Hello there, ladies and/or gents. I'm the 3rd car owner of a 2011 S40 Volvo 2.4i. It's my first time owning any Volvo bought it since last year in March. Fairly reliable but aware that's it's SLIGHTLY behind maintenance due to previous owner's neglect. Interesting tid bits of discover about this car as I continue to drive, like for example the LOCATION OF THE AIR CABIN FILTER IS NEXT TO THE GAS PEDAL. (Seriously Volvo, why? German engineering?), Maintenance so far is replaced left rear brake cable and the air cabin filter. Engine Air Filter and Sway bar links pending and it's due for an oil change. Now to get the point, I myself haven't and should've looked at this issue months ago and admit I've neglected this out of fear breaking my bank account going to a Volvo dealership (trying to avoid doing that). It concerns the Power voltage coming from the ABS. Right now I'm living in Eastern Canada it that section of the country suffered through a massive polar vortex/cold snap and due to this my car couldn't start at all. Talking below slightly -21 Celsius. So today in the afternoon, paid a tow truck guy to boost my car and drive for 23+ minute. After that parked half a block from where I live. Under an 1 hour later. Same **** occurred..again. Key FOB goes to ignition crank into III marking and then....CLICKING NOISES AND BLANKING light displays on dashboard, infotainment console, gear stick and doors. PLEASE help me troubleshoot WTF is going on? My guess is to a diagnostic analyst that was printed out when I saw a mechanic for a check engine light one of the many codes that I discovered is that ABS power supply voltage is too high. Is that the guess or is this a unfortunate Volvo s40 weakness that Deep Freezes are it's kryptonite?

 

best to post up what codes were pulled - some codes are manufacturer proprietary so you may need to get Volvo's interpretation of a specific code. WIth that said, I'm guessing you saw a BCM-0058 code which says the brake control module saw too high a voltage. That would point to an issue with the charging system (voltage regulator/alternator ). There could be a short/sticky relay etc that may be induced by the cold. (I had a similar issue in my VW CC where the battery light would come on about 5 minutes after starting out - but only very cold days (like 10F or below). I could turn the car off and back on the the light would go off. The diagnosis was a relay in the voltage regulator was sticking and by turning off the car it got reset. So to your gremlins, start by measuring battery voltage across the terminals with the engine off. A charged battery should measure 12.6 to 12.8. Now start the car up - the system voltage should be in the 14 to14.5 range - less if you have accessories on like the blower motor, rear defroster, headlights etc but it should be over 13.5. If you see something over 15V, then you likely have a problem with your voltage regulator or altnerator. Good news is for some Volvos, the regulator can be replaced separate from the alternator. Unfortunately for my VW, I had to drop $600 for a new alternator as its all one unit. One last thought - given it sounds like a connectivity or relay issue, the problem may be intermittant and you may need to have a shop do a deeper set of tests.

 

I have the printed paper with all the codes and the 0058 does show up. Adding another disclaimer: I went on vacation for a week last summer and came back and my car wouldn't start, the car didn't respond to my fob meaning the battery was drained dry....AFTER 4 DAYS? So hopefully that's the main culprit? So okay I don't have a car battery tester unfortunately but might have to buy one in the future? I had it tested before by a mechanic after my summer vacation and they said both the battery and alternator were fine but that was 7 months ago. Car battery is 1 year old. It was put in last year. So about the regulator, how can one be replaced? Where is it located? Is it an accessible part to purchase? Also, what's a short sticky relay and you do mean by sticking? to something else?

 

Sounds like the car wasn't really charged up (whether because the battery was too low and you didn't drive it very far, or because of a bad alternator / voltage regulator).

Everybody who wants to do ANY maintenance on their car should have a multimeter, and learn at least the basics of how to use it. You can pick one up for chump change many places, or can even score a free one occasionally from Harbor Freight (if you have one near you). Then you can check the battery voltage as mt6127 wisely recommended.

If you really can't be bothered handling test leads, there's always . I keep one in my road trip car so I can easily glance down to see that everything is working correctly.

If your car is draining the battery in only four days (AND it's a good battery that's actually fully charged...) then you need to do some more troubleshooting and figure out which circuit is drawing the current. But no use going into detail on that here - plenty of other threads on the subject on this (and similar) forums.

 

relays are contact switches controlled by a solenoid (ie electro-magnet). as voltage is supplied to the solenoid, it closes the contact switch. if the contacts get corroded (say due to arcing) they can stick in the "on" position or its possible they can fail to make a good contact when moving to "on". It is possible that your battery drain is being caused by a parasitic draw, meaning with the key off, something is still drawing power. Some times its something small like a vanity light in the glovebox or trunk that has a bad switch and stays on, sometimes it can be a relay that didn't go to the off position when the key was turned off. To determine if your car is consuming too much battery with the key off, you will need a "clamp" style ammeter. this then clamps on the battery cable to measure the current. Cars do consume some power for things like radio presets and other electronics that never really go off - I'd expect something in the 25mA range (a good battery can provide this amount for weeks not days). If you have a substantially higher number then you know there's a circuit that is staying active so the next step is to open the fuse/relay box and start pulling fuses to see if any of them drops the current draw. Finally you can see what's on that fuse to determine what's going on. In your case, the alternator is hooked up to the battery as well so if there's something shorted there, that can be the cause of your battery drain.

So can you fix the Voltage regulator on your own? Sure - it sits right on the alternator. The OEM voltage regulator part is not all that expensive $50 US or so. Not sure if replacing requires removal of the alternator first - on some models like the 850 you get a pretty clear access, dunno about the gen2 S40 - my bet is you will have to pull the alternator. Anyways, here's vid on pulling out/replacing the alternator.


One last thought - you can try replacing the regulator but if you don't do proper diagnostic testing, you may wind up doing work without fixing the root cause.

 

Okay so STATUS UPDATE: Bought a MotoMaster Eliminator Booster Pack 1400a (I live in Ontario, Canada BTW! SHOUT TO ANY ONTARIAN VOLVO OWNERS?)and boosted my car a second time and drive for over 55 min+ at -6 weather with heavy snowing conditions on Sunday. Pack to normal function. This car really turns to a 4 wheeled boulder below -17. Thanks for @mt6127 for that info. Unfortunately I'm not a hands on type of person at the moment because I don't have a driveway/or a garage of my own to do this. I will have discuss with my mechanic about this. I will likely buying of parts on my own to somewhat avoid the Volvo Genuine Parts supplier in Toronto.

 

I really can't tell what the OP is trying to say, but it sounds like no one has bothered to check the voltage. Some folks are just gluttons for punishment! ;-)

 

Don't know what you mean by that but it's called A LEARNING PROCESS.

 

Just trying to help you prevent spending extra money on unnecessary diagnosis that you can easily do yourself. Buy a multimeter (or a plug-in style charger / voltmeter) and see what your voltage is with the car running, and with it parked.