battery dies every one to two days

Bigblue · Post by **Bigblue** » 22 Jun 2012, 20:17

This car has a heavy current draw somewhere and it can be tracked dawn using one or two of the methods suggested...The best is pulling the fuses one at a time and bridging the now empty fuse holder with an ammeter...

All electric generators, be it an alternator or an old fashioned "DC" generator, produce AC current...The alternator changes it to DC using diodes...The DC generator automatically converts it to DC because of the way the commutator and brushes operate...Be it an alternator or a generator, the AC pulsations in this "DC" can be heard as noise called "generator hash" in the car radio...Filter chokes are added to eliminate the noise...

Post by **MoVolvos** » 22 Jun 2012, 20:43

Bigblue wrote:This car has a heavy current draw somewhere and it can be tracked dawn using one or two of the methods suggested...The best is pulling the fuses one at a time and bridging the now empty fuse holder with an ammeter...

2ddirrance has already used the method suggested

BKM98 S70 T5 wrote:This could be helpful?

How To Perform a Parasitic Draw Test

2ddorrance wrote:Thanks BKM but we already did that. Any other suggestions? I'm at wits end.

Blessings,
BKM
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Post by **DGM** » 22 Jun 2012, 21:53

"To the original poster"

There is no easy repair of this condition over Internet.

If it would be my car, I would have the electrical system verify by a good technician.

The following is a document showing how it can be tested. The voltage drop method can be used. It is a bit "old" as a document but the basic is in there.

http://www.prestolite.com/pgs_training/ ... .php#top_3

Upon confirmation that the battery is fully recharged under normal operating conditions then I would look at a potential power drain.

My 5 cents.

Bigblue · Post by **Bigblue** » 22 Jun 2012, 22:09

He has already tried the suggested method?...If so, he should have found the problem...EVERYTHING is fused...I will wager that he does not know that there are 3 fuse boxes comprising about 30 or 40 fuses all told...There is a fuse box under the hood on the left side, there is a fuse box in the left (driver's) windshield door post, and there is a fuse box in the left rear quarter panel...That's a lot of fuses to test and that would tempt a guy to throw his hands up in dispair and give up...But that doesn't solve the problem...

2ddorrance · Post by **2ddorrance** » 23 Jun 2012, 08:02

Okay... so I called about a price for an alternator or diode. How do I know without taking it out which alternator it is?? The guy said there are 4 different ones for my car (2001 Volvo v70 XC 5cylinder turbo AWD).

Thanks!

Post by **MoVolvos** » 23 Jun 2012, 08:19

Bigblue wrote:I will wager that he does not know that there are 3 fuse boxes comprising about 30 or 40 fuses all told...There is a fuse box under the hood on the left side, there is a fuse box in the left (driver's) windshield door post, and there is a fuse box in the left rear quarter panel...

We could assume 2ddorrance would know after viewing the Video as Eric points out that many cars have several fuse boxes but if not 2ddorrance knows now.

2ddorrance wrote:Okay... so I called about a price for an alternator or diode. How do I know without taking it out which alternator it is?? The guy said there are 4 different ones for my car (2001 Volvo v70 XC 5cylinder turbo AWD).

Thanks!

You may want to call the Dealer and see if the info can be derived from a VIN or other Numbering system on the Vehicle. They may tell you the only way to find out would be to removed it?

Blessings,
BKM
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2ddorrance · Post by **2ddorrance** » 04 Nov 2012, 16:05

Okay so I'm back. Same problem with no resolution. Went through the painstaking task of changing out the alternator and that didn't help. Today I had a buddy come over and we did another draw test. I'm having a draw on both fuse 24 and 32. Where do I go from here? This is a 2001 Volvo V70 XC.

Any help will really be appreciated.

Ejo22 · Post by **Ejo22** » 12 Mar 2013, 17:51

Did I buy your car?

I just bought a black 01 v70 xc and I am having the exact same issue so I am just wondering if you sold it.

I have gone through 3 batteries in 3 weeks and volvo has no idea what to do but spend my money replacing and reprogramming various modules but each time I get the car back 2 days later it is dead. They also disconnected the siren alarm module but didn't help.

I think it might be an alternator issue.... I hooked up my volt meter across the battery when it was running and it screwed up the calibration of it. E.g. The meter started reading around 13 volts then quickly ramped up to 18. Now if I read a 9v battery with it it reads 13v.

I can't imagine what can kill a battery that large in 2 days. Volvo said they did a parasitic draw test and found nothing but .05a on the CEM which won't kill it that fast.

This is a great site that I used for my wife's 99 v70 a few times to save some money. That car was great, this one not so great so far.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

2ddorrance · Post by **2ddorrance** » 14 Mar 2013, 08:59

Hi. Nope I didn't sell my car and still have the problem. I'm going to go out when it gets a bit warmer and try to go through it. Does your sunroof work? Are you turning the heater/air conditioner off before you leave the car? Did you check the light in the glove compartment?

When we did the draw test we found two issues. One was the climate control and can't remember right now what the other was but can check. I really believe it is somewhere in the climate control in my car because the battery is always dead in one night during extreme cold or heat. I have to put a trickle charge on it every night so basically I have a hybrid that uses gas, lol

I had mine to the dealer too and they couldn't find the issue. If you find out anymore please let me know. I'll let you know if I find anything.

BTW, we replaced the alternator which turned out to be a huge job and still had the problem. Disabled the alarm siren and still have the problem. Which state do you live in? The climate can play a big part.

Ejo22 · Post by **Ejo22** » 14 Mar 2013, 18:24

Thanks for writing back. I did check all of the lights to make sure they were off but the battery literally read 0v in the morning so there is no way a glovebox light would kill it that bad. Also, the battery was not only dead but had an internal fault meaning it could not be recharged. I have not done anything With the climate control but mentioned it to volvo today.... Car is still there. They said they did the parasitic draw test and only came up with .05a on the cem which is nothing.

My sunroom, windows, locks would act erratically but I have found out why. When the voltage of the battery drops the car turns these accessories off. The windows and locks will work again when the voltage is turned to normal but the sunroof needs reset. Use key in door and lock and unlock a few times which will reset. I think I found the actual reset procedure on this site.

I am at a loss and so is the entire local Volvo dealership. They put a new battery in and are letting it sit for a couple of days since overnight it didn't discharge.

Last time it was in they did disconnect the siren alarm module but it didn't help.

The fact that it is causing an internal fault of brand new batteries has to mean that something is rapidly discharging it or overcharging it which leads me to the alternator but they said it tested fine.

Worst part is, when I get it back I have to replace the pcv system which is a weekend job and 250 bucks if i can do it myself. Why did volvo do that? It is like a 5 dollar 3 minute job on most other cars.

battery dies every one to two days

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