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1998 S70 T5 Flashing Service Light

Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's P80 platform cars -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.

1992 - 1997 850, including 850 R, 850 T-5R, 850 T-5, 850 GLT
1997 - 2000 S70, S70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70, V70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70-XC
1997 - 2004 C70

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shaker_chi
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Year and Model: 94 850, 98 S70T5 M
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1998 S70 T5 Flashing Service Light

Post by shaker_chi »

A couple days ago I left my dome light on overnight and killed the battery. I gave it a trickle charge overnight and put it back in the car this morning. On my way to work everything was fine, but on my way home after about 2 miles into my 20 mile commute, the service light started to flash, the speedometer wouldn't work and my temp and fuel gauge were erratic. I have 15 gallons in the tank and it took about 30 minutes for the gauge to read properly Once I got home I disconnected the battery for about 15 minutes and when I reconnected it the problem went away. Any thoughts on this? I was thinking maybe the ABS module? Any help would be appreciated.

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FLXC90
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Post by FLXC90 »

Because of the set-up for the issue-dome light, dead battery, partial charge, I would suspect that the battery was not fully charged. Flashing CEL indicates a misfire. ABS module relies on steady power to run. Have you checked the codes yet? Temp and fuel gauge sounds like a power or ground interruption. They all relate back to electrical. How's your key switch? Check threads on that. Make sure your battery gets a FULL charge. You may have had a bad connection, since disconnect-reconnect reset it, or it may be lurking?!

EDIT-you say your service light is flashing-disregard mention of CEL I still say it leans toward battery and cabling.
Last edited by FLXC90 on 10 Nov 2014, 19:17, edited 2 times in total.
Current Volvos:
1998 V70 T5, 112k sat 5 years, still in mechanical coma (finally at the top of the pile )
2004 XC90 T6 AWD: 186k, 60 on transaxle ( traded in )
1998 POS70 N/A: DD/training aid, 236k but really about 240k, I think...ABS module( passed on to son who sold it)

Matty Moo
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Post by Matty Moo »

That's the flashing light of death for the instrument cluster.
Image
http://www.midwest-abs.com
Simplycleanpowerwash.com

1996 850 Platinum Wagon. ARD Green Tune, OBX.-Gone
1998 s70 ARD tune, EST exhaust, SE/R interior.
1999 s70 Plain Jane.
2000 s70 GLT
2014 Ram
2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

shaker_chi
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Post by shaker_chi »

My CEL did not go on. The only light flashing was the "service" light, thus no codes to pull.

Matty Moo
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Post by Matty Moo »

That's what I'm talking about. The only time the "service" light will flash is when there's a fault with the instrument cluster.
Image
http://www.midwest-abs.com
Simplycleanpowerwash.com

1996 850 Platinum Wagon. ARD Green Tune, OBX.-Gone
1998 s70 ARD tune, EST exhaust, SE/R interior.
1999 s70 Plain Jane.
2000 s70 GLT
2014 Ram
2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

Ozark Lee
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Post by Ozark Lee »

A bunch of people have had that problem and the solution seems to be to remove the service light which I would recommend anyway.

When repairing the odometer gears I always take the service light out and stomp on it, just to make sure it can't make its way back to the car somehow. It is as a result of some sort of internal fault in the cluster but, other than the light flashing, many of the clusters continue to operate otherwise.

It seems to be more prevalent on the 850 clusters and the 70 series clusters but it can happen to both.

...Lee
'94 850 N/A 5 speed
'96 Platinum Edition Turbo
Previous:
1999 V70XC - Nautic Blue - Totaled while parked.
1999 V70XC - RIP - Wrecked Parts Car.
1998 S70 T5
1996 850 N/A
1989 740 GLT
1986 740 GLT
1972 142 Grand Luxe

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