I have been test driving a 2004 Volvo S80 T6 with 68,000 miles since Sunday, that had previously been sitting outside since August 2009. The battery was dead and replaced. The oil and coolent levels are good. Just today (Tuesday) the check engine light came on. The engine started to act a little doggy, but I don't know if it was my imagination or if I am just not used to the car yet. The car has stated that it needs to be serviced since I started it on Sunday, but after confirming that the oil/coolant levels were good I didn't want to spend the money changing/flushing everything until I decided to buy the car. There was 3/4 tank when I first started driving it, and 1/4 today when the check engine light came on. Someone mentioned that maybe there is fuel in the fuel since it sat so long. My boss owns the car, and has taken good care of it prior to it sitting. She had no problems with it prior. Any idea what may be wrong?

 

It is more then likely just the gas. Run a tank of premium through it to clean out all the old nasty stuff, see if that works.

 

well obviously i would scan the check engine light first, then give her an oil change, the oil has not been circulating and moisture would have accumulated within the engine from condensation. overall it may be due for a tune up, plugs, air filter, who knows what kind of service it has had,,,( i would not believe 100% what a person selling you their car says, if it was so great, then why are they selling it ?)

i presume you already bought the car ?

 

Condensation will build up in the Fuel Tank if it just sits...and espacially where you have winter and summer WX...I would put some Heet in the gas tank.

 

In my state of panic, my co-worker suggested taking my car to Auto Zone for a free scan. The results? misfire in cyl #6. Probable cause? New Spark Plugs, coil, vacuum leak or bad fuel injector. It really FELT like a vacuum leak, having experienced one in my previous car, but I worked my way down the list...The spark plugs for the 1st 5 cylinders looked brand new, despite never being changed in their 68,000 miles. The 6th wasn't horrible, but it looked different than the rest. Did it fix the problem? Not quite. The next day I bought a new coil pack, and voila.. problem fixed! The best part? All in all it only cost around $80 in repairs (I had free labor courtesy of my boyfriend). The plugs were around $18 for all 6, and the coil pack was around $62. Astonishing enough, the coil pack was an actual Volvo part. Go NAPA. I could only imagine how much this would have cost if I has taken it to an actual Volvo dealer... (But I am a cheap *** and would NEVER do that I am now a happy new Volvo owner. I think I'm going to take it back to Auto Zone to see if they can clear the check engine code for me now for free . What did I learn in this experience?
1. Don't panic
2. Auto Zone does free scans (ask for a printout and then say you will come back for parts later, but get out of their as fast as you can and don't come back for parts because in my prior experience their parts suck lol)
3. NAPA does not do scans but they have good parts
4. Minus taking off the turbo pipes, changing the spark plugs was simple took no time at all. This was a concern of my boyfriend's as he has experience being a weekend mechanic on our older American made cars, but has never worked on a newer foreign model. (I almost think that the concern may have been a half assed attempt to not have to work on it)
5. A bad coil can really make the car run rough. I couldn't believe how much one misfiring cylinder could shake the car so bad!

Thanks for the advice, and I hope my experience (or lack there of) may help someone else....