My friend here at school has a volvo problem and I was wondering if anyone would have any advice or suggestions on what happened and what could possibly be done to correct the situation.

My friend owns a 99 s70 volvo, which she told me wasnt able to start and was making clicking noises when she was trying to start it. So I figure her battery is dead and I go over to jump her battery. Well we had to push the car out of the parking spot in order to reach the battery under the hood in her car, this is were I think the problem was caused. I told her to turn the ignition on and to place the the automatic transmission in netural where we coudl get to the hood. Well she couldn't figure it out almost like it was locked in place she said. So a friend of her's gets in and I tell him to place his foot on the brake and then try. I am not all sure exactly what he did, but he managed to place the gearbox in netural. We get the car jumped and I tell her to go drive around alittle so that the battery can gain a charge alittle more. When she comes back she says to me that the car is having a hard time accelerating and that both the check engine light and overdrive-( I think, not sure exactly ) lights are on and flashing. I told her I wasn't sure what was wrong and that I would contact a guy in town I know that works on volvos. So today she takes it in and have the computer checked on it. She told me that the mechanic said the codes were not matching up and that he had tried several times to reset them. I have never messed with volvos nor heard of any problems like this one. I have looked around on here to see if there was anything like the situation described here but didnt find anything. I am new hear and any help, advice or anything I did wrong would be helpful. Thanks

 

Im not sure what he did either. But it sounds like the car is starting out in 3rd gear. Which is normal when there is a fault in the transmission.Is everything fine with the shifter assy?Something doesnt make sense.The check engine light will come on if there is a fault in the trans. Is there any way you can find out the codes for me?The codes in the transmission will have to be cleared first before the trans codes will clear.You didn't accidently hook the cables up backwards?See if you can get me any more info.

 

Today I went down to the place were she took the car, and spoke to the gentleman working on the car. He told me one of the computers is fried and would have to be replaced. He told me that the cheapest one he could fine was a used one down in austin, tx for $300 plus shiping. He also said he had another computer out of a car just like hers that he coudl try but was afraid it would blow as well. So now I am beginning to really worry if I did something to this girls car and if I need to fork out the 300+ dollars for a new computer for her. I am almost dead certain that when I jumped her car I had the cables on correctly with red on red and black on black. It jumped fine and I had told her to go drive around for a while and I would go get a battery charger from a friend I knew. When she got back she told me that the car wasnt accelerating all that well and that the check engine light was on and that the overdrive ligh ( I think, not positive ) was flashing. I told her I wasnt sure what happened. So we parked the car and I but the charger on it for about 2 hours. If I didnt something wrong someone please tell me for I fear I may have seriously messed up this girls car. As far as the codes go I am not sure which ones came out. I am sort of the middle man here and I have only spoken to the mechanic twice. I am just curious as to what I should do and say. The car is still driveable to some extent but not where you would want to drive it anywhere out of town. I myself have not driven the car or really seen any of the warings lights so to say that are coming on. I am just curious as to what might have happened and if there is anything in the future that I need not to be doing. Thanks Nathan

 

Some times these cars wack out when they are jumped started.Try to get some more info out the mechanic.Is it the trans computer or the ecm (engine control module).Ask him if you can get a copy of the codes then i will try to help you a little more.I know these cars pretty good and something sounds fishy!!! I dont doubt that a module might be fried but it doesn't happen often enough.Is it a Volvo dealer or little shop?After market scan tools dont always work on the 99 and up cars.Also if he replaces the module it will have to have software installed into it to activate it.The 99 and up vehicles are diag. with a pc based scan tool system.Another thing that can be tried is to disconnect the battery and leave for about 20 min than connect again and see if the same thing happens again.

 

After I get out of classes tomorrow I will go over and try and get the codes from the mechanic. The shop is alittle place down on the other side of town that I saw had a bunch of volvos on the lot, so I figured he had some experience and knowedge about the cars. I live in searcy, ar so its the closest thing we have here to a volvo specialist other than driving to little rock and finding a dealer. Even then I dont know if her car would make the trip down there. I havent driven it or seen exactly whats all going on. I just met her like a few days ago and am trying to get her car back in running order. I work on cars some, but mainly older cars which dont have all this fancy computer stuff equipped on them. I'll try and head over there around 3 or 4 friday afternoon and try and get you those codes back asap. He told me today that he was going to work on it somemore firday so maybe he will have some news on whats going on. I let you know the updates when they come in. Thanks for all your help tech, as I am newbie to volvos and this forum. Thanks again