A Little Blue Van & a Volvo S70
Taking a Car for a Swim and a Service Engine Soon Light.
Aug 21, 2007
This weekly Q&A session answers your questions about cars and trucks. This week explores a Volvo S70 that was treading water and a rich "Little Blue Van".
Question: Volvo S70
I drove my Volvo S70 through deep water. Next morning when I started going reverse I felt my wheels were jammed. I put my car in FIRST gear went a foot forward then in REVERSE again. I felt a jerk and car started moving normal. I did not see any problem all day. Two days later wheels were jammed again in the morning. I took car to dealer. They said hand brake was on and that they fixed it. I think hand brake was fine and they just adjusted it. Two days later, again early morning, wheels were jammed and car started driving normal after a jerk. Dealer is not seeing anything wrong with brakes.
Yesterday I drove through rain and lots of water again. This morning wheels were jammed again. I drove a foot backwards and then stopped. I got out and saw some mark on rotors shining surface as if calipers were holding it tight. Last night when I came home I did not press brakes when I stopped. I put it in first gear and stopped. I did not want to engage brakes before end of day. This morning car was fine. Dealer cannot find anything wrong with my car. What should I do?
Muhammad Kamran
Answer:
It does sound like the calipers are sticking, front or rear; you didn't mention which rotors were showing marks. If that were indeed the case then the only solution would be to replace them. It is recommended to replace the pads and resurface the rotors as well, basically a complete brake job front and rear.
Question: What's Up With My Poor Little Blue Van?
First, it got a miss in it. After driving it for three or four miles, the Service Engine Light came on. When he used the computer key to get a code number for diagnostics, it indicated that the problem was the catalytic converter. He installed one, no results. Thought it may be a bad one, installed another, and another, and another. By the fourth time, he gave up. He took out the housing inside the catalytic converter, in order to bypass the catalytic converter apparatus.
It started to run better after that, but still uses a lot of gas. Got any clues?
Carol Gibson
Answer:
There is no listing for a "Little Blue Van" in any of the databases we, at Suite101.com, use to help try to determine possible problems with a particular vehicle. It would have been an immense help if you included the year, make and model of your vehicle with the actual diagnostic trouble code that was obtained from the vehicles Powertrain Control Module (PCM).
However, in general, it sounds like they cured the symptom and not the actual problem. The problem sounds like the engine is running too rich. That is to say there is too much fuel going through the engine. This excess fuel goes into the catalytic converter and is burned inside it. This raises the internal temperature beyond design limits and causes the catalyst inside to melt forming a solid block.
If the catalytic converter is replaced without finding and repairing the underlying problem, the new catalytic convert will also go through a melt down rendering it inoperative. With a blocked catalytic converter the engine backpressure will increase to the point where the engine cannot operate efficiently and eventually stall very quickly after starting. This is besides the increased risk of the vehicle, or anything under the vehicle, catching fire causing serious vehicle damage, personal injury and even death.
What you need to do is have the electronic fuel injection system analyzed and find the root cause of the rich fuel condition. It may be the fuel pump is putting out too much fuel pressure, the fuel pressure regulator may be bad and not maintaining proper fuel pressure or you may have an injector(s) that is dumping fuel into the engine. Only when the root cause is found and repaired can you install a new catalytic converter without fear of damaging it.
By the way, disabling the catalytic converter is a violation of Federal Law and is punishable by a $100,000.00 fine and/or 10 years in prison.
That’s all for this week. Feel free to browse the archives for past topics. And, as always, if you are stuck and need an immediate answer you can always call Vince on the phone.
