1998 S70 miscellaneous issues & questions

ChuckyC · Post by **ChuckyC** » 02 May 2007, 06:33

I was wondering if folks here could help me out regarding a few issues related to my 1998 S70 (which I love!) with 80k miles that I bought last winter ...

1. What dos the "idiot light" that looks like a circle/sun weaing a "cap" and inside which is an exclamation mark ("!") at the far left of the dashboard indicate? I couldn't find the explanation for this light in the manual I downloaded online.

1. Embarrassed to mention this, but am I missing something regarding how to adjust the rear-view mirror?
At 5'8" I'm certainly not tall but when I sit in the driver's seat the view in the rear-view mirror is too low, by which I mean the mirror itself is "aimed" too much towards the top of the rear seats, and therefore I don't get a full view out the rear window.
I'm thus far unable to adjust the mirror to accommodate the view I need. The mirror only moves to make the daytime/nighttime adjustment (as when driving at night and the headlights of a car behind are blasting into the car). I thought maybe the post to which the mirror is attached, and which goes into the roof, might somehow move but apparently it doesn't.
If I'm by no means tall and the rear-view mirror is "aimed" too low I'm wondering how a significantly taller driver would fare -- presumably even worse.
I have to assume I'm missing something and there is, after all, a way to adjust this mirror. If anyone here could enlighten me I'd be very grateful!

3. How to replace the bulb that illuminates the gear-change (Drive - Reverse - Neutral - Low) display?

4. Any recommended tires (budget-priceded a plus) for this vehicle? (I recently bought four new Dunlop SP20FE tires (about $40 each) for my 740 GLE wagon and they're waaay quieter than the old Pirelli's I had on that car previously.)

5. Anyone have any comments on the stock radio/tape player in this vehicle? I'm a bit surprised at the static heard when playing even local stations. Also -- oddly enough -- whenever a tape is playing there's a weird "sucking sound" (no relation to American businessman/politician Ross Perot's famous "giant sucjking sound" phrase!) sound seemingly coming from the rear interior of the car. It sounds like what you hear when someone's sucking up the last drops of a soft drink milkshake with a straw. I have no idea what it is, where exactly it's coming from or why. Any (needless to mention, G-rated) suggestions as to its source?

Thanks much in advance for any feedback!

Post by **hausmeister** » 02 May 2007, 09:12

@2 Adjusting the mirror should be no problem... just grab it and reposition it; there is no trick for this. The mirror moves on the post. Maybe try some lube if it seems to be stuck.

@5 My radio did work fine, although i never tried to play tapes. Also I replaced it soon, the sound quality was not that good.

zenmervolt · Post by **zenmervolt** » 02 May 2007, 09:44

1) Bulb failure warning light. It means that one of your headlights, tail-lights, or brake lights has burnt out.

2) Just grab and adjust like any other rearview. Seems that yours is stuck a little.

3) You would have to remove the center console (including armrest) if I remember correctly. It's kind of a pain. A full write-up is here: http://volvospeed.com/Repair/SV70console.php

4) I have always been fond of Bridgestones, and currently have a set of Potenza G009 tires on my S70 T5. They're a good compromise between still having some road feel and also having comfort/quiet. They are a bit over $100 each though.

5) My radio (SC-901, part of the Pro Logic audio system) also suffers from poor reception. I've checked both antennae and they are sending signal, but I found that with this model if you hold down the "Mode" button while turning the radio on it will show an option for "Antenna Boost On [Off]". If the booster is turned off, it will display "Antenna Boost Off" and pressing the "Mode" button again will cycle it to "on", tou can then press the "Scan" button to get back to normal radio function. This is ONLY for the SC-901 as far as I know, though I would expect that the SC-900 would be the same. No clue on the SC-816 or other radios. Unfortunately for me, the antenna booster on my car seems to be dead as there is no difference in reception for me between the two modes.

5b) Buy a head-cleaner for the tape deck. It's probably just dirty. If the sound isn't there when you are just listening to the radio and is only there with a tape, then it's not speaker-related, but rather is something in the tape mechanism. Most likely just a dirty play head.

ChuckyC · Post by **ChuckyC** » 03 May 2007, 07:22

Thanks much for the very helpful replies.

Regarding the antenna, is it a *power* antenna? I know that I was unable to lower it when I tried to (manually, by pushing it down), and it also couldn't be twisted off (as when preparing to go through a car wash.) Thus far I haven't found a button that raises/lowers it.[/quote]

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 03 May 2007, 08:26

Regarding the antenna, is it a *power* antenna? I know that I was unable to lower it when I tried to (manually, by pushing it down), and it also couldn't be twisted off (as when preparing to go through a car wash.) Thus far I haven't found a button that raises/lowers it.

There is no switch for it. It should go down when you either turn off the radio or turn off the car.

...Lee

ChuckyC · Post by **ChuckyC** » 20 May 2007, 21:52

Ozark Lee wrote:
Regarding the antenna, is it a *power* antenna? I know that I was unable to lower it when I tried to (manually, by pushing it down), and it also couldn't be twisted off (as when preparing to go through a car wash. ) Thus far I haven't found a button that raises/lowers it.

Ozark Lee wrote:[

There is no switch for it. It should go down when you either turn off the radio or turn off the car.

...Lee

Thanks much for the heads-up on that, Lee.

Obviously the antenna isn't raising and retracting as it's supposed to. (I didn't help matters by going through an automated car wash with it in the up position a week or so ago! Now it's slightly bent, too.

)

Any ideas on what the probelm might be? I'd first think it could be a bad fuse, but I can't think of any other electrical devices that likewise aren't working (apart from the shifter light, which I assume is just a bulb that needs replacing.)

ChuckyC · Post by **ChuckyC** » 20 May 2007, 22:00

zenmervolt wrote: 5) My radio (SC-901, part of the Pro Logic audio system) also suffers from poor reception. I've checked both antennae and they are sending signal, but I found that with this model if you hold down the "Mode" button while turning the radio on it will show an option for "Antenna Boost On [Off]". If the booster is turned off, it will display "Antenna Boost Off" and pressing the "Mode" button again will cycle it to "on", tou can then press the "Scan" button to get back to normal radio function. This is ONLY for the SC-901 as far as I know, though I would expect that the SC-900 would be the same. No clue on the SC-816 or other radios. Unfortunately for me, the antenna booster on my car seems to be dead as there is no difference in reception for me between the two modes.

There's no Mode button on the radio on my 1998 S70. I have a feeling my S70 has the SC-816 radio. You might be interested, as I was, in what this fellow has written about these stock Volvo radios: http://www.jimrothe.com/volvo/sc816.html

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 20 May 2007, 22:29

New antenna masts at www.fcpgroton.com
Antenna down switch (to put it down when you're listening to your tapes, cd's etc.) available at www.borton.com

ChuckyC · Post by **ChuckyC** » 21 May 2007, 04:28

MadeInJapan wrote:New antenna masts at www.fcpgroton.com
Antenna down switch (to put it down when you're listening to your tapes, cd's etc.) available at www.borton.com

Arigato!

ChuckyC · Post by **ChuckyC** » 21 May 2007, 04:47

MadeInJapan wrote:New antenna masts at www.fcpgroton.com
Antenna down switch (to put it down when you're listening to your tapes, cd's etc.) available at www.borton.com

I just visited the website and very well may buy the antenna down switch. Thanks again for taking the time to post the info.

A long-winded question (and it's one I've been wondering about previously): There's a series of 4 or so black plastic "covers" in the stock S70 dashboard (roughly the front-center, as I recall) of my '98 S70. They're about the same size of other "active" buttons, such as the defogger button, but they're not connected to any electrical devices and pressing them won't activate any devices.

Anyone know if these non-functioning button-like "covers" were *intentionally* placed there by Volvo for the express purpose of providing a location for buttons associated with aftermarket devices (such as the non-stock antenna down switch you kindly referred me to above)?

To use an analogy, were these inactive, non-functioning "button place-holders" intentionally put there in the same way that, say, a new computer might come with a "cover" over the otherwise-empty slot where whoever buys the computer might choose to install a second CD/DVD drive?