttle control. He fixed it immediately and cleaned the rest of the connections which has rectified the problem at a very reasonably coat.

What I have learned from this experience was that most normal garages may not have the correct diagnostics machine and they cannot read all the errors logged on the cars system.

I hope this was of help.

Best of luck.

 

[Guest125]

I'd have to agree with Kevin1. A lot of messing around can be saved by a quick run on the diagnostic machine. If its a diesel its almost certainly the air mass meter with the egr valve coming a close second.