hello cozqatar I am having a similar problem... have a 2000 volvo s70 automatic with approx 68,000 miles...has been giving signs of trouble for last couple of months, but now theyve hit!! We havent driven it for about a month or so because we cant get it to start. Over the last couple of months we have been having some electrical issues, & transmission issues...electrical problems things like one night my wife and i were leaving a dinner party & the locks would it not open/go up when inserting key in door (we dont have a keyless remote entry), the speedometer will stop & start working while driving, different dash lights will come on & off like the check engine, ABS light, plus others...again we havent been able to start it for a month, but a few weeks before it wouldnt start, we started having transmission problems...i.e: that same night when the lock finally did open, when i put the car in reverse, the transmission wasnt going into gear, car just revvd when steppin on gas, i just kept shifting gears over a minute or so & suddenly it worked, from that night on the transmission has been acting weird,ie: will be stopped @ a light & car will revv & take a while to go, or will move slowly & suddenly kick in normally, it had been progressively getting worse to the point where it would take 30-60 secs to kick into gear when at a light, or even while driving would seem to come out of gear. we did notice that on cold days the transmission was working better & when the day got hotter transmission wouldnt work as well(maybe related or not), transmission was better in lower gears D2 & Low. I thought the transmission needed to be rebuilt/replaced (which made no sense having less than 70k miles on it) but never got chance to have it looked at. Over a week period the transmission was getting really bad, would be driving and would seem to start revving as if it wasnt in gear. The last day i used it was coming up my long driveway and just wouldn’t stay in gear, parked it, next day went to start it & it wouldnt start. it would turn over but very very slowly. My father who is a recently retired heavy equipment mechanic said it sounded like the battery, so I just replaced the battery a couple of days ago. When I went to replace battery, noticed the old battery connectors were covered in battery acid so I washed it with baking soda & cleaned with water, then charged battery . after which it was turning over better but still not well & wouldn’t start. A day or 2 later I hooked up new battery (which was this past Thursday 4/12/12) and when doing so found what seemed to be more battery acid on a few other places on the engine where there are electrical connections, plus on top of windshield wiper fluid reservoir, radiator overflow, among a few other places(I suppose it could have just been baking soda , but looked like battery acid) however the old battery doesn’t look like exploded or anything. After connecting new battery, car is turning over, what seems to be normally, definately better than before. The fuel gauge says theres more than ¼ tank, but still wont start. I checked all the fuses, & theyre all fine. Except there isn’t a fuse in the slot that says for “starter”. Again my father is a retired HEM, but I am terrible with this stuff. He said starter is fine, if it wasn’t wouldn’t be turning over, cant be battery bcus i just replaced it (which by the way tried starting it with a group 58 battery as auto parts store said would be fine even though car calls for group 48 battery, that couldn’t be it right? Same Cold Cranking Amps…I think??). I am lost, desperate for help. Could everything be related?? My dad says transmission should be fine, too little miles to have gone out, he says that electrical or computer problem could definitely cause transmission to malfunction or just not function properly. Is that true?? & again could this all be related? What should I check next? Any ideas?? Please help thank you!!

 

Personally I would check if there is any error codes interest ecu.

 

Hi Tobie, welcome to the site.

As you can see, I started a new thread from your post on Cozqatar's thread, we don't want people to stop trying to help Cozqartar and focus on your problem. We call that thread jacking.

It sounds to me like you have mulitple issues, some of which you let get bad and now all of them is clouding your main problem of NO START. The '00 model of the S70 car has a history of ETM problems. Have you ever had your Electronic Throttle Module changed/replaced?

Other than that, your car door lock issue would not have anything to do with your transmission not shifting correctly. I have read on other forums with different types of cars where people had 2 or 3 transmissions replaced before the car even had 20,000 miles and was 3 years old. So it is very possible that you now have a bad transmission in a 12 year old car, especially if the transmission has been neglected and not serviced during the life of the car. I would say, you have a bad transmission. Did you checked the fluid level before the car failed to start and drive? You can not properly check it with it not running so it's to late to do now, unless you get the car running and drive it for 30 minutes to properly heat it up.

It would be best if you took the car to a garage (have it towed) to have it properly diagnosed. From the looks of your post and possible amount of issues that car has, I don't think you'll be able to get the help you'll need here.

 

hello cozqtar I want to apologize, in no way was i trying to "thread jack" my sincerest apologies!! it just so happened I was googling Volvo repair help & re problems i was having...& found this site & your thread...I just thought you might have an idea because sounded like other than the transmission issue you were having similar problems. Again my sincerest apologies and thank you rspi for starting a new thread...this was my my first time logging in or posting...again my sincerest apologies!! and Thank you

 

rspi....thank you for your advice... i was planning on taking it to get diagnosed because of the amount of problems its having... I havent neglected the car at all, actually just purchased the vehicle about a year ago! on the surface vehicle seemed to be very well maintained but there were some minor issues found just after purchasing it, and since problems have begun to pile up!! Thank you again

 

Hey Tobie, I didn't think you meant any harm in any way, just trying to get you on the right track.

These cars are very good at hiding neglect. They look real good but can have many hidden problems which take a while to sort out since Volvo's do and can run with several problems.

Form the look at your post I got the impression that you were not real handy around cars and that being said, when they (the cars) have multiple problems it usually takes a pro to sort out the major ones, like a bad electronic throttle control.

The best thing about these cars is that they look so good as they age. As for the mechanics, it does take a lot to keep them up and those that love'em know how to work on them. Those that don't know how to work on them pay a good price to keep them on the road.