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Hi Folks, I need some advise from you about couple issues of my 96 volvo 850 wagon. It is a very nice car with only 71K millage on it. Last Tuesday, when I was driving the car to work, all of sudden, there was a light "Check Engine" going on, and it lasts whenever I start my car. I was kind of surprised as I did my service regularly. I brought the car to my service company to find out what went wrong. The service person read the code from a small black box that he connectd to my car. "410!", that was what the box displayed, and from his mannual, it means "Secondary Air InJection system Mulfuntion".

Also the same service person, when he was doing the coolant service on my car, he found a crack on the belt that connets the engine. What he told me is sooner or later, that belt is going to break. If it happens, the damage is much more than a belt. So It is a good choice to have it replaced right away, and that company privides this kind of service. That was a second suprise to me !

So here are my questions,

  1. For that "check engine" problem, how accurate to get the correct code by reading from that black box. I mean the code tells you it is caused by problem A, but eventually you finds it is problem B ?

  1. If it is "410" issue, can someone tell me what this mean and how serious the problem could be? How much it costs? That service place does not do such kind of problem solving, so I do not get any answer from them.

  2. For that belt issue, from what the service man point out, I do see a string on that belt, but I am not sure if it is a crack or not. For that kind of car of that "age", is it normal to have a belt broken ? If it was going to happen, would there be a light going on on volvo
850 wagon(1996) ?

thanks a lot for the help!

cji

Reply to
Charlie
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I presume that this is the timing belt which drives the camshaft? If this breaks, a *lot* of damage will be caused because the valves will be open when they shouldn't, and the pistons will collide with them. The car will stop very suddenly - maybe a long way from nowhere!

Timing belts have to be replaced at regular intervals (typically 60,000 or

80,000 miles) to prevent any such disasters from happening. As far as I am aware, there are no engine codes to warn of imminent breakage. If there is any doubt about the state of the belt, replace it *now*!
Reply to
Bonnet Lock

The code P0410 means there is something wrong with your "secondary air system" or air pump system. The only function of the air pump is to get some oxygen into the exhaust when the engine is started from cold to reduce exhaust emissions. The only symptom you get with this code is the check engine light - nothing else will be hurt if you put off this repair. However if something else goes wrong, then you won't know, since the check engine light is already on. To answer your first question, codes are pretty good, but they're often misused - your code is often called the "air pump code", and replacing the air pump may or may not fix the problem, depending on what's wrong. And if the air pump is indeed bad, there may be another part that has failed causing the air pump to fail as well. Specifically in this case, there is a valve that prevents the exhaust from backflowing into the air pump that sticks open, causing condensation buildup in the pump, which causes pump failure from corrosion or freeze-thaw cracking.

Read about replacement at:

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If you can see cords in any belt, just replace it. Don't wait for total failure.

Reply to
Mike F

Hi Bonnet and Mike, Thank you for the advices. I will have that belt replaced right away. As a matter of fact, that belt is connecting to the air pump, generator, etc. and is called "driving belt" according to the volvo manual.

For that "check engine" light, I really do not know what I should do. I really suspect this has something to do with my car washing. I used high-pressue water to wash the car the other day, and that light went on jast a day after

Thanks very much for all those tips.

CJ

Reply to
Charlie

FYI the air pump is power by an electric motor and mounted under the battery, it's not engine driven. It's possible your washing of the engine got some water into the air pump's relay or control valve.

Reply to
Mike F

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