MY 2002 s60 AWD Has a problem. Sometimes at ide it has a bad shudder problem and then it smoothes out. The service engine light went on and then it went out after about 30 miles of driving. I never fill the tank with the engine running and I never forget to put the gas cap on thight. What's wrong ?

hi,
most likely a software issue on a 02 s60, but thats not really the point as your car should still be under warrenty so dont even waste time trying to work out what could be the problem as there are just too many posibilities.
take it to your local volvo dealer and tell them the symptoms and let them work it out.
the later model cars such as the s60 are such that there is nothing you can do yourself to diagnose or repair them unless you have the proper training and equipment.

steve.

steve
we hear a lot about how the sw upgrade fixes the poor driveability in 2001-2002 models (M/M etb), but why ? what causes sudden bad behaviour, originally installed faulty programming of the etm ?
any ideas ?
regards

hi koza,
ok here goes.....
the software that is installed in older s60's is designed for the cars much earlier on after a lot of research and testing etc at volvos labs,however they cannot fully simulate how the cars will react later on in their lives when they have 20k miles on them and are running in adverse conditions or different climates etc. so as volvo recieve reports from their dealer network about problems with the cars then volvo develop new updated software that has improved "fixes" that takes cars of certain problems like to improve driveability or coldstart problems or trans shifting problems etc etc.........
an example of this is companies SUCH as volvo developing engine software that runs the motors very lean so that they can pass emission standards ,then later on they find that the lean running means they are real hard to start when cold and causes surging or lack of power,so then after feedback from dealers new improved software is developed to fix this.
in some cases there are actual faults with older software that never showed up during the testing phase of the cars development and this is fixed with an update.
the actual content of the software or wether or not you will get an update is entierly at the dealers discretion and is not done as a matter of course.
either way in a warrenty situation you dont have to pay or worry about whats going on as long as your dealer sorts it out for you.
hope this explains things a bit.

steve.

The service light comes on when your car believes it is time for an oil change. This light has nothing to do with driveability. If you get a check engine light, an emissions light, or an ETS light, etc., these indicate a problem that needs addressing. How many miles are on your car? Was the tune-up service done? Has the throttle body (true and significant pain in the fanny) been cleaned, etc. I'd probably be leaning towards these as my first step unless a light, other than the service light, has indicated that I should direct my attention elsewhere.

Chris