V50 2.4 petrol, stalling issues.
 

Hi all, I recently purchased a 2004 V50, 2.4 petrol, geartronic with 128000 miles on it. seemed like a good car, first 300 miles of driving it was a pleasure, no issues at all.
Last Sunday the wife used it and said it stalled 3 times as soon as she put it into 'drive', 4th time it was ok and she did a 60 mile trip with no further problems.
Monday morning, I set out for work, first 2 miles fine, then it splutters to a halt and shuts down. Started immediately but spluttering, like it wasn't getting enough fuel, this lasted about 30 seconds then recovered and drove back home like nothing had happened.
Although the engine management light didn't come on I decided to check for codes, plugged in my cheap and cheerful code reader which got half way through the scan and gave up. Tried again 3 more times but with no joy, however this attempted scan seemed to have upset the car somehow and the engine management light was now on.
Took the car to my trusted mot man who has a much better scanner and it produced a very impressive list of faults, however, top of this list was air flow meter, maf and fuel pressure sensor.
My question is, are there any known/common issues that would make sense to try to eliminate before I start buying parts to try and cure the problem.
Many thanks
Mike

before spending £ on A single part go and get the codes read PROPERLY
that is at a volvo dealer or indy who has Vida + Dice

anything else is a waste of £ as the code readers can NOT fully talk to the car's electronics

fuel pressure sensor was an issue on those if the codes are to be believed , as above get a proper read out … Airmass meters rarely ever fail ..Their code is due to unexpected airflow readings due to some other component failing ..

Thanks for the input guys, I know what your saying about getting the codes read by a proper volvo reader, however as the nearest dealer is 30 miles away I'm not convinced the car would make it.
As an update, I noticed wet carpets and decided to get them out to see whats going on.
Stripped out the interior, sucked up at least a gallon of rain water from the floor and left the carpets out to dry. Had a browse on this forum on the subject of water getting in and it appears the sunroof drains are the main suspect but as the battery is disconnected I can't check that theory yet.
However, reading through a thread on the subject from only last month, one person commented that the CEM is located in such a position that it could be vulnerable to moisture from the leak which could in turn lead to the problems I've encountered.
So the current master plan is to remove the CEM, give it a few days in the dry of the house, clean it with some WD40 contact cleaner and see where we are then.
Mike

you dont need the battery in to sort the sunroof drains out, its taking the A pillars off and having "lots of fun" in the acres of space behind them,,,,
wd40 might not be The best contact cleaner for the CEM, may pay you to get a dedicated one And give the connectors in the car a clean up as well, mechanical clean And solvent clean - good idea

yes a blocked sunroof drain = wet cem
you need to clear out the drains , esp the elbow and the ,(insert words here) end thats mostly blocked by design (ok its to stop wind noise but its too closed up ) theres a Few threads on here with photos on where/how for those,


if your that far from a dealer, you can get a dice/vida setup yourself, again there are a few threads on here,, https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=253191 (i think) is one of the peeps with an offering

Bit of update, the inside of the car is now dry after removing everything and leaving it out for a week in the fresh air. The sunroof problem is also resolved. As predicted it was easier said than done but the silly little elbows that the pipes had come out of are now in the bin, replaced by well connected and much longer pipes that lead all the way through the firewall and into the wheel well.
That's the good news.
Bad news is that the CEM did show signs of having been wet so gave it a good clean with contact cleaner but on giving the car a test drive after putting everything back, the problem with randomly shutting down is still there.
Logic says the CEM is the root of the problem (I know, I know), but how do you test it? There are many ECU test and repair companies that pop up with a google search, I'm just wondering if anyone has been down this route before and found a company they would recommend?

again im sorry to say it
without a proper dtc read by vida/dice , needle/haystake and hope is where you are

i know it isnt cheap, but it is needed if you are going to do repairs on the car.

i found mine paid for itself on the 1st use, i had a suitable laptop and only needed to buy the dice unit, it May take you 3-4 reads to pay for it if you have to buy a laptop/tablet and the dice unit (see link above for where/how/cost)
with a main dealer asking £80+ for a read/printout it really doesnt take long and makes a lot of sense to get one yourself IF you are doing the repairs
diagnose £80+ , you go away fix it, go back to have it checked and the warnings /errors cleared and lights put out £80+ ..


you DID clean the connector ends still in the car when you did the cem dry/clean ?

I know you're right Andy, I meant to thank you for posting the link to the cheshired5 thread regarding buying the vida/dice set up. It makes perfect sense to have the set up to hand if I'm going to stick with the car, so I'll be getting that sorted asap.
Reading the last few posts on that thread, it seems he hasn't got anything available for a few weeks so I've carried on searching for the needle in the haystack and I'm now 99% convinced it's in the CEM somewhere. You made the point about not just cleaning the unit but also the connectors, yes I had but maybe not as well as I could have. so I took the unit off again and gave it and the connectors a proper going over. Plugged it back in the next day and started the car. All seemed well, engine management light had disappeared and a short test drive went without a hitch. Pulled up on my drive, shut it down and left it for a while. Came back to the car, turned the key in the ignition and got a dash message saying 'immobiliser, see manual'. No dash lights at all and no starter operation.
No steps forward but another step back.
Disconnected battery and removed CEM again, more cleaning and checking connections etc, reassembled and all is now fine again.
As you said, without the proper diagnostics I'm just going around in circles.
I suspect I'll end up having to get a new CEM, everything seems to point that way. There's a firm called Volvo diagnostic who do a replacement unit, I may give them a call in the morning, just to see what they say.

Disagree with your statement, I stopped using vida and use other scantools with equal capability and VCI pass through for programing.

you may be right , but to a non professional, vida is a boon in explaining exactly what the codes mean and the relative specialised fault tracing etc .. Nice to have a live graph with it too .