My car's had to be recovered!

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Zebster

I've now been out to investigate.

The car appears to have magically (and suspiciously) recovered... without starting it up, the central locking and door mirrors are now operating normally. With the ignition on (I) the radio can be operated and turned off (which it couldn't last night). I accessed the larger battery and it's on 12.2v with the ignition off... this drops quite noticeably when the ignition is turned on (II) (falling towards 11v) but the car starts as normal and, with the throttle held at 2000rpm, the main battery terminal voltage rises to 15v. This suggests to me that the battery was somewhat discharged, but that the alternator is working fine (at the moment).

I assume this could point to a failing main battery, but don't understand why the alternator wouldn't have maintained the battery terminal voltage last night whilst driving along an A-road when gremlins first began appearing?

Is there really no chance that the smaller battery could somehow be to blame?

I still do not understand what functions each battery is responsible for... can anyone explain?

Is it a known thing for the main batteries on these models/related models to fail at around 4 years? I'm tempted to try a new one on the basis that this could solve the problem but, if not, the original battery was probably becoming weak anyway?

No it is nothing to do with the support battery , it is constantly on charge when you are running and is only switched in when you come to a stop and the engine turns off , it supports the cars electrics whilst you are in the stop mode on stop/start .

Main batteries are probably the best you will find , they usually last 10 years and beyond , however if they do go flat and are left flat for even a day it can considerably shorten it's life .

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by Clan

you are only 20 miles from a dealer ! They are the only people who can read the stored information about the true state , condition and usage information of the battery and carry out the built in Battery test process . , It could be that there is an intermittent problem with the alternator if the battery checks out ok .

Yes, I do worry that this could point towards an intermittent alternator problem. Maybe I need to connect up the voltmeter and drive around whilst monitoring battery voltage and observing any electrical gremlins?

I don't have the means to tow the car 1 mile, let alone 20... Our other vehicle is an MR2. Maybe if I can't manage some sort of diagnosis by Monday then I'll have no choice but to find a way. But I really need to use the car on Monday for a long work trip!

Does the car really maintain a stored detailed log of voltage excursions that can be read using VIDA/DiCE? Maybe I can get that read off?

I do understand that taking my car to a Volvo dealer would result in a repair, hopefully on the first visit. But I was hoping that someone had suffered a similar issue and could make suggestions for me to consider over the weekend.

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by Clan

No it is nothing to do with the support battery , it is constantly on charge when you are running and is only switched in when you come to a stop and the engine turns off , it supports the cars electrics whilst you are in the stop mode on stop/start .

Main batteries are probably the best you will find , they usually last 10 years and beyond , however if they do go flat and are left flat for even a day it can considerably shorten it's life .

I bought the car in July and it had hardly covered any mileage since being serviced in January. It'd obviously been sitting around for a long time!

Since I've had it, I've had the odd warning of low battery charge, usually after having the radio on with the engine off. And very often the stop/start is inactive due to 'a battery condition'. But last night's incident happened after at least 30 minutes of A-road driving.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Zebster

Yes, I do worry that this could point towards an intermittent alternator problem. Maybe I need to connect up the voltmeter and drive around whilst monitoring battery voltage and observing any electrical gremlins?

I don't have the means to tow the car 1 mile, let alone 20... Our other vehicle is an MR2. Maybe if I can't manage some sort of diagnosis by Monday then I'll have no choice but to find a way. But I really need to use the car on Monday for a long work trip!

Does the car really maintain a stored detailed log of voltage excursions that can be read using VIDA/DiCE? Maybe I can get that read off?

I do understand that taking my car to a Volvo dealer would result in a repair, hopefully on the first visit. But I was hoping that someone had suffered a similar issue and could make suggestions for me to consider over the weekend.

The symptoms were low battery voltage whilst driving and this is backed up by measuring 12.2 v when you checked the standing voltage . So alternator is main suspect but these are very reliable normally , maybe an internal fault with the battery not being able to maintain full capacity .

Yes there is a whole page of data that can be read off with vida regarding the battery , the battery monitor is part of the + battery lead terminal . It also controls the built in battery test when connected up to vida .

Yes driving around with a voltmeter on view would help !

why don't you charge up the battery with a charger , leave it on for a whole 24 hour period if it is not a professional charger . Then leave it overnight and see what the voltage is next day ...

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Zebster

I bought the car in July and it had hardly covered any mileage since being serviced in January. It'd obviously been sitting around for a long time!

Since I've had it, I've had the odd warning of low battery charge, usually after having the radio on with the engine off. And very often the stop/start is inactive due to 'a battery condition'. But last night's incident happened after at least 30 minutes of A-road driving.

well that's a few more clues ! As I said above if the battery has been flat for any length of time it will certainly have deteriorated noticeably how many miles a week do you do, could it not have had chance to charge on the road ?

Due to what happened and what you have said , I would now suspect the battery which should easily show up it's problem after the test routine .
Charge it up , drive it to the dealer and explain the situation , they may do a free battery test , and do buy one from them if necessary its good value and remind them of volvo's 20% off Battery RRP which lasts until the new year .

[Zebster]

Thanks Clan, I'll do that later with the charger.

I'm a little worried about not finding a positive fault before the car is taken down to Surrey and back on Monday. It was a very real problem last night, although the car did continue to drive perfectly normally in all regards despite just about every warning light being on and then the dash going blank. But I only drove it for about 10 minutes maximum.

I appreciate your input and advice.

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by Clan

well that's a few more clues ! As I said above if the battery has been flat for any length of time it will certainly have deteriorated noticeably how many miles a week do you do, could it not have had chance to charge on the road ?

Due to what happened and what you have said , I would now suspect the battery which should easily show up it's problem after the test routine .
Charge it up , drive it to the dealer and explain the situation , they may do a free battery test , and do buy one from them if necessary its good value and remind them of volvo's 20% off Battery RRP which lasts until the new year .

I average about 200 miles a week of reasonable length journeys (just use the Toyota for short local runs). The start/stop is usually active (on the Sensus screen) which I've previously taken to be a good sign of battery charge (I use that stop/start status to see if the car is performing a DPF regen, it's just a little thing I like to do...)

Thing is, if it was the battery being knackered that caused all the problems last night then how come it recovered overnight? That thought just occured to me...

I had no idea that Volvo were offering a battery deal!

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Zebster

I average about 200 miles a week of reasonable length journeys (just use the Toyota for short local runs). The start/stop is usually active (on the Sensus screen) which I've previously taken to be a good sign of battery charge (I use that stop/start status to see if the car is performing a DPF regen, it's just a little thing I like to do...)

Thing is, if it was the battery being knackered that caused all the problems last night then how come it recovered overnight? That thought just occured to me...

I had no idea that Volvo were offering a battery deal!

Your usage seems fine and stop start working is a good indication of a good battery ..
But it needs some tests .. Volvo parts are usually too busy and understaffed to have time to advertise such promotions …

[Zebster]

It's since occurred to me that the seeing as the car was full of faults when left parked last night after switch-off, but fine this morning before start-up, then it seems unlikely to have been the alternator. And why would the battery magically recover overnight? It doesn't seem logical!

I've rigged up a voltmeter to the console power socket. Using another multimeter, I just need to check how that reading compares to the battery terminal voltage and after lunch will then go out for a lengthy circular drive to monitor the voltage at the power socket.

I also have a Bluetooth app that can report system voltage and may be able to keep a log.

Will report back later.

[Zebster]

So I've been for a drive with a voltmeter connected to the console power socket. Before setting off I did a quick comparison to battery terminal voltage (using a second DMV) and the voltages were the same.

During about 35 minutes of driving I saw no significant voltage excursions; it stayed between 14.6 and 14.7v for almost the whole time, never went below 14v and never went above 15v.

However after about 20 minutes problems began to arise; all control of the Sensus system was lost, along with volume and temperature controls, etc... no controls in the central area were responding, although it all remained illuminated. The stop/start and parking beeper disable buttons were apparently functional, but simply turned back on within a second of being turned off!

Oddly the volume controls on the steering wheel stayed functional, along with the dash which - unlike last night - showed no warnings or alarms.

On arriving home about 15 minutes later it was discovered that the electric windows and the vehicle locking were all non-functional.

The car was running fine and felt absolutely normal the whole time.

What the hell is going on?!?!