When I bought my car the previous owner had a remote fob for the door locks but it only would lock the doors. The unlock button is missing and if I tried push ing the contacts with something nothing would happen. last weekend I took the remote apart and cleaned it and now when I push the contacts I can hear something inside the remote click but the doors don't unlock and if I push it more than once the side marker lights start flashing and keep flashing until I lock the car again. I like the size of this remote, buttons one above the other so it is real small. I have not found another remote like this or I would by it if the price was right.
Does any one know what is going on with this and the flashing side markers?

 

hmm on my car when the lights flash that means the alarm is going off along with the horn, when i bought my car the keyfob was also in terrible shape luckily i found a replacement in ebay for only $15 instead of the original keyfob from the dealership that costs $95. Maybe one of the latches on the doors, or the hood has a broken sensor and triggering the alarm...




keyfob link: Volvo Key Keyless Entry Remote Fob 300C | eBay (make sure the part number matches your original keyfob or it will not work)

 

The thing is that I have another fob that my wife uses and it works perfectly but it has the buttons side by side and is about twice the size.

 

You got the Guard II fob from the Alarm.
This one has 1 button for Lock / Unlock. The small one bellow is the Panic button which triggers the alarm. You are missing the alarm horn (mounted in the middle of the firewall) (or it's broken) so you do not hear the alarm sound.
The flashers also run when you trigger this function.
Also this remote is the only one which gives a "sound" feedback.

 

Thats the one I have. I always thought one button was lock and one unlock. So from what you are saying that thing mounted on the fire wall is the alarm horn?

 

After researching this a little it looks like the correct remote for my car is the big one with separate lock and unlock buttons. I guess the little one will just stay on my desk so I can lock the car when I am working inside.

 

Thats not entirely correct
There is the "standard" remote with 2 buttons in the same "row" . However this one has a different receiver which is located on the right side of the dashboard between dash and glovebox.
Cars from 97 are missing it as a new relay (red) was introduced with the remotes which you also own.

Also cars fitted with the Guard II alarm which you seem to have, have this type of remote. It is pretty sure to assume that you are also missing the second receiver near the glovebox.

I would stay with the Guard II remote, as with the other one you cannot activate the alarm. The Guard II can only be activated and deactivated by the remote. If you lock the car with the Guard remote and open with the key or the alternate Fob you will trigger the alarm and also the immobilizer kicks in and deactivated the starter motor.

PS here is a pic with the alarm horn. http://www.atthetipwebs.com/technolo.../alarmhorn.jpg
There is also an alarm siren which looks differnt, this one also checks if the battery is disconnected while the alarm is active and kicks in if so as it has some batteries of its own inside.

 

I tested and both styles of fob are locking the car and turning on the alarm system. If I unlock the car using a key it shuts off the alarm. The fob with the buttons one above the other will only lock and set the alarm but not unlock it. The fob with the buttons side by side will lock and set the alarm and the other button will unlock and turn off the alarm.

 

When I purchased my 850 it came with no transmitters. I pulled the glove compartment to find the unit and get the FCC number. I bought some cheap, new transmitters that were four button and they have worked great. As expected the lettering on the buttons wore off pretty quickly but I think it was 2 for 35 bucks, I'm happy with it. Just need to make sure the FCC number matches.


Until I read this I never realized the original one was just a two button