My wife and I are on a road trip around the country and were rear-ended while on interstate 91 in connecticut about 3 weeks ago. We purchased a used 2002 Volvo v70 with about 106,500 miles on it from a non-brand name dealership before leaving connecticut and continued on our trip with in-transit plates. The car seemed in good condition to me, with new brakes and a new battery. It has been less than a week now and we've already encountered two major issues. The first problem was last friday (November 5th, 2018) when we were driving through Shenandoah national park and I started getting a low battery voltage. This was because the alternator was undercharging the battery, and we were luckily able to get it replaced then next day on a saturday. A few days later the check-engine light stopped coming on and the only warning I was getting was to fill the washer fluid.

Earlier today when we were leaving the Clingman Dome trail at the Great Smoky Mountain national park my car started giving me 2 new errors, 1) "SRS-airbag service urgent", and 2) "brake failure please stop safely". Then when I turned on the car the dash totally turned off except for the check-engine light, and wasn't showing the engine temperature, fuel-gauage, RPM-meter or speedometer, along with the turn signals not working and the windows not working. The engine was still running, and I tried shifting the car into reverse, then to drive, and back to park and it seemed to be okay. I turned the car off, waited a moment, then turned it back on and everything seemed fine. So we drove back to Gatlinburg and had dinner.

When we were done eating and came back to the car we had the same issue, so I tried the same thing of turning the car off then back on. This time everything seemed fine and we started driving back to our hotel which is in Pigeon Forge about 7 miles away when I noticed the fuel-gauge wasn't working. Not 1 mile into our drive the entire dash turned off, yet the car still drove perfectly fine. I was able to drive the car back to our motel without any problems (expect not being able to use the turn signals) and am now trying to figure out what to do.

I called a few volvo dealerships and was only able to speak with one mechanic (due to it being past 6pm). He said it sounded like a problem with the computer that controlled the front-end, and that the computer which controlled the car itself sounded fine. I've been checking around, and it sounds like it might be the gauge cluster which is dying. Once I am back home and stationary it sounds fairly straight-forward to fix, in that I have to remove the dash and send it off to be fixed. But as I am still all the way across the country in Tennessee from my home in California I want to make sure before I start driving again and using my phone as a speedometer. I will be contacting some autoshops and volvo dealerships tomorrow morning, but I am also curious if anyone else has any idea's or suggestions.

 

3 weeks have passed since you posted.
It sure sounds like the DIM is going out but the SRS light and brake warning aren't usually part of the scenarios people post.

The ABS controller also suffers from the occasional bad solder joint and this can result in false warnings and the speedometer dropping out.

 

Hi,
As regards the Instrument Cluster all I can say is that the Dealership doesn't know it's **** from it's elbow. Excuse my french.
I have recently experienced the exact same symptoms on my V70 2002. Like you I enquired with "those that know" and was given all sorts of Apocalyptic scenarios. My own tried and trusted mechanic suggested a Dynamo Change. Pfft!!
I went on YouTube and there it was; the rhymes and the reasons and how-tos, on several videos.
Options:
Repair: On YT clips the guy said he went around and RE-SOLDERED all the connectors on the motherboard. I have my doubts on this because when I opened mine, most of the solderings were microscopic.
Replace Cluster with a brand new one. I imagine the price of a new one, even in the States would be Stratospheric.
E-bay: you can find clusters that are competitively prices there, but do some research on the seller before you buy. Caveat Emptor.
Breakers yards: I don't know what you call these in the States (it's where all the cars go to die), but here in the UK this is a thriving industry. You post your requirement on a Breakers' Website, and all the reputable (and not-so-reputable) breakers will send you a quote for whatever they have in stock.
Once you've made your decision and your replacement Cluster has been delivered, you can decide whether to replace it yourself or give it to your mechanic to do it for you. I intend to do it myself, having already removed it from the dash and opened the "motherboard" where all the solderings and chips are. Now, if I can do it with my 10 left thumbs, anyone can. Be patient, get the right tools for the job, and refer to the YouTube video as many times as you need.
There is a problem though which I still haven't resolved. I'm not sure if the replacement cluster will show your original mileage or the mileage of the vehicle it came from. Since my V70 is a relatively low mileage for it's age (71,440 miles) I would like to continue with that. How one goes about rectifying this I still haven't figured out.

Anyway, I hope this works.

 

I had the same problem with a 2003 v70 2.4t.

---Edit: just saw you were rear ended. check the plug on the back of the dim and make sure the clip isn't broken and that it's securely connected. Never had my windows/etc not work, that only happened (in my experience) when the dim is actually unplugged.
The srs light is because the computer reset itself improperly. A volvo tool will get rid of it, but until dim is fixed it'll keep coming on.
My brake light would come on sometimes too with this issue. Actually, when it wasn't brake or just dead, all of them would flash randomly.

Original:
The solder in the DIM was bad. Started with flickering lights, shutting off intermittently, eventually it died altogether. I recommend sending it to a company called European Electric - they charged $150 for a rebuild and return shipping, and no problems since. The sooner the better, as your odometer will stop working when the DIM goes out - at least mine did.
https://europeanelectric.net/t/volvo...er-dim-rebuild

 

Your DIM needs to be rebuilt. There are a handful of firms that do this.