battery issues

[steviegall]

hi de ho neighbourinos
i think my battery is firmly on the way out the door in a pine box

but what seems like a strange issue(strange to me at least) happens

2008/9 1.8 petrol s40

last monday(n 9 days ago) the car drove fine

wed night after that i went to go do the shopping and car wouldnt start no craning ata ll so battery problems, on thursday night i charged the battery to 12.5v disconnected the charger and went to start it and nothing happened again, well i say nothing

starting procedure was normal except for the not starting part, this is the centre console lights stayed on when i took out the key and the daytime running lights stayed on for 10-15 mins until seemingly the low battery took effect and shut them down

so that friday evening i got the boss man to jump start the car with his van when we got home from work and it took two times to start, first time the centre console issue happened again, i figure it took two times to start as the bossman is a farmer and didnt want to wait a few mins after connecting the batteries to try and start it but who knows

so got it started and ran it about for an hour or two to make sure the battery was well and charged(didnt think to get a voltmeter on it while it was running to check voltage to rule out alternator)

on saturday it started fine was in the morning and with hindsight it was barely 10-12 hours between the friday night run around and when i went out on saturday morning

so i thought all was right with the world until i tried to go out to the shop on monday evening after work, same thing no cranking and daytime running lights/center console lights stayed on after removing the key

so got the voltmeter on tuesday evening before i took to charging it, read 9.5v, charged it to 12.5v again and took off the charger and used the voltmeter again right after disconnecting the charger and i was falling pretty fast, checked it this morning and was 9.6v

ill get the voltmeter on it on friday evening when i get the bossman to jump start it again to rule out the alternator but with the mains battery charging issues im assuming the battery is fecked, assuming because while i like to try my hand at fixing stuff i have no real practical experience with cars so everything i new

but what really peaked my interest was the centre console lights staying on when i removed the keys?????

any steady and more experienced hands that could give me a reassuring pat on the back would be greatly appreciated

[Paddy94]

Originally Posted by steviegall

hi de ho neighbourinos
i think my battery is firmly on the way out the door in a pine box

but what seems like a strange issue(strange to me at least) happens

2008/9 1.8 petrol s40

last monday(n 9 days ago) the car drove fine

wed night after that i went to go do the shopping and car wouldnt start no craning ata ll so battery problems, on thursday night i charged the battery to 12.5v disconnected the charger and went to start it and nothing happened again, well i say nothing

starting procedure was normal except for the not starting part, this is the centre console lights stayed on when i took out the key and the daytime running lights stayed on for 10-15 mins until seemingly the low battery took effect and shut them down

so that friday evening i got the boss man to jump start the car with his van when we got home from work and it took two times to start, first time the centre console issue happened again, i figure it took two times to start as the bossman is a farmer and didnt want to wait a few mins after connecting the batteries to try and start it but who knows

so got it started and ran it about for an hour or two to make sure the battery was well and charged(didnt think to get a voltmeter on it while it was running to check voltage to rule out alternator)

on saturday it started fine was in the morning and with hindsight it was barely 10-12 hours between the friday night run around and when i went out on saturday morning

so i thought all was right with the world until i tried to go out to the shop on monday evening after work, same thing no cranking and daytime running lights/center console lights stayed on after removing the key

so got the voltmeter on tuesday evening before i took to charging it, read 9.5v, charged it to 12.5v again and took off the charger and used the voltmeter again right after disconnecting the charger and i was falling pretty fast, checked it this morning and was 9.6v

ill get the voltmeter on it on friday evening when i get the bossman to jump start it again to rule out the alternator but with the mains battery charging issues im assuming the battery is fecked, assuming because while i like to try my hand at fixing stuff i have no real practical experience with cars so everything i new

but what really peaked my interest was the centre console lights staying on when i removed the keys?????

any steady and more experienced hands that could give me a reassuring pat on the back would be greatly appreciated

Seems to be a pretty common thing in these cars. When my battery was going out, my radio would turn on and off randomly, bluetooth wouldn't work at all, etc. When the battery starts to die (For good.) it seems like it throws the entire electrical system into whack.

Replaced the battery and all was good again (For now )

[Wgl2020]

+1 for battery. Bosch are good, Varta are reputed to be made in the same factory and identical (but cheaper).

For peace of mind I would replace the battery then check it's being charged ok:

https://www.qxcomponents.co.uk/artic...an-alternator/

[Welton]

My battery went flat with no warning 2 weeks ago.

Car unlocked like normal, Key in.....no dash lights but the odd relay attempting to click from the footwell box of tricks - all was *very* weird.

I'd say it wasn't such a good thing to run the car with a knackered battery - I'd imagine the load on the alternator would be high.

No idea why the console lights would stay on but as said everything goes weird when the voltage is not correct.

I'd personally only recommend a genuine Volvo battery from the dealers, give them your reg and you'll receive the correct rated and correctly-sized battery (there's a good few options). Ask for a polite discount, I paid about £115 inc vat.

[iainmd]

My own recommendation goes to Yuasa. I've fitted them to my old S40, the V50 and my Van. Mid-priced but excellent longevity. Occasionally Halfrauds do a decent price on them. It's about the only thing I'd consider buying from them knowing not much will go wrong with it ;-)

[steviegall]

Ok thank fo all the replies,
A bit of an update, got the car jumped this evening and went for a drive to charge up the battery again and went to get the battery tested at the only place open at this time on a Friday night. Halfords, it's a yuasa battery and they used a yuasa tester on it and it says the battery is fine

So I guess I have a parasitic drain coming from somewhere, I had a google and I think I know how to find it, removing fuses and such

I just have to check if my voltmeter is a multimeter, the only identification it has on the device is xl830l. Not sure if I still have the books came with it , will check when I get home

Looks like ive some wabbits to hunt during daylight hours tomorrow

[steviegall]

another delayed update , i got an error message after the first non starting attempt , first got it on the first friday i got jump started so i dismissed it as co incidence

alarm system fault service required

[steviegall]

ok i finally got around to hunting this down

when i finally got the multimeter figured out(10a) it settled 0.016 after it dropped 10-15 mins after shutting down the engine

so that was 160milliamps?

so i got to investigating using cheshired05's ? guide , sirobb on youtube

couldnt find any fuses doing any badness, maybe i wasnt holding the probes on the fuse contacts correctly but idk

so i then started about pulling non essential fuses and placing them back in one at a time and within the first three it dropped to 0.001,

it was when i removed the audio/phone fuse it dropped

but when i put the fuse back in again and opened up and relocked the car again after the initital power draw it dropped back down to 0.001 and stayed there

there is an after market volvo branded bluetooth device but its definitely disconnected at a socket in the passenger footwell behind the carpet so id assume it isnt it

i tried to reconnect it once but even though it lit up it didnt get picked up by my phones bluetooth so its prob borked

so i took the car out for a drive and another electrical abnormality came up

when i take left hand corners hard an antiskid warning comes up alone with a few warning lights, just left hand turns

i left the audio fuse out of the car and ill be checking it in another hour to see the state of the battery

[steviegall]

battery problem 1 steven 0

i be defeated

mechanic getting a phone call in the morning, thanks all for input

[big yinn]

I'd replace the battery first. There will be a small drain from the alarm system and that shouldn't kill the battery.
The battery on my 2lt petrol gave little warning it was about to give up. I got one "battery low" warning one day and the next it died. All sorts of electrical weirdness.
Get yourself a new battery and I'd expect it to be ok.