I have a 2004 XC90 that I bought used a couple of months ago. So far everything has been great ... until this morning. My alarm went off at 4:30 am. I shut it off by hitting the "UNLOCK" button on my remote.Then I hit the "LOCK" button again. About 5 minutes later it went off again. So I turned it off again with the "UNLOCK" button on the remote. This time I decided to just leave the car unlocked. Ah, but myVolvo is too smart for that, and after a couple of minutesitlocked the doors itself and reset the alarm. And then the alarm went offagain, and again, and again.....Ifinally went out andchecked the owners manual. It said that if I just used the button on the remote to open the back hatch, then open the hatch, and close the hatch, the alarm wouldnot be re-activated. That didn't work.The alarm light was still flashing. I'm now desperate and don't want my neighbors to hate me, so I just left one of the doors sliightly ajar. It's raining, and the interior light won't go off, but what else can I do? At least the alarm is off.

Is there any way to lock my doors,andkeep the alarm from activating? I can'tbelieve I can't even CHOOSE to leave my doors unlocked without my car locking itself and resetting the alarm.

Thanks....

 

Here's the update on my XC90. I spent 3 hours at the Volvo auto shop today.They said I hada faulty siren. They don't have the part and will have to order it, and they won't be able to install ituntil monday. I can't lock the car or the alarm will go off again, so for the next 5 days it will have to be unlocked. The diagnostic test was supposed to be $120 and to be subtracted from any work I had done. But I walked out today paying nothing, but the work on monday will cost $350 to replace the faulty siren.

Also, in my previous posting I saidI kept locking my car with the remote and after 2 minutes it would lock itself back up. But if I unlock the car then open and shut a door, it stays unlocked. I should have figured that out last night, but it's hard to think clearly when your car wakes you up in the middle of the night.

 

Thanks, Jackievolvo,

We've had a great laugh with my wife, perfectly written, it unfortunately absolutely describes our problem and that is not fun.
The dealership couldn't figure out the problem, almost did not believe, untill the alarm went off at their garage and they couldn't stop it so the battery went flat. They reckon its probably the battery(though its new), causing lower voltage. So I recharged the battery, now I cant reconnect it because the alarm goes off and IT STAYS OFF. So my at the beginning of my problem I could see some sympathy in the eyes of my neiburghrs. The looks are bit different now as they got more familiar with siren of my lovely volvo. and the dogs...

Anyways, I wanted to ask you, did the change of the alarm siren or system help.
I reckon its the notoriously faulty electricity int the car. maybe wiring, besides I noticed some water leak (its been raining as crazy) under my legs...,
Thanks.

 

If you really want to turn your alarm off and keep it off, tell your dealer to download this part #:

6849891

PS

-PERMANETELY-

 

I have this exact same problem. The dealer said it's low battery voltage. That was believable because I hadn't driven the car in a while. But I have the battery charged up now at it still goes off.

I can't believe the dealer didn't tell you to pull the 5A fuse in the cabin that powers the alarm. This now stops the noise so I can sleep, but of course doesn't fix the real problem.

 

This may cause other problems you have not notcied yet.

 

Well that's really helpful. I can only conclude from your reply that you work for Microsoft. Could you be a little more specific?

 

LOL. This alarm stuff is crazy. Anyone get a resolution to this one yet?

 

Hello. Great thread. My Volvo XC90 alarm has just started going off for no reason too - but only occasionally. Last night it went off only once. Unfortunately a neighbour's car alarm was also going off - all night long. When my car alarm pinged this morning I went out to unlock/lock with the remote to find irate neighbours blaming me for the 'all nighter' down the street. ....of course my protests fell on deaf ears (or should that be deafened ears?). One neighbour said I looked dreadful (no sleep) thanks for that!

Anyway, after a trawl and speaking to Mr Volvo (who cant see the car until next week) low battery seems to be in pole position... but....If it was a low battery, presumably once it is disarmed and then rearmed it would/should immediately trigger? Mine doesn't. It just goes off randomly.... like just now. Excuse me.

.................Back...... Does anyone know where the motion sensor is in the car? My father had a similar problem some time ago and it transpired that a tiny spider had spun its web across the sensor and triggered the alarm every time it crawled over the area covering the sensor. I can see any sensors. Any clues?

Mr Volvo suggested manually locking the car with the key as it does not activate the siren.

 

pull the "alarm siren" fuse out and leave it out if it keeps going off after that were gonna have to go early 90's on it. like i did with my tempo pull the alarm asembly right out..... siren and all and just used door locks.

 

diagnositics is suppose to be free.

 

An update to my alarm problem. It took me about 3 months to get this looked at. During that time I kept the fuse pulled so it wasn't bothering me. There seemed to be no adverse effects from doing this. When I took the car in, the service manager made no indication that what I had done was a bad idea. The dealer determined that my alarm was bad and replaced it. That sounded suspicious, bit it *did* solve the problem. Cost was about $450. I probably should have just left the fuse out.

 

you could have doen that but risked getting your car broken into/stolen only reason why i have doen this with my previous cars is A) id use a steering wheel lock and take my fuel pump relay B) my tempo and bronco wouldnt be worth stealing anyone wants em they are more than welcome to hit up the junkyard if they havent been made into soda cans yet

 

Where I live a car alarm going off is nothing more than background noise. It definitely wouldn't scare off a potential thief. However, having the car immobilizer working is absolutely key to keep the car from being stolen. Of course, I would suspect that most car thieves assume a Volvo has an immobilizer so he moves down the line to the next Toyota or Honda where such a device is still an option. Or, they wait for the Volvo owner to show up so they can jack the car with the actual key.

 

Seems to be related to hot days, this siren problem. There's a 5A fuse under the left panel of the driver's leg area that can be removed to disable the siren.. but does not solve the problem. Have already spent my $343 at the dealer to NOT have it fixed. Its been like this for 4 years now. Believe me, its not related to low voltage in the battery either. Very disapointing that Volvo trained techs cannot figure this out.

 

very,very strange........

 

So has any one had any luck figuring this out. my xc90 is doing this now, the alarm just goes off for no reason.

Rob

 

The non-Volvo service guy I've used since my warranty expired told me that Volvo issued a factory service bulletin on 9/16/2011 on this topic. It says that the problem can usually be fixed by reprogramming the alarm's sensitivity level. The bulletin is TJ13174. Hope this helps some of you.

Unfortunately only a Volvo dealer can do this and my local one (Barrier Volvo, who is known for being outrageously expensive) will not give me a quote and won't take my word for it. They charge $125/hour just to diagnose and they told me that I should expect at least an hour for diagnostics!

 

Our local stealer charges $143 per hour.