Hey there guys and gals, I just got a 2001 Volvo S60 T5, and I was driving to work last friday the battery light came on with a warning message saying low voltage, and in about 15 mins it shut down. Now prior to this I had seen the lights on gauges flickering a little bit, but nothing I was stressed about.

So after getting the car towed back home, I tested the battery at Auto Zone and they said it was down under 26% and needed to charge, so they charged it and tested and it passed.

So naturally I went into replacing the alternator, and that seemed to be working just fine, and then today on my way to work the lights started flickering again.

So my question to everyone, do you think the battery is tossed, or is there something else I am missing in my search to fix this.

Side notes: Battery date stamped 2009, Car has 147k on it. and the alternator that I got had a 132k on it, but looked to be in good shape.

Thanks everyone for the help.

 

I doubt your alternator was any bad in the first place. Change the battery; should have been your first step... and keep that alternator as spare.

 

That is what I thought at first but then the battery tested fine, so that is what through me off. So after work today I will be picking up a new battery and installing that.

Thanks for the help.

P.S. Anyone have any good leads on some decent cheap batterys around the Portland/Vancouver area??

 

The battery light only comes on if there is a charging system problem. So since you put a used alternator in, I would suspect that to be the problem. Replacing the battery as a first step when the battery light is on just results in draining the new battery because the alternator isn't charging it.

 

Had the same issues myself when i first got mine. Battery was 2009, i got the car early 2011. Battery showed fine after charge and its green indicator was always green even post mortem
Got rid of it and it's been ok since...
PS: see if you can install a bigger capacity battery as our rides use a lot of power for subsystems...chances are your existing might be smaller than specified. Mine actually was. Can't remember Ah though but i can check if you want...

 

The green indicator on some batteries is worthless. It just monitors one cell. So the other 5 could be bad and it will still show green.

The battery light is an indication of a charging issue , not a battery issue. However, a charging issue could of course lead to a battery issue.

 

You're right. One thing brings another. Charging light will still come on as long as voltage goes out of range i suppose though...

 

Thanks for that, but the battery light hasn't come on since I just noticed this morning that the lights started flickering again. So I am guessing that it is the battery now that is causing the problem now.

 

Ah I misunderstood. I thought the light came back on.