Service light comes on and goes out
 

The 33,000 mile 850
The service light is on at engine start but soon goes out. Nothing obvious wrong with the car, certainly isnt due a service oil is still golden and clear.
What are the likely causes ?
It gets pottered about, I suspect a good long hard drive somewhere will do it good.

The service reminder light is set to come on at given mileage intervals. There's nothing more to it than that.

On many late 90's cars the light can only be switched off by a dealer with the correct software. The light should, exactly as you describe, come on for 2 minutes every time you start the engine, then go off. Newer cars have other sensors that supposedly assess oil quality etc, but on your car think of it simply as a preset alarm clock with an everlasting snooze button!

It's a pain for the DIY mechanic, or if you get the car serviced by someone who doesn't have the right electrickery box.

There are three solutions;

1. Pay a Volvo dealer / Indy to put the light out for you every 10,000 miles.

2. Ignore it, knowing that every time it comes on it's just an endearing reminder of a by-gone automotive age before OBD2 etc.

3. Take the bulb out.

Personally I'd go for Option 3, then you'll have a nice working spare bulb for when one of the other warning lamps goes pop!

Cheers

Jack

This worked for me on my V70 :

http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/s...sqzi9a1id.jpeg

If it's a '94 850 it will have the matchbox sized box with the fly lead under the bonnet (offside front if I remember correct), there's a way to reset the service light by plugging in the fly lead and pressing the button in a set timed sequence, a bit like reading and clearing fault codes. I did it on my first 850 (but that was about 6 years back which is why I can't remember the detail) but I haven't bothered with my V70.

If it's like mine (96 T5) comes on and goes out after about 2 minutes, so if I drive down the road for 5 minutes, stop at shop and re start will come on again etc etc I just ignore it

some you need vol-fcr or similar on my awd i have to use a draper reset tool

It was last serviced by a volvo dealer 2000 miles and 18 months ago.
I shall ignore it. Far too cold for messing about
Thanks all !

Not sure on the exact sequence but the service light will come on after a given mileage OR time, say 12k/12months?

For 850/x70 cars its normal for service light to come on then go off after 10 seconds (?) just to prove the bulb works. If the light is on for over that period of time (30-120 seconds) then yes service light is ON. It will then turn off so not to distract you when driving at night with a big orange lamp up in your face!

The service light is triggered either by a set amount of mileage or a period of time (usually 12 months) depending on which occurs first. Both intervals can be set using the Volvo Tester or on cars prior to MY96 using the diagnose box as well.