Heavy Surging, Engine Light & Stall Out
 

We have a 2008 LR2, 153k miles with no prior mechanical issues. We were on the road traveling yesterday using cruise control at about 70mph and when the vehicle down-shifted as it normally does when the road inclined, the engine suddenly began surging and bucking heavily.

We slowed down and noticed that it ran okay until acceleration was attempted, again causing the problem. The engine light came on and we continued to drive until we could reach an exit about 20 minutes later. At that point, the engine began increasingly loosing performance until it finally stalled, causing us to stop on the shoulder. The engine would not crank, but tried to fire over, which in my experience with older cars of my youth, meant some type of fuel issue rather than spark. After sitting in wait for AAA to arrive and tow the car, we tried starting it. The vehicle started right up but the light remained on. We were eventually towed home.

When I ran codes this morning, I got P0087 and P0088, fuel pressure too low and too high respectively. When I read about another member with a similar problem, and others on the internet, there doesn't appear to be anything that has developed in the way of a hard and fast source of the problem and a similar solution. Our particular LR2 never experienced any troubles at all until now and I lean very heavily in the direction that a part of some type is the actual cause of the problem.

If anyone has experienced a similar issue and a part failure was identified with replacement being the solution, I'd certainly like to hear about it.

Thanks very much

Russell

************UPDATE**************

PROBLEM FIXED

We road-tested the vehicle numerous times after erasing the codes. Each time upon acceleration the engine light came on and resulted in code fault P0088 with a pending code of P0087.

I removed the fuel rail, leaving the injectors intact in it and replaced the fuel rail pressure sensor. Put it back together and took it for a test-drive. The engine light remained out through all levels of acceleration and variable highway speeds, with normal acceleration and engine performance throughout the road tests. We're going to call that a fix. (we also kicked the left rear tire, put a full tank of premium gas in "her" and gave sacrifice to an online photo of what remains of Mt. St. Helens. We're not certain which one of those practices resulted in success, but the car is roadworthy again.

Thanks

Thanks for the update. You posted a fix before I could give a suggestion. Well done!
This is a Volvo motor and Fuel Pressure Sensors are very common on the Volvo engines.
Glad you got it fixed!