Okay, so I replaced the Air Pump on Friday. Car runs fine, no obnoxious sounds now. I changed out the Spark Plugs and Wires on Saturday. Once again car ran great. I had some concern about one of the wires not sounding right as I connected it to the distributor, but no sounds of a cylinder missing, car runs much better (smoother, etc.). Now I start my car this morning and the Check Engine Light comes on. It was the coldest it had been since I did the maintenance. Any suggestions as to what the problem may be. I know I can take it in and have it hooked up to have the codes read, but I am trying to avoid that trip if possible.

 

Do you have an Auto Zone near you?They pull codes for free on cars and try to sell you the parts but you don't have to buy them.It could just be ironic that it came on.The cose could be from many things.As simple as a gas cap loose or Vaccum leak maybe a vaccum elbow broke while you were doing the rest of the work..I would try to have the codes pulled and see where it sends you.

 

Autozone is the place. I pulled the codes and came up with P0300 (Random Misfire), P0302 (Cylinder 2 Misfire), and P0305 (Cylinder 5 Misfire). I double checked the gap on the new plugs and double checked that the connections of the plug wires. Everything appears to be good to go now. Will the Check Engine Light shut off when the problem goes away, or do I need to erase the codes. This is the first time I have done plugs and wires on a car with OBD II. In my older cars/trucks it was more of a seat of the pants feel. You can usually feel when you are not firing on all cylinders.

 

The light needs to be reset.ALSO check and make sure you dont' have any vaccum leaks.

 

Well I checked and I don't appear to have any vacuum leaks. I double checked that I didn't screw anything up when I installed the air pump, which required me to remove the battery and battery tray. It turns out I did the poor-mans version of an Check Engine Light Reset. When I reinstalled the battery the Check Engine Light did not come on. I guess the memory only lasts for so long without power. I have driven about 15 miles since I did this and the light has remained off. I guess I lucked out this time.

Of course now I have my burned out bulb light indicator. It never ends.

 

Good on the check engine light.Yes it the battery is disconnected for a long period of time it will clear the code.Light bulbs are weird I go through it all the time.

 

I have read the tail light grounds are faulty. Have not taken on grounding project yet..light is alway on

 

I have never seen a ground problem on those cars.If you have 2 diffrent brand bulbs in there it will cause the bulb failure light to stay on.

 

Hmm. If you have a volvo and drive it till it is dead and don't experience a freak bulb out light, you are among the lucky in my opinion. It all started when I was a kid and my mom had a Volvo 760 GLE-T wagon. Things were fine untill we had the dealership put a trailer hitch and a light plug on it. The problem was so sporadic and impossible to find I believe now it only could have been a bad ground. My father had a later model V70T Sedan that had a bad ground in the front passenger side fender turn signal. Was just a little tiny weanie dimmer then the rest. Same thing on a newer V70 T5R wagon he had, this time on the drivers side tail light.

So 3 out of 7 volvos in my family have had them, and thats only about 180k miles total for all three of them.

 

That supprises me I have only ever seen bad grounds on the older cars 240,740,and 940's.There is always odd ***** out there though.

 

I can't say as I or my family have had any problems remotely similar to yours. My family had a 1978 240 Sedan (sold with 150k+ miles so that we could get a Suburban to pull our boat), 1981 240 Wagon (sold with 100k+ when we moved to Germany), 1990 240 Sedan (totaled with 100k+ miles when my mom slid off an icey road and hit a tree at 50+ mph), and now the 1998 S70 (currently 90k miles). My mom walked away from the accident with only some bruises from the seat belt. That Volvo saved my moms life, everything crumpled as it was supposed to and the air bag deployed properly.

Back to the bulbs. I hate the blinding orange Bulb Indicator (idiot) light on the dash, because it means there is something wrong. I like everything to be working properly. I also love the idiot light, because it tells me that there is a bulb burned out. With the multiple taillight bulbs it would take me a long time to notice that one is burned out, so having the warning light is nice. It saves you from having to deal with the problem when it is too late (vehicle inspection or after an accident caused by no lights). The fact that it tells you that you have a burned out brake light or headlight is nice as well. I haven't seen many cars with a feature like this.

Just had to give my $.02

 

I love that function on the Volvo's as well.It will save you from getting tickets from the bulbs being out as well.[sm=icon_rock.gif]