Volvo Owners Club Forum - View Single Post - V60 D3 multiple system faults, power issue?

rbcohen · Oct 18th, 2016, 14:47

OK, so the problem has persisted and still not got to the bottom of it yet. I was holding out on taking it in to Volvo until I could find a common cause for it, and hopefully yesterday I found it. Thought I'd continue to document the issue here, and hopefully Volvo can get to the bottom of it next week.

Timeline of problems to date:

May 19th - Car jet washed. Driving along, 10 minutes after car wash, power system failure message. Battery runs flat while driving, car systems begin shutting down. AA arrive, test alternator, alternator is not providing sufficient voltage.

Alternator replaced

June 10th - Driving on motorway in heavy rain. Systems start failing and error messages on dash (power steering, brakes, parking sensors, etc), reduced performance, had to pull over. AA arrive, clear a fault code to do with the alternator and car is back to normal.

June 13th - Drive car to work (6 miles) without issue. Try to start car to leave at end of day, won't start, displays same warning messages as before. Rained during day but not that much. Suspect voltage issues, post this message on the forums.

Replace battery

September 2nd - on holiday in France. Car jet washed, driven 20 minutes back to holiday rental and left on drive. Next morning, start car and reverse it closer to house for loading suitcases for return journey. Switch car off to load. Start car, dashboard lights up with warnings as before, car won't restart. Manage to start car with jump leads (coincidence?), and then drive 400 miles to calais without issue.

October 17th - car wash. Car is jet washed, driven a few metres and parked up. Car fails to start after 10 minutes. Systems failing. AA arrive, battery "seems fine". AA technician thinks it might be the immobiliser, but only as its the first message of eight. Car starts after disconnecting battery. Lots of messages, parking brake won't release. Faults cleared, car performs as normal.

TLDR:
So, the common theme, appears to be water. Hopefully that will be what the Volvo techs look for first on diagnostics.

My only other hunch, is that the voltage readings (albeit via OBD and Torque app) are always low (12.1 - 12.3) when this has happened. Normally the reading is around 12.7 when I've checked and not had issues starting the car. But the fact that this has always happened during/after a lot of water being thrown at the car seems too coincidental.

Will report back after the diagnostics on Monday, in case this ever helps anyone else.

Oct 18th, 2016, 14:47	#18
rbcohen Junior Member Last Online: Jan 5th, 2024 14:01 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Kent	OK, so the problem has persisted and still not got to the bottom of it yet. I was holding out on taking it in to Volvo until I could find a common cause for it, and hopefully yesterday I found it. Thought I'd continue to document the issue here, and hopefully Volvo can get to the bottom of it next week. Timeline of problems to date: May 19th - Car jet washed. Driving along, 10 minutes after car wash, power system failure message. Battery runs flat while driving, car systems begin shutting down. AA arrive, test alternator, alternator is not providing sufficient voltage. Alternator replaced June 10th - Driving on motorway in heavy rain. Systems start failing and error messages on dash (power steering, brakes, parking sensors, etc), reduced performance, had to pull over. AA arrive, clear a fault code to do with the alternator and car is back to normal. June 13th - Drive car to work (6 miles) without issue. Try to start car to leave at end of day, won't start, displays same warning messages as before. Rained during day but not that much. Suspect voltage issues, post this message on the forums. Replace battery September 2nd - on holiday in France. Car jet washed, driven 20 minutes back to holiday rental and left on drive. Next morning, start car and reverse it closer to house for loading suitcases for return journey. Switch car off to load. Start car, dashboard lights up with warnings as before, car won't restart. Manage to start car with jump leads (coincidence?), and then drive 400 miles to calais without issue. October 17th - car wash. Car is jet washed, driven a few metres and parked up. Car fails to start after 10 minutes. Systems failing. AA arrive, battery "seems fine". AA technician thinks it might be the immobiliser, but only as its the first message of eight. Car starts after disconnecting battery. Lots of messages, parking brake won't release. Faults cleared, car performs as normal. TLDR: So, the common theme, appears to be water. Hopefully that will be what the Volvo techs look for first on diagnostics. My only other hunch, is that the voltage readings (albeit via OBD and Torque app) are always low (12.1 - 12.3) when this has happened. Normally the reading is around 12.7 when I've checked and not had issues starting the car. But the fact that this has always happened during/after a lot of water being thrown at the car seems too coincidental. Will report back after the diagnostics on Monday, in case this ever helps anyone else. Last edited by rbcohen; Oct 18th, 2016 at 14:49.