I drove my 1998 v70 xc home with zero problems or concerns, except the "service" light was coming on and off. After arriving home, my wife took the it for a 10 minute drive. When she was pulling into our driveway the hazard lights came on and now it won't start. Super appreciatively, Scott

 

The "service" light is just a reminder the get the car serviced. Every 5k miles. The "check engine" light is another story. Which one is it?

 

A lot of people bump the hazards on when they put the car in park when they first get the car. I still do it every once in a while.

Why didn't it start? You didn't leave the hazards on until the battery drained, did you?

 

Service light only comes on for the first 2 minutes after you start the car.

 

No, the hazard button did not get depressed . . .this time, it has happened before though. The engine light is on steady, the previous owner said that it was due to melted vac hoses. No, the hazards were only on for a couple minutes and then I disconeccted the battery. Now, when I reconnect the battery 2 things: hazrds are on and ignition is unresponsive.

 

installed new battery, checked for codes . . . no codes. If the battery is connected then the hazards are on and cannot be turned off AND yet the ignition will not engage the engine (as if the starter was disconnected). I thoroughly test drove it and then drove the 50 miles home. Now this . . . I am 100% bummed !!

 

The alarm is going off. You have to use the remote to disarm it or lock and unlock the door to turn the alarm off.

What probably happened is that your wife used the remote to lock the car while she was in it, which set the alarm. Then she got out and tripped the alarm, thus the flashing lights. Then, you guys never locked and unlocked the car with the key or remote before removing the battery, so the alarm never reset. And everytime you connected the battery it just went off again because it was never reset.

It's common for the alarm horn at the firewall under the hood to be messed up. Sometimes they are not screwed together properly and make no sound.

 

Actually, this is not even funny anymore. It happens over and over again, probably once per month.

Here is the deal:

1. All Volvo's built after '94 have a security system built-in. Some may have been disabled but they all had one. The way you can tell the alarm is working is the little red light on the dash. If it fashes or stays solid red, it is still working.
2. If you trip the alarm it will stop the car from starting, this is called an imobilizer. Also, the light on the dash will turn solid red. Also, the flashers will blink. Also the alarm horn will beep off and on.
3. Some of the alarm horns are defective. They have a **** or nut on the tip of them that comes loose and stops them from making the beeping sound. So, if the horn doesn't sound you may not know that your alarm is going off.

I have read where people have had their cars for months or even longer than a year without knowing about the alarm system. Some people have left their cars places and some have had it towed for lack of knowledge of the alarm system.

So, it would be a good idea to check your alarm in your car to make sure it works properly and the alarm horn will sound properly. The picture below will show you where the alarm horn is.

 

It is very easy to test your alarm.

1. Roll down the drivers side window.
2. Turn the car off.
3. Get out of the car.
4. Lock the car.
5. After 2 minutes, reach in the car, unlock it, and open the door.
6. The alarm will be triggered.
   - Flashers will flash.
   - Horn will beep off and on.
   - Car will not start.
7. Reset/turn the alarm off by unlocking the car with the remote or with the key.

If something doesn't work right, get it fixed.

 

Funny.. I never noticed that red flashing light. I just went out to my s70 and yep it's flashing!! do you know if you can get replacement remote?? when I bought my Volvo it did not come with it.

 

Just curious if you figured this out. This happened to my 1999 V70 XC and I know it's not the alarm—I can set that off. I'd love to hear what happened to yours. Thanks!

 

Hi Luke and welcome to the site.

What are you talking about happened to your car?

 

Here's a link to a thread I wrote on JustAnswer.

ra - es - JustAnswer

That pretty much describes it but here is my original post that started the string:

I have a 1999 Volvo V70 XC that has died. It was running VERY rough and the check engine light was on. Code said cylinder 4 misfire. Checked the compression end all of them were close to each other but Cyl. 4 had zero compression. Put some oil in through the spark plug hole and tried again...no change. I tried to drive it somewhere the next day and it made it about 1/2 mile and lost power, flashers started flashing and it died...never to start again.

So I towed it back to my garage and there it sits. I've tried to start it and it turns over but never fires. Flashers are on and when I push the button in (which normally turns them on) the flashers turn off. The alarm horn works fine so I know it's not an accidental "silent alarm" immobilizer. One note, when I checked the compression I had all of the plugs out at the same time. Could this have caused it to go out of timing? I can't imagine how but this has the CVVT solenoid which is a complete mystery to me. It doesn't make sense that it drove for a while though if that's the case. I undid the battery to turn the hazards off originally so right now it's not throwing any codes.

Anyway, before it died I was going to remove the head and check the valves but now I'm wondering if I will need to replace the engine or if there's something incredibly simple that I'm missing. The fact that the flashers are doing what there doing is puzzling me as well and I can't find any info online about why this might be doing that.

Any advice would be appreciated—THANKS!