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check engine light V70-XC70

1999 V70 XC - Recently had check engine light come on...an ignition coil was identified as problem and replaced. Check engine light has come on again after approx 500 mi. (As reported to me by my wife over the phone who is 350 mi. from home) There are no mechanics I can call on Saturday or Sunday...so I'm looking for some advice from this board. Would you drive the car back home 350 miles to let the local mechanic check the car? Or find a mechanic and have the car checked before coming home? I suspect the feeling is that the check engine light is not something to take lightly....but I wanted to get some input from the folks on this board. I appreciate your feedback......








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Dealer? V70-XC70

Who diagnosed a bad coil? That'd be a rare part to fail and obviously didn't fix your car.
Is or was the engine missing? If not, it can't be a bad coil.

My dealership isn't opened weekends either but you should have it diagnosed by a dealership that has a Vadis PC if not done before. They can also print the diagnostic fault codes, now required for warranty so you'll be able to see what the codes are this time.

If the engine isn't missing, running rough and has normal driveabilty, it's probably not a major thing to worry about but you should still have it properly diagnosed by a dealer next week.








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check engine light V70-XC70

Both my Volvo dealer and my indy Volvo shop are open on Saturday, even in the summer.

I'd also wonder how the car is running.

-Punxsutawney Phil








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check engine light V70-XC70

P-Phil...

I'm glad the weekend options are available to you...sure would be nice right about now for me.

My wife reports that the car seems to be running just fine. She noticed the CE light come on while driving, but didn't notice any change in performance.








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check engine light V70-XC70

Like Frank-the-Volvo-Tech said above IF the car is running all right and not missing, then I'd feel a lot more comfortable about driving it home. We all drove our cars from 1895 until 1995 without OBD II "Check Engine" lights and so were completely oblivious to all the minor problems that occurred for all those years.

Last CEL code mine threw was last winter for a failed thermostat and the one before that was the throttle position sensor. In both cases the car ran just fine until the problem was corrected.

-Punxsutawney Phil









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check engine light V70-XC70

Jeff,

Nasty dilemma.

The first thing to determine is whether the car runs in a perfectly normal way with no loss of power. If it runs normally you have options, if it runs poorly then you have none other than to get it attended to without driving.

I bought a V70 T5 last September and found myself 200 miles from home 3 days later with a check engine light suddenly illuminated. The car was running perfectly normally and I had the option of driving home or using a "get you home relay service". I opted to drve on solely because UK consumer rights would have enabled me to give back the car for a full refund if it had died.

My fault which was only found with a Volvo main dealer VADIS diagnostic was a faulty MAF sensor. I have seen quite a lot of messages about check engine lights and one factor repeats.... They can be cleared with a battery disconnect but as they are stored, they re-appear 3 days later. Whether it's actually 3 days or a number of start cycles or miles travelled is unclear but 3 days appears to be common. I have concluded that only a main dealer can do the diagnostics and clear codes on my model (yours is the same year and that's the year it went VADIS only).

If a non main dealer mechanic guessed at the problem and got it right then the codes will not have been reset and have come up again. Only a main dealer can clear them. If the mechanic cleared a problem which was a clear cut and definite end to a non starting or rough running problem then the light is probably a residual irritation after the repair.

It is a judgement call whether you tell you wife that it's OK to drive home and for me the answer would lie in whether the coil change definitely corrected a problem and of course if the car runs properly. Getting a "mechanic" to look at it may not be much of an answer either... The garage I use sells and maintains hundreds of second user Volvos but they are not a main dealer and for VADIS codes and resets they have to take the vehicles 15 miles away to a main dealer.

Sorry, not much help in my reply but better to give you something to ponder on rather than say no problem, drive it, and you suffer expensive after-effects.

Traduk








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check engine light V70-XC70

Sorry about the strike-out in my reply. Absolutely no idea why it happened







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