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thus far:
Told it was the battery- bought a new one
Told it was the alternator- Bought two new ones! First one was Not OEM for the car, so the stealership put in the OEM brand.
Changed the battery cables.
Its been two months of "narrowing" down the problem with temporary usage of the car. Only to NOW have it be dead again. Battery dead.
Its passed the required inspection time line so I can only get it to a mechanic shop if I have it towed. I thought by being two months ahead that it would be resolved , come inspection time.
The car has had impeccable Maintenace care thru out its history of ownership. So I already know whats been attended to and what was replaced when required.
The car is a 2008 volvo S60. Its been nothing but decent in performance and the body is prestine. But of course if it does't run, its just a garage door stopper .
Any suggestions I can test from home, before shelling out more $$?. No way can I afford a new car or even a church lady car. I'm already vested in this car to retain.
Just charge the battery and go pass inspection, if there is a drain it wont affect while driving as long as the alternator is good.
Then you can remove fuses one at a time until you figure out what the drain is.
This could help you track it down but there's some things you got to know about it first you have to have a battery charger and then you have to time how long it takes parked for the battery to drain to the point where it won't start. If this takes 4 hours then for every fuse and I believe on that car there are multiple fuse panels you're going to need to spend 4 hours plus whatever time it takes to charge the battery back up.
I'd say turn the car off and test each fuse with an ammeter and see which ones pulling. For this you also have to have a battery charger.
Or if you can't find it that way have a battery isolator switch.
In addition, I would suggest you find a VOLVO-SPECIFIC forum, and get into the one that (should be) specific to your model/year. There may very well be a known issue with your vehicle and someone else can give you better advice.
I had a similar problem with a wonderful Mercedes I once owned. I came to learn that this was a KNOWN problem with this model. The battery would die if the car was not used in about 10 days. The solution was to buy a trickle charger! Very easy to install. You connect a cable to the battery and run it up to the grill. You don't even have to open the hood to connect. It was a Battery Tender Jr.
A 2008, you should first confirm you have a parasitic-drain by removing the negative battery-cable and placing an ammeter in series with the negative battery-post and the negative battery-cable. You are going to have to wait a while (up to 30 minutes) for modules to go to sleep, to get an accurate picture of
current-draw.....look for a reading greater than 50ma, that probably indicates a parasitic-draw.
If you do find a reading greater than 50ma, pull out your voltmeter and set it on the millivolt setting. Then start by going through your fuse-panels, main panel first, which is most likely in the
engine-compartment. Look for a reading that differs from all the other fuses.... most of them should be very near zero if there is no parasitic-draw. For example f1 = 0v, f2 = 0v, f3 = .8mv >>>> f3 is the circuit that has parasitic-draw. Research what is on that circuit, this will give you very good direction on what is causing the parasitic-draw. You can probably feel the warmth on the device, and just disconnect it to see if the draw goes away.
easiest professional way to check for the parasitic draw on this car is to do the "voltage drop" test across each fuse circuit. Use the voltmeter probes to measure the voltage drop across each fuse. What you are looking for is the fuse(s) with the largest voltage drop, hence current draw on that circuit.
check the 'net, there are several sites that have a chart of the voltage drop/amperage draw relationship of the various fuse sizes. Easy to follow ... a voltage drop of .xxxx v will result from an amperage draw of .xxxx amp. As fast as the battery is discharging in this car, the amperage draw will likely be over 1 amp so the voltage drop at the fused circuit should be a number significantly higher than the circuits showing no or a minuscule draw.
This is much a much faster and reliable way to determine which circuit(s) are drawing power and quantify the amperage draw from the battery. Way superior to pulling fuses to eliminate circuits and using an ammeter to measure the current draw.
You only need an inexpensive digital voltmeter to do this test. A fully charged battery and clean battery connections, as well as good grounds from the battery to the engine and chassis are essential to getting good test results and car performance.
The first places I'd be looking for a draw of this rate would be trunk or glovebox illumination ... stuck switches or left turned on inadvertently.
This could help you track it down but there's some things you got to know about it first you have to have a battery charger and then you have to time how long it takes parked for the battery to drain to the point where it won't start. If this takes 4 hours then for every fuse and I believe on that car there are multiple fuse panels you're going to need to spend 4 hours plus whatever time it takes to charge the battery back up.
I'd say turn the car off and test each fuse with an ammeter and see which ones pulling. For this you also have to have a battery charger.
Or if you can't find it that way have a battery isolator switch.
The problem with that approach: When you remove power from a circuit it can take up to 20 minutes for what that circuit powers to time out during which time increased drain is normal. Insert set milliamp meter in a battery connection. Make sure door and hood switched are held in closed position. Wait 30 minutes for system to stabilize. NOW removes fuses one at a time to isolate drain. Should be no more than .050 amps.
So appreciate each of the responses!
Will take into consideration the methods and see what comes of it.
Will start with a full recharge and block off a few hours next weekend to trouble shoot.
To the person that mentioned the trunk, according to my owners notes, the ' trunk lock' did code about a year ago. Didn't think much of it since the trunk does close and lock. Now it's got me thinking if the light could be left on . Will look into that too.
Mine turned out to be the under-hood light. Didn't turn off. Occum's Razor - The simpler explanation of an entity is to be preferred. That means it probably is not going to be complicated - Trunk, glove box, console, vanity light. Something like that.
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