Strange warning light v70r

[Yog Sothoth]

On a shortish drive last night a warning light appeared on the dash of my 98 V70r. It looks like the Greek letter lambda. I have no idea what it means. Can anyone advise? I’ve never seen that on a car before.

[happy diver]

lambda volvo

[Luxobarge]

It's the engine management light. Most modern cars have an "engine" symbol, but it's the same thing. It means that the engine management ECU has detected a fault somewhere, to know what fault this is you need to read the codes via the OBDII socket in the centre console. Just because it has a "Lambda" symbol on it, don't assume that the fault is a Lambda sensor, it could be anything. This needs to be sorted, as your car will not pass an MoT with the engine management light on.

[Yog Sothoth]

Ah right 🤔. Strange symbol to use. I’ll have to take it to the garage as I don’t have diagnostic facilities. I think there’s an independent Volvo specialist in Sheffield.
The car has barely been used for the last two months, just trips to the supermarket. It’s barely reached operating temperature. I wonder if that might be significant. It had a new cat fitted in January and passed its MOT last month.

[Cookeh]

Almost always turns out to be a vacuum leak. Check your hoses.

[Willow place]

Surely cheaper to buy a Diagnostic tool which can be of use in the future ?

[Luxobarge]

Originally Posted by Willow place

Surely cheaper to buy a Diagnostic tool which can be of use in the future ?

Agree - various threads on here about exactly that. When I first got my V70 I didn't have a scanner, and the local garage wanted £45 just to read the codes. I bought an Autel MS509 (?) scanner for about £60 and it's paid for itself many times over. This was before the popularity of mobile phone apps and cables, and I believe you can now do the same thing with a mobile phone and a special cable for a fraction of that price - others on here who have done it will advise more than I can!

[Distendo]

Originally Posted by Cookeh

Almost always turns out to be a vacuum leak. Check your hoses.

Just watched these videos (part 1 & 2), thanks to PNuT. The teacher there recommends using propane or carb cleaner sprayed around the various components to locate any leak (as it increases the effective fuel going into the engine), using an OBD tool to observe changes.

Having said that, the circa '98 Volvo V70 is a bit quirky for finding an ODB interface that works, but that's another story that's been addressed elsewhere on this forum.

[turboboy]

Originally Posted by Distendo

Having said that, the circa '98 Volvo V70 is a bit quirky for finding an ODB interface that works, but that's another story that's been addressed elsewhere on this forum.

Do you have a link to where this is?

I have an old copy of a professional level system on a laptop giving codes and explanations of their meanings etc. which works extremely well on every car I have used it on except my 1998 V70. It worked fine on my son's Ph2 and Ph3 V70's but is virtually useless on mine.

I have seen people mention Volvo specific software but cannot justify the cost nowadays.

Thanks.

[nrobinson]

As others have said I'm pretty sure 1998 V70's are not obd compliant or at least not properly - mine isnt.

I cant comment if off the shelf readers works, but if you want something basic, and can source some basic components (harder now maplin isnt around) just google 'Volvo DIY Flash code reader'. It worked for me. Not quite the same as VIDA though :-)

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=83897

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/fo...ic.php?t=60660

Rgds
Nick