All check light sensors come on intermittenly while driving.

earthguy00 · Post by **earthguy00** » 18 Nov 2006, 16:10

Strange thing happened today and I don't know if I should worry, but upon cleaning the terminals for my battery I was afraid something electrical might happen as this resets the computer.

Strangely enough and with bad luck all the check light sensors on the dash did come on, but for 1 second while driving and it seemed about to stall. A minute later it happened again, but only for half a second. I drove it for another 5 minutes without incident afterwards.

I am using the 12volt outlet as dual outlets for my interior spot lights and am wondering since my car is pretty old and has 140k miles on it that the electrical system is not putting enough power to the battery? I don't know if this makes sense. Or can it be my alternator as this similar incident happened to me on 2 different cars in the past?

My car a 1997 850 GLT was running smoothly until I did this. Anyone know if I should worry about this incident?

Jot · Post by **Jot** » 18 Nov 2006, 18:20

With the engine running wiggle yur ignition key. If the lights blink it is probbably the electric portion of the switch,

earthguy00 · Post by **earthguy00** » 19 Nov 2006, 01:00

I'll try that later on today. Thanks.

earthguy00 · Post by **earthguy00** » 19 Nov 2006, 10:23

Well, I tried jiggling the key as asked, but it seems fine. I also forgot too mention that I replaced the headlight bulb to 9006 55W hid's and the fog light bulbs to H3's 55W as well and so far the sensors on the dashboard ocurred only during the night when having both the head and fog lights on along with dual 55W interior lights.

Can it possibly be that when turning on all these lights and using the 12V outlet with the dual interior hid lights to make the dashboard sensors to pop up intermittently?

I was thinking that if I were to create a relay for the fogs that it may alleviate the over powering on the electrical lines?

Can this be a worthwhile try?

I'll try anthing to experiment so any kind of opinions would be grateful.

Thanks.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 19 Nov 2006, 10:57

There is already a relay for the Fogs....it's under your driver's side knee bolster, and is white...the one closest to you, second from the right.
With your description, you may be over-powering the electrical system...just a thought, nothing definitive.

Post by **billofdurham** » 19 Nov 2006, 11:38

I tend to agree with MadeInJapan about you overloading your circuits. You are running 440 watts of front/interior lights along with everything else electrical, which is approaching 40 amps. Definitely pushing the alternator.

Bill.

earthguy00 · Post by **earthguy00** » 19 Nov 2006, 19:38

A quick thought. Does the electrical circuits tend to be used more upon driving the car as opposed to standing idle? Because, I had all the lights on including the interior while idling for a good 20 minutes without ocurrence of the intermittent sensors flashing.

I will nevertheless, take off one of the HID interior lights to see if this helps.

I also forgot too mention that I tried to take off the service light sensor that comes on for a good 2 minutes upon every startup by turning the key to the I position and pressing the odometer reset button until flashing, but although this is to be done for a 93-95 model cars I wanted to try it.

Since doing this and taking the negative battery off the sensors starting acting up. Can this be the culprit of this action? Or is it most likely the overload of the electrical lights I use?

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 19 Nov 2006, 20:41

Never heard of pressing the odometer reset button to reset the service light. What 850 do you have...where are you from?

CarVolvo · Post by **CarVolvo** » 19 Nov 2006, 22:13

As everyone is suggesting... disconnect all the stuff you hooked up and see if the system is working properly. Then retrace your steps if the system is working properly.

I never heard of resetting the service light this way either..

earthguy00 · Post by **earthguy00** » 20 Nov 2006, 05:05

It is on the volvospeed site. Thanks for the advice.
I will try this procedure tomorrow.