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1998 S70 T5 - typical causes of battery drain

2K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  bmdubya1198 
#1 ·
Any usual suspects when it comes to what would be causing my battery to go dead in 3-5 days, every other month?

I have had endless problems with the door latch switches on several of my S70s where either the door-closed switch doesn't operate, leaving the footwell light on, or the lock cylinder position switch is in the wrong orientation, causing the security system not to arm properly (no flashing marker lights when you lock the vehicle with the remote). So I've replaced I think four or five door latch mechanisms because of these problems in the past few years. So I don't think that is it, this time.

Now working from home, I typically only drive once or twice a week. So a few times already since this spring I will go out and hit the "unlock" button on the remote and the battery is not even strong enough to unlock the driver's door latch. That's when I know I am in trouble. I've got a trickle charger on it now.

Do Volvos have problems with relay contacts sticking "on" like Hondas do with their A/C clutch relays? I'm wondering if it could be something like that.

I've spent much too much of my life trying to chase down problems like this, and have ended up just giving cars away with these problems because I only have so much patience. Our 2001 Odyssey had a similar problem, which I could never track down, so I just installed an on-board battery maintainer on it and made sure it was plugged in least every weekend overnight.

It makes it really hard to depend upon a car if you go out and are not even sure that it will start.

TIA
 
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#4 ·
OK thanks I will check that. But does it turn itself on and off? I rarely if ever open the glovebox, and the car will be fine for a month or two and then have the problem, when I haven't touched the glovebox in several months.

Right now I just have the car parked with the battery terminal disconnected. I'm at the point in my life where I just don't want to deal with this type of problem any longer. I've spent about 40 years of my life on this kind of thing.
 
#5 ·
Keep it on a trickle charger if you can. That's what I've done with our Volvos. Similar to you, since working from home, rarely drive and have similar issues but the trickle charger helps alleviate the concerns about the cars not starting.
 
#6 ·
Typically the glove box light just stays on. I believe it's the switch that fails in the open position. You can just put your phone in there on video and see if it's turning off when you close it, if you can't see the light through the cracks at least.
 
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