Electrical problems

[peixcman]

On our 2001 XC, today the car was just sitting there by itself, with no one near it and no keys in it when the defroster/heater fan turned on to high speed all by itself. We were able to turn it off by putting the keys in and turning them on and off. Also, the main brake lights don't always work. The 3rd one across the tailgate always does but the others seem to work when they want to. Any suggestions? The closest dealer is 3 hours away!

[JRL]

On our 2001 XC, today the car was just sitting there by itself, with no one near it and no keys in it when the defroster/heater fan turned on to high speed all by itself. We were able to turn it off by putting the keys in and turning them on and off. Also, the main brake lights don't always work. The 3rd one across the tailgate always does but the others seem to work when they want to. Any suggestions? The closest dealer is 3 hours away!

If you had the A/C on that is normal in 01's and 02's. Called the afterblow, it's designed to clean out the HVAC system.
Runs for about 40 minutes after you shut it off. It usually comes on a few minutes after you leave the car.
New car for you?
Can't help you with the lights

[peixcman]

We got it last fall, after the warm weather and yesterday was the warmest day we've had this year so far. Thanks for the advice.

[luvmy2chis]

The brake lights sounds like probably the same issue as I just had. If you look at the recall found in the resources section. It's for 02's but it describes the same problem. 1 symptom is what I had where the 2 side lights would stay on and the 3rd light would go off. The other symptom is that the light just don't work. It was the brake light switch in my car. It was under $200 to repair. A good volvo mechanic that's closer to you might be able to take of the problem, since it didn't seem to have any software updates involved with it.

[MoeB]

Peixcman, I had the same reaction you did the first time our '01 XC kicked on the afterblower. My first thought was that some electronic module must have gone haywire, but like JRL said, it's a feature not a bug.