QuestionQUESTION: Hi,
Just bought a 1998 volvo v70 xc, 140,000 nice shape (I hope). I do not have a manual yet( I just bought it yesterday) so I'm having trouble on my own. Abs light/service light/trac light are on when I drive. When I shift to 3rd a orange arrow also comes on. The service light sometimes goes off for a while, then back on. When I press the brake, a light on left of dash (with an exclamation mark) next to the rear hatch dash light on the comes on.
the rear hatch does not work. When you pull the latch, nothing happens. But I will get to the rear door later!
Tonight while I was driving, I pushed the trac button on the dash. The abs light/ trac light/and service light went off. And then the car seemed to have abs.
I am pretty sure from reading on the web, that I need a abs module. What do you think?
Please help!
ANSWER: Nick,
The year vehicle you have is right in the area where the control units have been going out. So yes read the codes and see what they say and most times they are codes for rear wheel sensors, you clear the codes and they will come right back. That indicates a crack in the PC board of the control unit and will need replacement. Tracs and ABS share the same control unit. You can with the scan tool monitor the wheel seensors to watch the signals so you know that some are not correct. They will vary a wide range while driving and watching.
Service light is a mileage counter about 5K. The light must be reset with a scan tool. The light works on a timer and goes out after 2 minutes.
Anytime the shifter is in any other forward gear beside "D" the arrow is on as a warning.
Pushing the brake a light lights most likely a bulb out indication or a mismatched set of bulbs. Check all brake lights. If say both bulbs on the rear left and right do not have the same bulbs they do not draw the same current and will turn on the bulb out light.
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QUESTION: Is the only place to find a code reader or scan tool monitor at the dealer?
If the trac light is on, do I have all wheel drive? What I'm getting at is, can I keep driving it "safely" until I have enough dough to fix it?
AnswerNick,
If there is a good Volvo repair shop they also should have the proper scan tools. Since they specialize in a certain type of vehicle you have the special tools. You can use a generic scan tool, but will get the generic codes that sometimes are not as accurate as the manufacturer codes. Also most generic readers can not reset the service light.
The XC model is always in a form of all wheel drive. Tracs is traction control. That is when the control unit "sees" wheel spin and applies the brake to slow that wheel so the other can pull. That system operates the front wheel spin.
When the ABS/Tracs light is on that means the system itself is not in operation and has fault. The vehicle operates as if it did not have ABS/Tracs. It can be driven.
