check engine light

First off man let me tell you I went through the same pains when I owned my '01 S40. The key to this is to find someone in your area who knows Volvo's and their faults real well... a private mechanic with his own shop. Never take it to the dealer unless you wanna get ripped off and charged an arm and a leg... think of it - They charged me over $127 just to plug the computer in and check what the faults are without doing any work on the car. Then for sure you're looking at a repair bill from the dealer of $400+ so be real careful. Find a good european only mechanic who knows his stuff and you see has other Volvo's, Saab's, BMW's and MBs in the shop so that you can see how he does his work. I got charged $80 for a check engine light at a private place and he took care of all the faults. Granted the '01 had so many problems I got rid of it but good luck to you! Hope this helps.

Hello Nico, Thank you for your message and advice. I wrote a reply to you before I logged in. When I finally, after struggling to get my password emailed to me and logged in, of course what I wrote disappeared. This type of thing happens often. Well, let me start again. By the way, I am not a man. I am a young lady. .lol I did spend over $400 and 3 trips to the mechanic's shop to fix the check engine light. I had a suspicion that the fee was no less than the dealership would charge. My god, it only cost you $80? Now my $400+ is wasted because a few days afterwards someone smashed my car. The insurance totaled it. The money I may get from the insurance company is so measly that I cannot buy any old thing. This is because my volvo is 2002 S40. Because of it's age the insurance company considers it not worth repairing. However, my car only has under 29,000 miles on it and the body has not a scratch. It still looks brand new except for the damaged right rear. The air bag is costly to reinstall. I kind of regret that I have called myself a Volvohater. I don't hate the car. I was upset about not finding a mechanic that can fix it. Now I feel sad that I must see it go. I hope the insurance company will give me whatever money they are willing to give and allow me to have the car fixed with that money. But my agent said the the company would take the car. Do you think they are going to salvage it and sell as a used car?

Usually you have the option to buy it from your insurance. Seems to me that has always been an option. Good luck.

I am suppose to be buying this 1999 volvo 4dr sedan but the engine light keeps coming on is this a sign of not to buy?