OK, I'm starting to think this car wasn't such a bargain. :-( It did something really weird today and I'm hoping somebody can shed some light on the situation.

It's been raining for the last 3 days and my 1997 960 wagon stays parked outside. I don't drive it every day, so it's been sitting out in the rain. But I had to use it today. It started up fine and I drove a short distance then stopped. Then the Check Engine light came on along with a flashing arrow and 2 of the 3 mode indicator lights by the gear shift were blinking. The "up arrow" in the instrument cluster was blinking on and off while the "W" light and the light for whatever mode the transmission was in were alternating back and forth. If I put it in Sport mode, the "S" and "W" lights would alternate, if I put it in Economy, the "E" and "W" lights would blink. But I had to go somewhere, so I drove it anyway. It drove fine and didn't act like anything was wrong.

I drove on the open road for about 20 minutes, and then parked under a covered shelter for about 4 hours. When I started it back up, the transmission lights were back to normal, but the Check Engine light remained on. I drove back home and again, everything seemed normal except for the CE light.

Any ideas what might be going on here?

Also, I had to go to Wal Mart and while there saw an OBD-II code reader for about $100 (http://www.iequus.com/item.asp?cid=10&pid=3100). Has anybody ever tried one of these on a Volvo? If it works, it'd be worth the money to avoid the trip and expense of going to the dealer.