Gidday,

I have a 2000 V70R, 130000KM, it runs well, pretty fast for a comfy safe looking wagon, but its been bugging me a lot this engine light. It was like that when I purchased it, the dealer who I took the car to said ignore it, he knew it was not serious and said ignore it.

But I still would like it fixed, and got a fright when I was quoted 2 new sensors @ $1500NZ !!!!! and if it was not that then they said $3000 for the CAT. I'm not too sure if their diags are great, they rely on computer codes, but to get through 2 x 02 sensors and still not be sure then I'm worried. Can you test the sensors or somehow proove it?

Their report states o2 sensor faults, but being a computer engineer I only trust computers so far, the old story bullshit in = bullshit out. So the computer believes everything its told right!

I see a lot of suggestions about vacuum hoses, so will go hunting for that, any other ideas/help appreciated folks.

cheers

That's strange I got a generic cat for $90 at the local muffler shop.
INSTALLED,Even the large ones top out at $250.
Follow the others advice,seek an indie, and take matters into your own hands.
Some dealership service writers/parts-jockeys are in the
buisness of making money,giving all dealerships a bad
reputation.
--
69-145-S ; 71-145-S ; 72-145-E ; 72-1800-ES ; 87-245-DL

My dealer once read my codes for free, and then cleared them and sent me on my way. "Let us know if it happens again."

When it happened again, I left the car with them. They said they found a vacuum hose that had come loose, and they fixed it and sent me on my way. (This was in spite of the fact that I went over that engine compartment with a fine toothed comb, looking for loose or damaged vacuum hoses.) They billed their labor to Volvo North America as warranty work.

When the code returned again, they replaced an oxygen sensor. The car was at 47k miles, just under the 50k mile warranty. They got their money from Volvo NA.

When the code returned again, I was tired of dealing with them. I bought a code reader, checked the code, and found that it was consistent with the electronic throttle module failures that are so well documented about these cars. I brought the car back and had a nice chat with the service writer, service manager and shop steward. When I insisted that they replace the ETM, the shop steward looked at my findings and told me that he didn't understand why this wasn't done right from the start. They replaced the ETM, and the car has been fine ever since. That was at 48.5k miles. I'm at 95k now.

They wasted my time with repeat visits to the dealership and a few days without my car. And they continued to milk Volvo NA for labor on this one problem. Based on this and several similar incidents, I no longer trust any dealer service writer or mechanic to get it right the first time. So long as they can bill the manufacturer for their (deliberate?) mistakes, they have no incentive to get it right.

In your case, it sounds like your dealer is about to milk you in a similar manner: just keep throwing parts (and YOUR MONEY) at the car until we get it right.

Get a code reader and check it yourself. http://www.jimrothe.com/volvo/backyard_mechanics_resources.html

If you can't find out what the code means, then ask online. Someone will know.

Knowledge is your only defense against these crooks. If they're not crooks, then they're honest idiots. But for $4500NZ for these parts, it sure sounds like they're crooks to me.

--
Jim Rothe, '99 S70 T5M,
http://www.jimrothe.com/volvo/index.html

Any local garage can check and try to clear the codes. How fast the codes come back can help determine the problem. KSG mentioned checking the wires to the O2 sensors. Sometimes these wires rub against the body of the car and wear the insulation down.
If there is a slight vacuum leak, it will result in a "rich" condition, and I am a porponant of looking for cheap fixes first.
Get your codes read, cleared, and read again if the Lambda light comes back on right away to verify which code comes on first.

You can look up the code meaning yourself at:
http://www.actron.com/code_lookup.php


Klaus
--
1975 164 w/174,800mi (Sold) 1995 850T w/91,000mi, 1998 V70R w/129,000mi

thanks all you guys for your advice, I'll let you know what the outcome is, will go hunting for leaks first!

If your car has the OBDII system similar to that used in the US it is in my view a pretty sensibly designed system that can give you a lot of useful info that will likely point to a correct diagnosis. Some codes get set when a particular single fault occurs; for instance there is a code for an oxygen sensor that gets set when the sensor's heater or its wiring fails, a different one for a slow responding sensor, etc. There are also several 'performance' codes that are set when excessive emissions occur during a longer driving cycle or many starts/stops. The car goes through normal variations in driving conditions and an overall result is logged as good or bad.

May I suggest you find out from an independent source what particular codes are set and then read up on the system so you will be armed with good information before you have someone work on the car?

I think it is VERY unlikely that both oxygen sensors and the cat are all bad. It is even more unlikely that they all went bad for no reason. If these components are really bad it almost had to be caused by a very severe fault in the engine that was ignored for months (e.g. a very rich fuel mixture, grossly defective ignition, etc). If you replace them you will soon enough get the same problem again unless the underlying cause has been corrected. Please distinguish between a code where a component such as an oxygen sensor is reporting something wrong vs the sensor itself being defective.

Finally the dealer who sold you the car and told you to ignore the light gave you bad or possibly dishonest advice. Codes don't get set for no reason. Sometimes a code will indeed be set because of an easily corrected problem like a vacuum leak, but that still affects the efficiency and performance and if so your dealer would have corrected it so as not to have to explain it away. In many jurisdictions including where I live a car can't be registered or a driver's license will be suspended if the car is not free of codes. I just saw somone get fined US$1200.00 in our local court for the violation of driving a car with administratively suspended documents for an emission violation. Ouch!