I have a 2002 XC70, 170k miles, picked it up from this past Saturday after they replaced the transmission. Three problems, 2 of which may be related, at least I hope so!

Sorry for the long note, but I want to give proper perspective)

1. After my wife drove it home from the shop, I got in to drive it and noticed the SRS Urgent message. That is my first issue.

2. Battery not holding a charge.
3. Power steering is very stiff and hard to turn during slow speeds.

Background: I live in the Northeast outside of Boston. Transmission failed this past January and ended up sitting in my driveway until May, when I decided to have it fixed (The car had already had the transmission replaced 60k mile earlier at a dealer). During the winter, I would start the car every week or two and let it run, to keep the battery charged, move the pistons, etc.

Towed it to the shop in May, diagnosed that it needed to be replaced. They found a used tranny, put it in, then realized it needed a RF axle, as well as a driveshaft and the bracket that holds it in the back. (After replacing the tranny, they put it in gear and the bracket had rusted to the point where it just popped off the back).

Went to pick it up this past Saturday and was told they had to jump it and gave it some charge. I confirmed that the battery was disconnected while they were working on it. He mentioned that the car may throw a few codes but they will go away within a week (thought that was strange).

Car started and my wife drove it home, which was only about 10 miles away. Later that day she went to use it and the battery was dead. I put a slow charge on the battery overnight. On Sunday, the car started right up, seemed fully charged. She drove to the store and back, said none of the windows were working. I confirmed, pulled the module from the driver door, pushed the connections to make sure they were tight, popped back in and all windows worked fine. I then drove it 60 miles to and from a golf course, noticing that the steering was awfully tight/stiff. Stopped and checked the tires, they were a little low but not enough to affect steering. Pressed the Serpentine belt, did not feel excessively loose.

My wife drove it on Monday to the doctors office and back, no problem. 24 hours later, the battery is dead, again.

So, my issues:

#2&3: My thoughts right now suspect that the serpentine belt needs to be tightened or replaced. I am thinking that the belt may not be giving enough power to the steering, and may not be allowing the alternator to recharge at full capacity (when I had put the slow charge on it, initial reading was 9 amps, and I believe the battery is only two years old). Is this a reasonable assumption?

#1: SRS Airbag Urgent message: being that the car sat for 4 months, then had the battery disconnected, then had to re-seat the window module, I am wondering if one of the the on board computer modules may be "confused", and if I have the code cleared, things may go back to "normal". Is this just a hopeful thought on my end, or what other issues may I be looking at in this regard?

Sorry again for the long post, wanted to give as much detail as possible.

 

The battery is probably bad, I would get it tested. There is no adjustment for the serpentine belt. It has an automatic tensioner, which I have never seen fail in a way that causes it to simply be loose. When they fail, they come apart and you know the tensioner is shot (and even these failures are pretty rare).

If the SRS light was on right away, they may have broken the clockspring, depending on how they replaced the transmission. Some guys disconnect the steering rack, which leaves the steering wheel free to rotate and break the clockspring. Personally, I leave the rack connected and tie it up while I drop the subframe.

As for the steering, hard to say. Could be a binding steering column u-joint. They may have tightened the rack with it a little crooked on the subframe, etc.

 

Low voltage state from a bad battery will cause a SRS error code. This happened on my 2001 V40 with a ten year old battery. Once the new battery was installed the SRS light was on. I checked it with my Autel MD 802 code reader and successfully reset the SRS light. It is noted that disconnecting the battery terminal will not reset the SRS error codes.

 

Sorry for the late reply, but I want to thank the people that replied to my thread.

I took the advice and had the battery checked at Autozone. It passed but the girl felt the reading was a bit lower than it should be, and they replaced the battery free of charge (still had three months left on the full replace warranty). That was a nice surprise, as I am guessing that it did not help to have the car sit for 5 months.

The next big surprise was the fact that as soon as I drove away, the steering issues were gone, and it has been fine ever since! Don't know if the fact the battery not holding enough charge would affect the steering, but the problem is resolved.

Still don't have the SRS warning light off, so hoping my local garage can do that next time it is in there.

Thanks again for everyone's help!