I just bought a 2001 Volvo S60 about 3 months ago.

I had the Low Battery Voltage message pop up and so I replaced the battery since it was already 5 years old anyway, but after about two hours or so of driving, the Low Battery Voltage message pop back up. Could it be the alternator going or gone bad? If so, anyone ever replaced one before. I looked under the hood and it looks simple enough except it looks like I have to remove the Power Steering pump to get to the Alternator bolts. Am I correct?

Ideas?


William

 

The problem is more likely to be the voltage regulator. According to my local Volvo service manager the alternators rarely go bad on these cars. I had a similar problem with my '01 S60. I had a fairly new battery that suddenly went bad. I charged it up but wasn't satisfied the problem was fixed. I immediately scheduled it to be looked at. The car was still under CPO warranty so it only cost me $50. With out the warranty the repair bill would have been in the neighborhood of $250 - $300.
Hope this helps.
Good luck.

 

Yes most likely the Voltage Regulator is bad pretty common.
You can buy from the Dealer and pretty easy to install.
Some you can do on the car and others you have to remove the Alt. to replace.

 

Any way to test the regulator by isolating it from the alternator. Or anyway to test the alternator to make sure it's ok?

Thanks again

 

Not really if the Alt isn't charging then most likely the regulator is bad. The regulator is the brushes.

 

Thanks alot.

Regulator checked out ok on the test meter (Diodes and Resistors were fine).

It was the Alternator, no charge at all. Dead as a door nail. [:'(]

Replaced it and now has a nice 13.5 volt charge.

 

Glad you got it fixed.

 

I recently replaced the alternator and battery on my 2003 Volvo S60 2.4T. For some reason I keep getting a low battery message on my dash and I have no clue what the issue could be. Can anyone assist me?

 

Did you ever figure this out? Im having the same problem with my 2001 V70.