Okay first off don't yell at me -- my husband's the one who did it.

Our 2002 XC70 started idling really rough yesterday and the Check Engine light came on. The car also lost acceleration. We drove it home, and he noticed that the Check Engine light was blinking when he went downhill. This AM it started up fine and the idle was good, but the Check Engine light was still on. Against better judgement he took it out, and now it won't start and he's getting a Start Prevented message. There is of course nowhere we can get it serviced on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, and we don't really have anywhere to tow it to because we park in a tiny garage spot.

Any idea what's wrong? Any hope against hope that he could get it started and get it home (~2 miles) (and then started again to take to the mechanic)?

UPDATE: After letting it sit for about an hour, it started and he drove it home -- Check Engine light is still on. The temp gauge was fine but it is pretty hot out today and he said the engine seemed hot (but he doesn't know squat about cars and I know engines are always hot right after you pop the hood, so hard to say if it was really hot or not). Still would love to know if anyone has any ideas about what might be wrong with it; I'm not thrilled with our mechanic and would like to have a direction to steer him in.

Thanks!