Our 2010 s40 did something bezerk today, the power system service urgent light came on and the power steering went out and a ton of other lights came on. The car eventually died and when i got a boost it started but every light was on and it would not even rev up!!! Need help quick... Thanks and God Bless

 

Did you by any chance hit the bottom of the engine on a parking block our something like that?

 

make sure that the connections to the battery are good and solid and not corroded.

 

Check the belts.

 

Belts are good and moving. Everything is tight and has good connections, don't know if I should start with battery or just go ahead and replace alternator!

 

Is it a pretty hard job to take off the alternator?

 

My first reaction on hearing the word "bezerk" is battery. What is float level of battery when off? What is float level when on? While hooked up to DiCE, does voltage sag if engine is off?

 

You need to get your charging system tested before you just start replacing stuff. Could be the battery, could be the alt, could be the wiring, could be all 3... lots of could be's with this.

My go-to test for the alternator is by disconnecting the battery while the engine is running. If the alt is good the engine should keep running. Do this at your own risk, I have been told this could cause damage, but I have never had a problem when doing it.

Another quick test is to turn the headlights on with the engine NOT running. Then try to start her up. If the headlights dim way down to almost nothing then you definatly have a dead/almost dead battery. But a bad alt could have caused this.

Also, either way, if its the alternator that went bad and the battery is a few years old, in my experiance running them down that far usually kills them. It might get you through a summer, but as soon as the temps drop expect to be getting a new battery too.

 

Definitely have the car tested if you cannot do it yourself. Advance, Autozone, O'reilly's, etc will test the alternator and battery for you if you can get it there. You will not like the price of an alternator for these cars. And if it is the alternator I suggest an OEM Volvo one as aftermarket versions do not seem to work very well. The newer Volvos are very picky when it comes to voltage. It must be very accurate as the fuel pump pressure is controlled by voltage.

 

Thanks for all the help!! Turned out to be the alternator, she is running well!! God Bless