Questioni have a 2000 volvo S80 2.9, I tried to start my car this morning and the car would not unlock wiht my remote on my keychain, so i opend the door manually and tried to start it, nothing happened, AT ALL. No lights went on, the engine didnt start, it was like i wasnt touching the car because turning the ignition had no effect. then i tried to jump my car later, and the lights would turn on inside this time, but when i tried to start it, it made like a clicking noise in the engine and also made a weird beeping siren type noise and wouldn't start, although the car was on. i don't know what to do, if it's the battery, if i need a new one or if its something wrong with some part of my car, please help!!
AnswerThe siren will go off if its disconnected from the battery, so if the car was hooked up to jumper cables with a dead battery and then the cables were disconnected, the alarm would go off. It will go for a few minutes or until the siren runs out of power. The battery IS dead now. It could be dead because of 1 of 3 reasons.
1. The battery itself is bad and it can't hold a charge any more. Solution: replace the battery.
2. The alternator is no longer charging. So the car is running off of the battery power instead of the alternator until the battery is eventually dead. Solution: replace the alternator and recharge the battery.
3. There is a parasitic drain on the battery when the car is off. This would be like if you left a light on inside. Some times a light will stay on, a audio component will be shorted, etc. This is the most difficult one to find and the last one to check for because 1 and 2 are more likely scenarios. Solution: find the short and recharge the battery.
Your best bet is to take it to any shop and have them evaluate your car to find the problem. YOu know what it could be now but only after diagnosing your car could someone say exactly which one it is.
James
