Looked thru the fiorums for similar with no luck. My 2001 S80 has had manyproblems, not very happy in general with it, seems like it takes $1000 every year in repairs. A small nuisance I have is that the heating system seems to rattle when I accelerate and decelerate. Its an orchestrated sound, always the same - a very fast series of rattles that happens 4 or 5 times before stopping itself. Also happens when I turn on the fan, then happens religeosly when I accelerte past 2k rpms, and decelerate from any speed.
Dealer told me it was because I had lots of small kids toys in the glove box (where we originally thoughtthe sound originated from), but theres nothing in there now except the manual, napkins, maps, a pen and pressure guage.
The car has 115k miles on it, I'm the original owner. 6th volvo in the family, my third but probably the last. I blame Ford for reducing the quality. Has anyone else replaced every light bulb 10 times? Cant they reduce vibration better than that??
Right now the check engine light is on. Yesterday I got a flat in the passenger rear and had a AAA driver put the spare on (cant do it myself because the jack and lug wrench werent in the trunk - dealer never included them. I know, 7 years later its more my fault for not following thru but I have too many dealer stories on this car that they wore me down). So I pay AAA and have them fix my flats. But any way, as soon as the flat was fixed the check engine light popped on. Coincidence or did the tow guy do something like bang up my fuel filter with his jack?
Sorry for the rant - just hoping to get my two q's answered (rattle and check engine)

 

Just want to add that my loyalty to Volvo goes back 20+ years. My first 760 was purchased in Canada and driven into the states as part of a mini-vacation. Years later my 850 was picked up in Sweden and driven thru Europe. Great memories, but the level of quality from those days to now is just that - a memory.

 

I think you're having the early S80 blues...definately not Volvo's strongest product early on.

Check engine could be a complete coincedence, or even the fuel cap is not secured (twist of the car when jacked could have loosened, long shot, but who knows). Only way to be sure is to have the codes pulled.

The rattle, it could be bad bearings in the assembly, I actually have a small whine starting right now on my fan assembly for the heater/air conditioning, mines still under warranty though.