Volvo Repair: Volvo S70 99 completely dead, daytime running lights, volvo dealership

Question
Hi there,

So, I went on vacation for 3 weeks and came back to find my volvo s70 '99 completely dead in the water.  We thought it just needed a jumpstart and so I was told to keep the car running for 30-45 min. so I drove it, unfortunately with the radio on.  As soon as I shut off the radio, the car went dead, in the middle of the highway!  Got the car towed to a volvo dealership and they jumpstarted me again and told me to just keep everything off.  Did that, tried to drive home, made it within 1/2 mile of home and the car died again.  Jumpstarted the car and left it sitting, even turned off the daytime running lights and it died after about 5 min.  Battery is only 2 years old.  Spark plugs were replaced right before vacation.  There is also premium gas in the car because I was having engine issues when I tried to shut the car off it would shutter and not stop until I started and stopped it again so my mechanic told me to try premium gas to clean the engine a bit in case of mineral buildup.  What could be the problem here?  

Answer
Hello Ellaine, From the sound of it the battery has not had the chance to fully recover from the strain of 'going dead'.Two year old batteries do fail prematurly.If the car is home ,'a slow charge is the best charge'.Find a home charger,that is a 'trickle charger',Borrow one if possible.Hook it up per the directions and let it charge over-nite,it works that way to 'trickle' the electrons into the battery.Due to the on-board computers and added accessories,3 wks. of in-activity could drian a battery to 25% of capacity.Having not fully charged could be the cause.Have the Alternator ch'ed for proper operation,it may not of been keeping the battery "up" before vacation.Alternators don't really 'charge' a battery,they only maintains its present condition.Thank you and good hunting!  PKD