I dont know much about cars so any help is greatly appreciated..please keep it simple.
I have a volvo S80. About 4 months ago my wife left the hazard lights on after she had run out of fuel. After a few hours of waiting for help the battery ran out. When she eventually managed to get the fuel, unbeknown to her that the batterry had ran out she tried countless times to start the engine with the result that the engine was flooded with fuel. I managed to get the RAC guy to give me a jump start and lso moanaged to clear out the flooding and the car ws fine..drove it a few places just to recharge the battery did about 100miles to and from Reading and I was satisfied that the battery had charged enogh.
But yesterday after having parked the car for about 3 days..it was to my amazement that when i went to unlock the central locking with the remote the alarm suddenly went off nd it wouldnt turn off regardless how many times I pressed the remote. So i opened the door using the key and the alarm stopped. Tried to start the car but the car wont start. give off a knocking sound like ka-kaka-ka-ka when i turn on the key. is sounds somewhat similar to the sound it gave ff 3 months ago when the battery had ran out.
My problem is the last time the battery ran out i knew why it had ran out, which is the hazards light were let on for too long. But this time the car just decided to behave like this on its own. So should i assume that the battery has ran out again in which case i should judt buy a new battery and replace the old one. Or is there likely to be another cause for the car to behave in this way that warants me to have it checked. Any ideas..My assumptin is that the battery has gone out that why the remote wont stop the alarm and also why the engine wont start.Strangely though..sme smaller lights in the car are on forexaple the boot lights and door lights, just the small lights inside the car.Help please im trying to to fock out a large amount of money if i was to go to the volvo dealer. I always spend more than £100 each time i go there.
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Age of car and battery if not the same. You may have a duff cell know due to the BOOOST charge or it may be that your alternater is draining the battery due to a duff diode. I suspect the battery but do you have a reasonable multi meter and abattery charger. Is the car at home ??? Regards Peter
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Hi
My boss used to have a S80, If it was left for more then a couple of days without use the battery would be flat as a pancake.
Volvo never did manage to fix it in the 3 years he had the car, It had a new battery & alternator fitted under warranty but that never fixed it.
It went in a fair few times for the battery draining problem, auto gearbox stuck in limp home mode, Electronic throttle failures, drivers window dropping out the runners, Bulb failure warning light stuck on even though all the bulbs where fine.
The V70 he replaced it with is a different car build quality wise, A year on & apart from a service it hasnt had to go back to the dealer at all.
The S80 isnt one of Volvos best efforts quality wise lately.
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Many modern cars use Calcium batteries. This is usually shown on a label if yours is this type.
If discharged calcium type batteries will not accept a normal charge either from the car's alternator or battery charger. They need a boost charge of around 16 volts for half an hour or so, after which they will accept normal charge.
If it's a traditional lead\acid battery it may simply be faulty....
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I recently bought a 2001 volvo v70 cross country, and the problems i have had ain't real. 14 grand for a four year old car and the dealership i bought from were as helpfull as a chocolate teapot.i thought i'd better add that the throttle sensor seems to be a weak point on the v70's.
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Oh by the way, i forgot to say that with the v70 you need a second mortgage to keep it in brake light bulbs. Mine has regularly blown bulbs since the week i purchased it. Great car to drive though.
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Hazard lights should work fine for longer than that,would suggest as mentioned alternator diode fault,causing battery drain
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Steve
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the battery is a normal battery, some have suggested that I need to top up the battery with distilled water, is this any good.if its an alternator fault causing battery drain, whats the recomended solution to this and whats the likely cost.
Thanks again for your help..
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AGAIN age of car and battery if not he same. Regards Peter
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Like I said before my bosses old S80 had the battery draining problem, Volvo looked at it many times & even fitted a new battery & alternator under warranty.
That still didn't fix the problem & as soon as it was 3 years old & went back to the lease company it got replaced with a V70, Totally different car build quality & reliability wise.
Most S80 owners I speak to have problems with windows falling out the runners, battery drainage, incorrect bulb failure warnings & electronic throttle failures sticking the car in limp home mode, Volvo dealers do try hard to please S80 owners but sometimes even they get stuck with S80 faults & not being able to repair them.
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"drove it a few places just to recharge the battery did about 100miles to and from Reading and I was satisfied that the battery had charged enogh"
It wasnt. Not by a Looooooooooooooooong way.
This battery has never been properly charged since it was flattened,
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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PeterD..The car is 5 years old..I dont know how old the battery is but i bought the car a year and a half ago and its the same battery that was in the car when I bought it.And LeePower thanks a lot bout the info on your bosses s80.I have already dealt with the throttle issues, I had a new one put in last year. at the moment Im trying to get my refund from Volvo since they have now anounced that they are aware of the throttle problem with their cars and all other people who have that problem can now have it fixed free of charge. I have not yet had problems with the windows or lights. My only problem right now is the battery problem which I have described above.
Whats Im going to do now is probably get a battery charger and put the battery on the charger overnight..then concect it back to the car see if this time it would make a difference. if it doesnt I probably be back here for some more help
Thanks a lot
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This battery may be at the end of it's life and you need to ahve the standing current checked. Do you have an current meter/digi meter available. Regards Peter
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Try a simple check,once started turn on all electrics while engine running.
if any electricals start failing,usually higher output ones/wiper motor/heater after several minutes it will be down to alternator not charging,if battery good this will take longer
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Steve
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the battery has been 'deep cycled' and therefore probably the cells are sulphated and the battery now has to be charged up completely on a battery charger before it even has a chance of working properly.
There are special measures that can sometimes be used to remove the sulphation such as force charging the battery etc but tbh sometimes its better to just buy a new one and be done with it.
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