Can I test injectors and coils? re: XC70 misfire

[FireFox31]

Is there a way to test fuel injectors and coils to confirm they are working before replacing them? I know that I can move them to different cylinders and see if the problem follows, but how can I tell which cylinder is actually misfiring? I don't trust the CEL codes to clear properly and update immediately after I swap parts around, so I'd like methods which can show me what's working and not.

My 2004 XC70 with 280k miles has a CEL code for misfires on cylinder 3 and 5. At idle, the engine sounds like it's significantly skipping a beat (but not two out of five beats). It hasn't been driven for five months and the problem didn't exist before then.

I replaced all the spark plugs but the problem remains. The old plugs were 80k miles old and looked gray but not fouled. 80k miles ago, I lost engine power and the dealership claimed that coils were failing, replaced the coils on cylinders 1 and 3, and all the plugs. I don't really trust them, so I'd like to test the coils and injectors for myself before going any further.

Lastly, for reference, which cylinder is #1 on the 2004 XC70? Thanks for all of your input.

[abscate]

On the inline 5, the front of the engine is the far right hand side, reference facing forward, so

Number one cylinder is closest to the right hand wheel, and Number 5 closest to left hand wheel.

Even Volvo messes this up sometime, with the engine mount under the harmonics balancer (at very front of engine) is called the Right hand engine mount in VIDA.

[01_Nautic_V70]

I used this to check spark last year and it was very easy to determine that spark was there.

Spark Tester

l50850__57428.1406568988.jpg (62.04 KiB) Viewed 1462 times

To check injectors, I unbolted the fuel rail and pulled the injectors just slightly out of the manifold. Was able to see that injectors were squirting just fine.

[oragex]

Just in case, you may want to replace the injectors with used ones, save a lot of money especially if this wasn't the issue.

If the car sat with nasty old oil in it, it may as well be a sticky hydraulic lifter

While there, I'd also check the alternator/battery voltage and cables