Volvo: 98 Volvo V70 XC misfire detected, volvo v70 xc, volvo v70

Question
I recently purchased a '98 Volvo V70 XC with a B5254 T engine. The Onboard Diagnostic System has been detecting sporadic cylinder misfires under various driving conditions. I can be driving down the lane and the engine won't miss a beat but the check engine light will come on. The first code set is P0300, Ramdom/ Multiple Cylinder Misfire. The car runs fine and a few days later while accelerating onto the interstate the check engine light blinks and will set a particular cylinder misfire code. After a few driving cycles another code is set under different driving conditions and a different cylinder misfire is detected. It has been less than 500 miles since the last tune up when the spark plugs, wires, distributor, rotor and coil wire were replaced with Volvo parts. There does not seem to be a pattern here other than when I erased the codes a few days later the check engine light comes on again, but the car runs great. Could you help me diagnose this problem?

Answer
Bob,
If the car did not miss prior to the replacement of the cap rotor and wire, I would suspect they were at fault and go over those parts to see if one has failed. If that shows no faults have the adaption in the control unit reset so it can start (relearn) from a "centered" position.