Hi I have been reading through a post from July about an engine light that won’t go away. I have a 2001 S40. Having only driven it about 100 miles from the dealer the engine light came on. It went back to the garage under warranty to be looked at. The garage informed me that they had put a new CAT on it before it left with me and thought it had failed. They replaced the CAT and again the light came back on after about 100 miles. After running it through the codes came back as an o2 sensor fault. They replaced the pre CAT sensor, and again after about 500 miles this time the light came on. They the replaced the post CAT sensor and again the engine light came on. The garage insists that there is only an o2 sensor code and no other problem showing. I have had the dealer get another garage to check the original work, and check the codes again, and it all checks out the same, same codes same problem! I have met another S40 owner who had the luxury of simply sending his company car back after encountering the same problem… and from what I have read this is a symptom that can drive you mad trying to resolve. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

Hello mate,

Sorry about the problem, as well as not receiving any replies.

I'm an 850 driver and am not privy to the S40 lines. However, a cat wouldn't fail so prematurely (unless there was a manufacturing defect or was made in xxxxx). O2 sensor related problems are common on all Volvo models, and in the case of 850, the OEM mfg is Bosch (German). Make sure that the garages you've been to have replaced the sensors with whoever the OEM.

Modern cars are beyond the capability of many generic garages, as many shops do not have the diagnostic equipment for electronic control systems. If you can afford to, I would have it fixed at a dealer and make them give you some sort of warranty.

Wish you luck,


JPN

 

Thanks for the advice. Having sneaked a chat with the engineer past his boss it appears he advised against after market sensors in the first place, but the garage would not pay up for them! Going to try a different dealer and genuine Volvo sensors this time... This seems to be the advice most people have given, either way it gives the garage a benchmark to work from with the sensors they trust, albeit an expensive benchmark! I’ve learnt it’s always worth asking as many questions as possible with the mechanic.[&:] Thanks again.

 

Hello mate,

My pleasure, I really wish you the best of luck getting the problem repaired this time. Let us know how it goes, only if you feel like.

Cheers,


JPN

 

Hey bud.

I have a 2000 S40 and my lights on to. Dealership said it was cat and they wanted 1000 bucks to fix it. Never did it because i had it check out and its just an O2 sensor gone bad and after they were replaced by another dealership CEL went away and i havent seen it since. Its been 6 months now with no problem.

 

I consider charging $1,000 for a cat replacement as "rape".


JPN