I had to pick my wife up 1 1/2 away from our home because the 98 V70 died. It looked like one of the kids had a light on and drained down the battery. So I jumped the battery and let it run for a couple of minutes before driving back. When we came out to the car it was dead again. So I jumped it again and drove for 5 miles until coming up on bumper to bumper traffic and the car died again. I jumped it one more time and drove home without hitting the brakes (mostly highway drive) or using any turn signals or radio. My thoughts are the alternator is bad or there are electrical gremlins (short) in the system. Are there any trouble areas to check? Would the diagnostic computer show error codes for this problem if it was the alternator? The car finally dies in the dealer's lot. I just want to know what may be areas to check before the surgery to my wallet begins at the dealer tomorrow.

Thanks

You may just have a shorted battery, i.e., 1 or more cells have an internal short. This happened to me recently with my truck and a few years ago with a our V70. Almost Identical senario as yours. I'd take it in to a local parts store and ask them to check it out.

Thanks for info. I did have some corosion on the positive terminal and not sure if that is any sign of the battery going bad. I'll get the diagnosis up on this post once I find out.

start with the basics...if the alternator was bad then it would only run for a short time then stop by itself as there would be no power for the electrical system, also the charge light would stay on the dash.
if the car is dead then you jump it and its ok until next time you turn it off then the problem is almost always a dud battery, check you battery if its over 4 years old then replace it regardless, otherwise get the battery checked.
good luck.

steve.

The final diagnosis is there was a bad cell in the battery that caused it to short the car. the good news is it was just a battery the bad news was I had the dealer replace it for $200 (battery plus tech time to check codes, etc.)

The tech told me the alternator cannot pump enough amps to run the system when at idle or a stop. The car would die at stop lights or when I ran the turn signals. Apparently the computers on the car that run the engine, abs, etc draw too much to keep the car alive even when you jump start the car.