Hello I am new to the forum. Grateful to find such a resource. I will try to keep this as short as possible. Anyway I acquired a 1996 850R (116,000 miles). It was well taken care of and the previous owner was a volvo service department owner who had had it about 6 years. Very clean and very nice looking. Paid too much but I really wanted it. Love volvos.

30 Minutes after I drove it away, check engine light came on and so I pulled in to autozone and it was throwing 3 codes: P0172 - "Long-term fuel trim (lower limit)", P1310 - unknown code, and P0303 - "Misfiring - 3rd Cyl."

(Caveat: I have only very basic knowledge of cars/engines). It drives and idles well-- no symptoms, strange sounds, or apparent problems at lower speeds/rpms-- it feels awesome and accelerates nicely, however when I take it out on the interstate and stretch it out a bit (80+mph), there are some issues. I notice at times (but not every time) when I do a fast acceleration it will have a sort of whistling sound then it will just lose power suddenly as if I had completely let off the gas, like it was "choking" or stalling or whatever. I can kind of back off the gas a second, and mash back down and it will accelerate for a bit and then it does it again. Funny thing is it didn't do it every time or all the time, it was more intermittent. I'd say in a 160 mile trip it did it about 60% of the time when I did "test" it--and as long as I accelerated smoothly and "slowly" everything was fine. When it didn't do it--wow, what a car! Incredible performance when this issue wasn't happening.

Questions I had: How bad is this? I want to believe I made a good decision in buying the car and I love it but this scared me. I realize it's a 14 year old car and there will be issues, but it was represented to me that it was meticulously cared for and all scheduled maintenance had been done and there were no major issues. Ugh. What is that unknown code? P1310? It's not in the downloadable 850 manual I found.

Sorry for such a long post, any comments or ideas would be appreciated.

 

code P1310 stands for IGNITION 3 PRIMARY FEEDBACK CIRCUIT (COIL/PLUGS?)

 

I have a 2006 S60 R and my check engine light came on and I pulled the code of P0442, what does that code mean?? I can't seem to find the info anywhere on what is wrong.....

Thank you!

 

Eightfifty: I would have to say that this car was popping these codes before they sold it to you. You can reset a code and sometimes it takes a few miles to come back on. Sometimes 30 miles, sometimes 400. But they do come back until the problem is fixed.

I will say that I don't think they are to serious. A tune up will likely get rid of the misfire problems (plugs, wires, and maybe coiil) and the other code is likely a vacuum problem. Check all your vacuum lines and you may need to replace the PCV system if it's plugged or hasn't been done lately.

Volvogrl06; As for your P0442, I think that is a vacuum leak problem. It may even be that you did not put the gas cap on tight enough. Look for cracked, loose, unplugged vacuum hoses under the hood, tighten up the gas cap (4 clicks min.), reset the code and see what happens.

 

Yeah, I'm going to take it in Monday and get them to look at it. Your reply put me at ease a bit...I hope they are not too serious. I would even pay for the tune up. We'll see, but I'm hoping to clear the codes and not have them come back! That orange light drives me nuts...

 

P1310 is generic misfire code according to '95 manual i have.

ditto what rspi said; i would pull the plugs; read them for any issues. I would also do a compression ck; i try to do that on any used car i am interested in; best if you can do it before you buy!

 

Took it to volvo repair shop today, and reported the three codes to them as per above. They said they tested it and found it to be a faulty boost pressure sensor. The part is 105.00 but since I just bought the car they'll cover it for me. They said they did not see anything like a misfire code or whatever. Told me they ordered the part, should be in Friday and in the meantime I can drive my car, just take it really easy.

Interesting.

 

Yes, interesting; hope that fixes it for you.

Would be curious to know how they tested it; did they say this fault was causing excessive boost pressure? If so, that could certainly invoke a misfire..

 

Boost pressure sensor replaced and CEL light is off. I am going to New Orleans today, so I'll stretch it out a bit and see how it does. I'm such a noob about turbos, I didn't know the little turbo gauge in the dash was supposed to move that much. I was wondering why the hell the needle just stayed "frozen" in the middle...heh. Ok, so the boost pressure sensor was replaced. Hope no more misfires. I am thinking of doing a complete tune up next. Still waiting to receive the service record.

I gotta say, the 850R is a super fine car. I love it.