Four problems related to engine have been reported for the 1999 Volvo S70. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Vehicle surges after I had the software download recall. They keep telling me it is a dirty throttle body, but it has been cleaned a thousand times. They never replaced my tcm. Just the software. This needs to stop. I feel unsafe in this car. Need a recall.
In mid-December the car started but ran rough and lacked power. Previous to that it ran fine; since then it has had various intermittent problems related to acceleration. Sometimes the engine runs rough and lacks power. Other times the engine runs fine but the car does not respond to accelerator input to increase speed. Sometimes the car stumbles but accelerates adequately. More often the car will accelerate to about 20 mph and not increase speed beyond that irrespective of accelerator pedal pressure. After a few seconds the car will suddenly accelerate normally. Replacing the throttle body module corrected the problem. This part is subject to a NHTSA agreement with Volvo that requires Volvo to replace the unit free but the dealer refused to do that and charged me for the repair.
I own a 1999 Volvo S70. On two occasions while driving, the engine, without warning cuts out. With this the power steering goes and make it difficult to steer out of traffic. Both these incidents happened while I was making a left turn across an intersection. Luckily there were no injuries or accident. After the first incident, I took it to my mechanic who told me that it was hard to diagnose as it just happened once. Well it happened again! the first incident happened on may 1, 2005 and the second on July 30, 2005.
I purchased my 1999 used S70 in June of 2001. It had approx. 47,000 miles on it. Within a week or two the electronic throttle control module had to be replaced due to the loss of speed, etc. Within 1 year I had to replace the turbo and the whole engine due to malfunctions. In all, I have spent about $9,000 in repairs to this car due to engine problems. It has been the absolute worst car I have ever owned. It has also had numerous electrical malfunctions since I purchased.