the other day my wife called because the car had a message saying breaks service required pull over or something along those lines. i told her to turn to car off let it sit and restart and see if it went away. it did car ran and stopped fine. today she called and said the car said el power system service required, bulb failure dipped beam. i just changed the battery a few weeks ago and was wondering if these could be caused by the alternator failing. i know how to check the alternator but am out of town and will be for a while and the nearest volvo dealer is more than an hour and a half away. having a local shop change the alt is ok but i dont want them changing more than is required because a girl takes the car in.
this is an 01 s60 2.4 t
thanks

 

Yes it could be the Alt. going bad. You might want to have someone check the Alt. output with the car hot after it has been driven for a little bit.

Alot of times you can get away with just replacing the voltage regualtor.

 

Please post the solution that worked for your car. My XC90 is displaying multiple message and battery message then won't start anymore. Starts with jump start.

 

if your car starts with a jump start, then you have a battery issue. You will need to check if the alternator is charging the battery. If you have a volt-ohm multimeter, its pretty simple: start by measuring battery voltage across the terminals (or jump-start terminals ) under the hood. Should be 12.6V. Next start the car and repeat. With the engine running, you should see 14V+ across the terminals. Now with the engine still running at idle, turn on high beams, AC/heater blower on high, rear window defroster on. Voltage should remain above 13.5V. If the battery is not at 12.6V with the engine off, time to replace. If the voltage with the engine running remains doesn't go up to 14 or sustain 13.5, have the alternator tested. If the voltage remains at 12.6, you may have a voltage regulator or an alternator issue.

 

Thanks for the reply. I charged the battery. Drove home around 3 miles. I checked connectors on CEM. I started multiple time, no messages. Then messages one by one .....4x4 disabled, coudn't accelrate, break falure stop safely, low beam bulbs out, then battery light and shut down. It did all the same before charging the battery. The battery is only 1 year old. I will check the voltage next week when it warms up, too cold to go out.