[V8] flash of death

[Brett Dikeman]

On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 6:01 PM, <cobram at juno.com> wrote:

> A single temp sensor can kill the car and strand you where you sit?  Wow,
> I guess it wasn't just the motto they dropped, "Vorsprung durch Technik"
> indeed.  Even the lowly POS Kia would still run, it reverts to a default
> value when sensors are out of parameter.

My folks' Volvo 960 has this exact failure mode for the engine coolant
temperature sensor.  Instead of failing to the hottest temperature
value like the Motronic in the 3B/AAN, it just shuts down.  The car
dies- on the spot, and you can't restart it.  Left my mother smack in
the middle of the busiest road in town, and a couple of people had to
help push the car out of the way.

The same car had all manner of problems with the microswitches in the
shifter interlock- one evening, it took my father 15 minutes to get
the car out of reverse.

Drive safely...

Brett