no start & "service lite" blinking
 

98 S70 285000miles. Has been running excellent. Temp here in NW MN dropped to -20f. Cranks fine, no start. and the service light is now blinking. I have always had the service light come on for a short time and then go off after driving a little while, but I have never seen it blink. Towed it into a warm garage and after charging the battery it started right up. Thinking everything was OK I drove it out into the cold to let it run a while. Within 10 minutes of running it just shut down, will crank, but no start. and like I said the service light is blinking. I plan to drag it back into the shop to see if it starts again after warming it up, but has anyone ever had these issues?

The easy first....

The service light is only for the oil change/maintenance. When you change the oil you reset it. Turn the key to position 1. Press and hold in the odometer reset button and turn the key to position 2 (do not start the car). The service light will start to blink after severalk seconds (I think 5 seconds). Let go of the odometer reset after the 3rd blink but before the 4th blink. (this works for the 2000 S70).

Your starting problem is likely the cold fuel. Get some fuel treatment (dry gas). It will remove moisture and help with the fuel thickening problem. I am sure that most any parts place (like Autozone) in MN will have this on hand. You guys get sreiously cold.

My father had a VW diesel that stalled in the middle of the road while he was driving it. The dealer told him to put the treatment in - end of problem. Seems fuel gets slushy at those temperatures. If you have the original fuel pump you want the gas to flow or the pump will eventually fail trying topump the thickened fuel.