hey guys l have a lil problem with my battery. when the car sits over nite and l start it, its hard to turn on and take like 5 cranks to turn on.when it turns on the Srs light for the Airbag and transmission signal light stays on for a couple of seconds till it adjust itself and l feel a lil bit vibration then the lights goes off.l have checked the fuses for any drain but it all showed me 0.00 ohms. does that mean my batts life is ending and needs replacement?

 

Well if you bring it to advanced or auto zone they will test it for free...
But otherwise...
How old is it?
Hows your weather been, remember cold will kill a bat in no time if its low.

 

You're asking what may be a technical question so it would be good to use the right terms or possibly retest with the meter on the right scale.

Ohms is resistance. Example, If you were checking the battery cable to the starter for corrosion you would be checking so see how few ohms it is. The closer to zero the better.
Ohms are measured by the meter on a "dead" circuit insulated from the vehicles battery as the meter uses it's internal battery to measure for this value.

Battery draw, which I think you're trying to test is amps. It's the amount of electricity flowing. They are very different values. Most handheld DVM's (digital volt meters) are limited to around 10 amps internally by a fuse to protect the meters circuitry. There are may variations and I do have both inductive and contact amp meters that measure starting amps that go up to 500 amps but they are not the common handheld ones most people own.

Please check to make sure you were on the right scale for what you're testing as even if the vehicle is "normal" it should still have some current draw with everything off as some things like the radio and computer still have a small draw for their memory. That would be around .025 amps I think.

Normally during starting you will get all the warning lights coming on but I haven't come across one that holds just a couple on longer than others. Especially with the SRS light it's either a fault or not. Once the SRS system sees a fault, even if it fixes itself or someone fixes it the SRS will not reset itself without it's system physically being reset from the self diagnostic port or with a dedicated code reader. That part of your problem is a bit of a puzzle.

 

Per Matty, all the auto parts stores can do a battery test and they have a handheld unit that can do it right at the car. You might want to call first just to make sure they have one (that's working). That way you'd have an answer to if the battery is ok and if the alternator is in good shape too as it will measure the battery health, starters draw to see if it's within specs and same for the alternator. It only takes a couple minutes for them to run the tests. Just to make sure you might ask to have your "check engine light" checked for codes. They will ask if it's on and normally if it isn't they aren't especially inclined to go out in the cold and do it (I'm in Minnesota) as usually there isn't anything in there if the lights not on but in some cases the vehicle will have a pending code where the computer is seeing something that might be a problem but isn't yet. That is stored as a pending code but doesn't turn the light on. Might be worth a try as long as you're there anyway.
Let us know.

 

When I got my wagon it had a bad battery in it. I drove it with the bad battery for 8 months. It had a few bad cells in it. When I tried to start the car it would crank real slow and then catch, after maybe 4 cranks. The volts would drop to around 7.5v while cranking. Before cranking it would be charge to about 10.3v. I don't recommend it, but I really didn't have money to get a new batter with all the other things pressing in my life.

About a month ago I learned that the junk yard sells batteries. Matter of fact, the battery that was in the car was a junk yard battery. I stopped by there a few times until the had a Volvo battery and I purchased it for $25. I had them test it twice with their tester, just took about a minute each time.

You can put a volt meter across your battery post and read it. You should have no less than 12.5v static. If you have it tested by AutoZone, Wal-Mart, etc, make them test it twice just to be sure. If it is bad, had bad cells, the tester will say BAD on the display.

The battery age and how long you drive each day will really effect the health of your battery. I had a lady call me about her T-5R crying about one of those auto stores telling her that she had a bad alternator. She had drained the battery, got a jump, drove 7 minutes to work and wondered why it didn't start that afternoon. She didn't drive long enough to charge the battery back up (after she left the car's interior lights on for 2 full days). Your car battery should be charged up fully at least once per month. That usually takes about 3 hours or an hour 3 times per week.

 

l will see to it and get it checked. but guys listen when it cranks for like three times before it starts the transmission gear arrow light shows up with the srs light and goes off after a couple of seconds. when the transmission light goes off the car jerks a lil bit with the RPM dropping down below 1000 and moves up again. will that affect the transmission if l do not get the battery checked out?

 

Well, I think that's just a by product of the car not running. I drove my car like that for 8 months so I don't have to much room to talk. Now I have no issues.

When I start my car the SRS and ABS are the last lights to go off. Don't worry about it unless they fail to go out. Also, get your battery check asap before it dies on you in the colder weather. I had to put mine on a charger because I drained it a little replacing my stereo. It took my jy about 10 days to get a battery I actually wanted.

 

When almost all cars crank over before they start the warning lights come on. It's a way to check for burnt out bulbs and because most of the conditions like low oil pressure are physically present before the engine starts so the lights are on. That would be normal.

What is it you are asking ??

What is it you think is happening that is not normal ??

Will what affect the transmission, are you talking about it jerking when it's in gear or that the whole car shudders when and RPM drops when it's just starting up ??

Once it starts up you are pretty much running off the alternator so even if the battery is below specs and needs to be replaced but can still get the car started it shouldn't be anything that affects the running condition of the vehicle.
If the battery was so bad you had to jump start it then the alternator might have to work so hard it can't produce an adequate amount of electricity to run the car properly because the faulty battery is absorbing more then the alternator can produce.

Are you asking while driving the transmission light goes off and the transmission jerks ??

Can you be a little clearer as to what happens and when?

 

I beleive the issue is that his fuel injectors are dumping fuel in there and it finally gets enough spark to kick over and start. Then the idle jumps burning off that extra gas. The only reason I think he feels a jerk is because he has a bad motor mount. But that will be another thread.

 

when l first crank the car and it starts, the srs and transmission arrow light stays on for a few seconds.the srs goes off first then the transmission light.after the light goes off the car vibrates just a lil bit with the RPM dropping a lil bit and gets back to normal at idle.

 

You started this out with a battery problem. How about you take it someplace and have the battery and alternator tested to see what condition they are in and we go from there ?? Cuts out a lot of guessing.

 

I believe this is the same car with the lifter problem. At any rate, as long as the lights go out quick, and the idle stablizes, I don't see a problem. The car is 16 years old.

 

That too !!

 

yea l have the lifter problem and the battery is going bad l guess.l dont know if the battery was ever changed by the dealer.l got it a year ago and have only changed the rotors and pcv because the dealer installed a warped rotor.l have never had a problem on this car.runs perfect.l did a tune up too and its in great condition. l mean the car is 15 years old and havent had any major issues.everybody knows when u get a used car no matter how great the car is there would be something to fix on it.LOL

 

Batteries usually last 3 to 4 years so I'm sure that car has been through at least 4 of them. And yes it is rare for a Volvo to leave you stranded on the side of the road. Usually that would be from a fuel pump issue or broken timing belt. Other than that they usually keep on running.

Having a car of only 1 year and not having any major problems with it really isn't saying much. I do understand that some cars are off the road in 10 to 12 years and people are still paying $4,500 for 15 year old 850's, that's pretty good for a low end Euro car.

I would consider any repair over I guess $600 a major repair. I take that back, maybe anything over $1,000. If you took your car to a Volvo shop they might charge you about $800 to get rid of that lifter problem. That's pretty close. Heck, they may charge over $1,200 since they like to charge about $1,200 just to do the timing belt. I'd consider that major even though the car is running.

My tranny only cost me about $550 including the fluid, seals, RMS, etc. Even though I was driving the car daily and I got a good deal on the work, I do consider it a major problem since it could not be done in the driveway with normal hand tools. Just my opinion.

Any problem with a car that would cause 5 out of 10 buyers to RUN would be considered major.

 

yea thats right but when l bought the car l didnt know it knocked like that till l got home.l sent it back to him and he said its ok for it to knock like that when the oil rises up when warm.l believed him because my 1994 850 knocked like that when it was cold.l will try and motor flush and see that might help with the lifter noise.if it does l will just wait till summer to tackle that. to fix that lifter l have to use the process we use to fix the head gasket right? or l could just unscrew those small bolts on the head to reach the lifters right?

 

To reach the lifters you have to remove the I believe 8mm bolts on the cam cover then remove the cams to get to the lifters. Mine does it for a split second when i first start my car but its gone within a second or 2 no longer.