I have an '03 S60 - nonturbo with 239,000 miles. I've never had any performance problems with the car. Hoping to get some advice please-

Here is the situation-
The check engine light has gone on 3 times in about the last 2 months. Each time it's exactly, almost exactly the same distance from home, from a cold start on a hot day.

Same code each time.

First time was two days after getting the air filter changed so I suspected they didn't assemble the air filter case properly. I brought it into the mechanic. They recommended pressure cleaning the throttle body and changing the air mass meter. I opted not to do it and they just reset the light.

Second time I remember putting oil and an oil additive in (Lukas oil) to top off the oil in the car before I left.
Brought it back to the dealer and when I spoke to the mechanic at the dealership.He said I could do the throttle body cleaning and change the meter, but that wasn't the problem. He warned of some sort of internal engine problem suggesting that an oil path from the top to the bottom of the engine is clogged and causing some sort of other ambigous issue in the engine.

Btw according to the car computer it gets 31 miles to the gallon.

Third time- I topped the car off with oil (cheap 7-11 oil). I drove the same distance and the light went on.

The second two times the light went off on its own.

I should note that several years ago (at about 180,000) the engine had some sort of check valve at the back of the engine replaced twice because it was whistling.(With the whistling the check engine light did not go on). The second time it was replaced they did an oil cleaning procedure that cleaned the oil path from the top to the bottom of the engine.

Is this really a devastating engine problem? What's going on? Any ideas?

Thanks very much!

 

And the repeating code is what?

 

It's a general code about the air mass meter - I'm sorry I don't have the receipt handy.

Any thoughts would be great. Thank you-

 

Bumping this up. The light was off for a while and has now reappeared. Thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much

 

None of us are mind readers. So the above still holds.

 

Never assumed anyone was just looking for some help with the information I had to share.

It was the air mass meter trouble code.

Now any thoughts?

Thanks-

 

I'm sure people would like to be helpful if they have ideas. Your description is so vague, however. If you had the specific code, at minimum you could do a search for what other people have done to stop it. You have many miles on the car without problems, if all I knew is what you're telling me then I'd probably spray the MAF wires with appropriate cleaner and then consider replacing the MAF since the OE part isn't very expensive. It sounds like the car is driving fine, and if it only comes on occasionally you could ignore it.

 

I appreciate your input - thanks very much. Very helpful. I will try that-