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Intermittent electrical failures on 1998 V70 V70-XC70 1998

posted by  someone claiming to be Borko on  Sat Apr 20 15:16 CST 2024 [RELATED]

At times the signal lights, headlights and brake lights will not work.
Then when I stop and continue later, it will all be normal until the next time.
Battery is new. Alternator keeps putting out 13.6 volts and the engine always runs fine. Could it be the ignition switch?








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    Intermittent electrical failures on 1998 V70 V70-XC70 1998

    posted by  james_a_sousa on  Mon May 6 14:46 CST 2024
    Author: [PROFILE] [EVERY POST] [THREADS] [BEST POSTS] RSS Feed     [IGNORE ALL POSTS]
    last visit: Thu Oct 23 18:51 CST 2014
    [RELATED]

    Personally, I would go to a dealer.

    Are all the items that act up related to the ignition switch? For example - parking lamps or 4 way flashers are not. If when the problem happens, wiggle the key or turn it back to the accessory position.

    Does your car have an old-fashioned key? Does anyone who drives the car have a bunch of junk on their key ring? Damaging expensive ignition switches with heavy key chains was a thing about 15 years ago.

    My wife had a heavy key chain and if she braked hard, the swinging keys would shut her VW 411 off!!!!

    Do a search for faulty ignition switch on this board or on the web..

    The electrical part of a key switch is not hard to replace - perhaps taking it out and looking at it might be worth the time,

    Multiple and intermittent electrical issues related to wiring are not common. These type of issues point to the ignition switch or primary wiring like battery cables,

    If there is a an auxiliary, small wire on the positive battery cable, look for corrosion and give it a good pull - it might break away! This happened to ou '90 744 TI - the wire was so corroded, it just came apart







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    Intermittent electrical failures on 1998 V70 V70-XC70 1998

    posted by  machine man on  Sat Apr 20 20:12 CST 2024
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    last visit: Wed Oct 22 15:40 CST 2014
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    Hi,

    For me I like BB’s response but staring at manuals can only help find locations of components or where grounds are for them.

    With so many things at once so it appears to be a bad ground on a controller box or even power to it.

    Look for something like that in a good manual and use your past instincts with eyeballs from there.

    When you can work on identifying dirty conditions, it’s those, that will be leading you think it’s poor maintenance and help develop a plan of action.

    Phil








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      Intermittent electrical failures on 1998 V70 V70-XC70 1998

      posted by  someone claiming to be Borko on  Sun Apr 21 08:51 CST 2024 [RELATED]

      What do you mean by "Controller box" ?
      Box with fuses and relays?







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        Intermittent electrical failures on 1998 V70 V70-XC70 1998

        posted by  machine man on  Sun Apr 21 22:52 CST 2024
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        last visit: Wed Oct 22 15:40 CST 2014
        [RELATED]

        Hi,

        You asked “What do you mean by "Controller box" ?

        It is considered a function controller or even a monitoring box.
        On many newer cars they are referred to as “black boxes” because things unknown relates to being in obscurity. A mystery gift or grab bag that surprises!

        In many cases of the automotive world a black box is a computer or code box and it sends signals to several components.
        No separate wiring feeding around as they go right down the power wires to a receiver in the component.

        If you need some more explanation as I did, it boils down to an acronym CANbus and decoders.

        This started coming out in RAM vehicles just about the time your car was manufactured.
        GM and Chrysler sniff around all kinds of vendors with gimmicks to sell from both sides of both ponds.
        Global sourcing has never been a new thing but it is a lot larger than most can imagine.

        Since you said it was a lighting of directional signals and headlights being HID. (high-intensity discharge)
        Then there the newest replacements LED. (Light emitting diode)

        I was also thinking that maybe you have changed out bulbs somewhere in the past?
        Headlights or taillights?
        Maybe a conflict with Crossover conversions numbers.

        9003 is the same as H4
        9008 is the same as H13
        9145 is the same as H10
        HB2 is the same as H4
        HB1 is the same as 9004
        HB3 is the same as 9005
        HB4 is the same as 9006
        HB5 is the same as 9007
        800 is the same as 880

        Every once in a while I will see headlights in my rear view mirrors where a car lights will be swirling tiny circles or shaking. They are usually of bright white intensity or more bluish than normal.
        At first I thought a strobe or emergency traffic control vehicles.
        It’s weird how the mirrors show it to me but when they are driving on by they look steady.
        That is looking onto them with eyeballs and no mirror.

        I right it off as to junk aftermarket bulbs.
        Seems that every “mother’s uncle” is selling stuff made in China with spins of various power or luminosity ratings all over the place.

        Some to consider while isolating a cause.

        Phil

        Phil







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          Intermittent electrical failures on 1998 V70 V70-XC70 1998

          posted by  someone claiming to be Borko on  Mon Apr 22 07:27 CST 2024 [RELATED]

          Thanks for great feedback. I appreciate it. I took a look at the "controller box".
          I noticed the "Light control relay" 35 23 200 was there. I opened it up, carefully to look at it under microscope, for hairline cracks. Something I found useful when I owned Bricks (240, 740, 940) over the years. Fuel relay on those cars was notorious for misbehaving due to poor solder joins.
          I put the light control relay back. Now I have signal lights, but still no headlights. I can bring 12V directly to my low beam bulbs and they both work.
          So bulbs are OK. I had them for few years and never had issues.
          Interesting thing is, if I pull on the high beam lever I get high beams for as long as I'm holding the lever. Once I let go of it, high beams go out.
          To answer your question I haven't replaced any light bulbs in few years.
          I wonder if my problem is with the light switch...
          Can I test it, other than by substitution?
          p.s. On my other Volvos if I put in the wrong type light bulb the "Bulb failure" indicator would light up on the dash. Yes, it's a jungle out there when it comes to parts from other countries. I learned the hard way never to buy any oxygen sensor other than Bosch.








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    Get the right Volvo wiring diagram to fix wiring issues V70-XC70 1998

    posted by  B.B. on  Sat Apr 20 19:45 CST 2024
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    last visit: Mon Oct 6 13:15 CST 2014
    [RELATED]

    Hi Borko,

    Find the Volvo Greenbook wiring manual TP3932202 for your car.
    I don't have it here. I found the manual # you want, now you find the manual.

    I spent 18 months finding the right book for my 1994 945T. It suddenly
    showed up at Ebay. I never found it on-line, but did find plenty of crappy
    Google proxy sites that offered unknown manuals for $$$.
    You're sunk fixing wiring issues without TP3932202. There's a lot of
    manuals for free on-line, but the sleazy search engine monopoly wants to
    send you to their proxy sites for $$$. Give a try, get lucky and surprise everyone by posting back with a valid link to the manual. Maybe someone
    can chime in with a good link?

    In the meantime I'd suggest that you service the battery terminals.
    Including taking all the piggyback wires off the positive terminal,
    shining them up with a small wire brush and reinstall using conductive grease such as copper anti seize or Penetrox-A.

    Loose battery connections might cause that problem.

    If that doesn't work provide a link to your manual and I'll try to help you.

    Post back with what you do to solve the problem.

    Good luck, Bill







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