I went on a 300 mile drive today in my wife's 98 V70, which I rarely drive. It began to run very roughly and seemed to lose power when accelerating up hills. This was on an interstate highway at speeds of 70-75mph. About 100 miles into the trip I was going up a hill and the engine seemed to be misfiring and bucking, at which time the check engine light came on. I continued on the trip and as long as I kept the speed at around 70 (rpm 2500 or below) and avoided sudden accelerations, it did OK.

I do not have a code reader. Any suggestions as to what the problem may be? Second question - is there a way to access the codes through some rudimentary flashing light sequence or will I have to get it hooked up to a code scanner at a shop? I was hoping to at least have the cause narrowed down before taking to the shop.

Thanks!

Due to the fact that problems appear to occur when the engine torque is increased, I would tend to suspect the problem is related to your ignition system, i.e., plug wires, distributor cap, rotor, plugs. If you have around 100k or more and any of these parts are original, change them out regardless of your code. For a car this age, I would also replace the fuel filter and closely check vacuum hoses. These are simple things you can do yourself and save a bundle.

good luck

Check the plugs and try injection cleaner

You need a code reader for 96 and later. Think Autozone will read the code(s) for you free. Wonder if you may have got some bad gas or a vacuum line came off.

bl

Mbase......need more info. It could be a million things. Whats your present mileage and how many miles since last tune up?