'98 v70 keeps blowing fuel pump fuse

We have a 1998 V70 with a fuel pump fuse problem. Earlier this year,
the car developed a problem where it would occasionally blow out the
fuel pump fuse and refuse to start. At first, replacing the fuel pump
fuse would fix the problem for a few months, but then the fuel pump
fuse started blowing more and more often. (It seems to blow the moment
you start the car - so, we replace the fuse, start it up and it runs
fine, until you turn it off and have to start it up again! The fuse
never blows while the car is running.)

Now the car is almost undriveable, it's so unreliable and goes through
so many fuses. Sometimes we use two or three fuses just to get it
going. We have taken it to two independent garages. The first could
find nothing wrong and suggested we replace the 10 amp fuse with a 20
amp fuse (which we did, but it didn't seem like very good advice).

So we took it to a second garage, which also could find no mechanical
problems, but they also checked the codes and said the car comes up
with all kinds of weird codes that make no sense. The second garage
suggests it's a software problem and that we take it to a Volvo dealer,
because perhaps the software is causing the fuse to blow.

Anybody heard of anything like this happening before with a V70?

 

Are you sure it's a 10 amp fuse? In my '98 S70 it's a 20 amp fuse for
the fuel pump an ignition combined (very dumb combination).

Anyway, mine had a very similar same problem. The fuse wasn't exactly
blowing though, the wire inside that is supposed to break was obviously
fine. What was happening was the fuse was getting so hot that the
plastic part was melting. This made it change shape, which made the
spade contacts not make contact anymore. Pretty strange. I figured the
plastic fusebox chassis was weak and making the new fuses' spades not
make very good contact in the first place.

A few months ago when I first tried this I was down to blowing that fuse
every one or two trips, and sometimes more than one to get the car
started. Just like you, once it was running it was fine.

My solution was to take a brand new fuse and slightly bend both spades
in opposite directions from each other. It seems to work. The car only
failed to start once since then, and taking out the bent (bent by me,
not by itself) fuse and putting it right back in worked. Since then no
problems. I also bought a new battery over a month ago and the car
started much quicker (before the engine would turn over at least a few
seconds before catching, now it cranks much faster and catches immediately).

Right at the same time my air conditioning compressor intermittently
failed to come on at all. The problem was pretty obvious when I found
it worked if I pushed down on the A/C relay. This is in the same box as
the problem fuse (the one with about half a dozen relays and half a
dozen fuses, next to the one with a few dozen fuses). Bending the
spades on that relay did the trick, no problems since then.

What can I say... sometimes I wonder if Volvo, Bosch, and Lucas made a
secret pact in 1998.

 

1st) You state your car is a 1998 model No software for this car 1999&
up use software
2nd) get a third diagnose from another qualified repair shop because the
first 2 do not sound to swift
3rd) Has the fuel pump been checked & or replaced & all the connections
checked?

--
"*-344-*Never Forgotten"
Is for the New York City Firemen who lost their lives on September 11,2001.
The official count is 343, but there was also a volunteer who lost his life
aiding in the initial rescue efforts. And I will never forget them as
long as I live,
nor should any American.

 

Seems like a simple problem to deal with, and odd that the shop did
not just replace the pump straight away. Seems like SOP to just
replace suspect parts without even testing at all nowadays.

I also thing that unplugging all related electrical connections that
supply current to the fuel pumps and cleaning them is in order. After
that, just throw in another pump. OWrst case is that you end up with a
spare pump. Even a used one to test the situation would be one way to
go.



__ __
Randy & \ \/ /alerie's
\__/olvos
'90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate
"Shelby" & "Kate"