XC90 18MY T8 Strange Issue

[dblogic]

Wonder if anyone else has had or seen this issue -

At the completion of charging especially from a low battery level (so charge time of > 1.5hr) the air con compressor and main radiator fan start up and don't shut off and results in the obvious noise and frosted white pipework.

Additional info -

• The only way to stop it is to start the car and stop it again when it instantly stops. Plugging the cable back in BEFORE the car has done it's 10min shutdown usually starts it again. Waiting the 10 mins for shutdown and reconnecting is usually then fine.
• The internal fans aren't running just the compressor and rad fan.
• Unplugging the charge cable doesn't stop it.
• It happens on both my home and office charge points (Rolec 32amp type 2 - but obviously the car only takes 16amps)
• Not sure when it first started but the car had a full software update at the start of Nov at it's first service and another one 3 weeks later when the steering wheel buttons cable was replaced. It was the day after this that I first noticed it when I arrived home (in a different car) to find it making the noise. That was some 7 hours after it was parked and put on charge so the A/C had been running over 4 hours! It may have been happening since the service but I started pre-conditioning again around that time so the preheater was always making noise when I went out in the morning so could have masked the A/C noise.
• The dealer says there are no logged faults and can't seem to reproduce - luckily I took photos and video of the iced up A/C.
• The car has been supposedly remotely checked by Volvo UK and factory but say there is no fault showing but when questioned as to what any data logs show they don't / won't provide any answers back to the dealer! I can't believe that fully battery temp, system logs aren't being created if for no other reason to check battery warranty etc.
• There was a small update released last week for the charging system which was applied yesterday (again Volvo won't give any details as to what it was to fix) but again it went wrong last night.
• During charging the hybrid cooling fan (the one behind the offside "spotlight grill") operates as normal cutting in and out as needed and I don't recall the A/C ever running during charging (ie additional cooling) although the dealer says it could do.

Anyone any further ideas as having to keep going out to keep checking it's OK, especially on wet cold nights is not what I had in mind when I bought the car

Thanks
Dave

[MaDProFF]

Hi

I have not checked anything like that, although there are noises like fans etc. it makes when I plug the lead in, which I find odd, as it is on a schedule charge time, hours later. If the AC pipes are frozen does that not mean it has been running? so does it run when the batteries are being charged?

Charge time of 1.5 hours to me also means batteries were not that low before charge as mine takes at least 2.5 to 2.75 hours to fully charge for emepty to full on my pod point charger.

My main question is:-

"There was a small update released last week for the charging system which was applied yesterday (again Volvo won't give any details as to what it was to fix) but again it went wrong last night."

How was that applied??? At the dealer?

Oddly enough last night I went to turn the Parking climate on in the VOC and it said my "car was in use" which I did not understand as I had not used it for 30 odd hours. I also noticed that the full charge range was a lot lower than normal, and I double checked to see if I had left the ignition on.

[dblogic]

Yes the A/C is running (along with the main radiator fan) - hence the frozen pipes but no internal fans (so not trying to cool the interior). I don't believe it is actually cooling anything hence the frosting up. It only starts running though at the moment the charging is finished not during charging.

The separate hybrid cooling fan and radiator does run whilst charging and also I've noticed after arriving home having used the batteries. This is located behind the lower grill on the offside where the fog light would be (hence no fog lights on a T8) and is, I believe, the main hybrid cooling system so if the batteries are hot from powering the car it does run on after stopping.

Yes normal charge time is around the 2.5 hrs from empty and this problem only seems to happen if the starting charge level is low that that charging time is greater than 1.5hrs. The charging time to charge level isn't linear, the first 50% of charge is a lot quicker and then the charge rate slows down.

Yes it was dealer applied yesterday and was only small (took less than 12 mins).

I have noticed in the past few days that the Range (distance on battery) drops quicker than the bar charge level. Range starts at 21miles and I've been down to 10miles with the bars still above 75%. I've put this down to how it's predicting usage taking into account additional seat/wheel heating usage perhaps?

Dealer is now chasing Volvo again but I'm hoping that others may have had similar issue or may have additional insight

Thanks
Dave