General: New S80 owner, few questions/issues...

[ma70]

Hi all, we've just arrived back from collecting our "cheap" S80. It's an '06 plate 2.4 D5 SE Lux, manual with 190k. Former private hire vehicle I believe from Scotland. Anyway, I feel the £695 we paid is bloody reasonable considering the overall condition of the car. There's a couple of tiny dings on the bodywork but nothing you'd notice and a scrape on the rear bumper from luggage. Mechanically it all feels pretty well sound and drives as smooth & quietly as I'd expect from something with half the mileage.

There are a few issues with the car though, which I knew about prior to purchase but I feel competent enough to work with. The driver's door is completely "dead" electrically, no lock/window or mirror controls and the car "sees" the door as always open. My thinking here is a main power feed has fatigued so hoping for a simple fix there.

Also, and here's where I have the main questions, there's an issue with the power steering where the level of assistance varies or "pulses". If it has variable assistance like the XC90 I believe it's likely a sticking solenoid in the rack. Am I on the right track here or is the system totally different on the S80 and what else might it be?

The other question I have is regarding the NAV system which refuses to come up out of the dash. Could this be related to a dead HU850 head unit (which we do have!) or am I missing something with how to raise the display? I've changed the batteries in the remote and pressed/held/double pressed the power/back button but no response.

On the same subject, are the stereo and NAV on a common fuse that may be blown/missing? Not got a handbook or manual yet but will be looking for one shortly, until then I'm throwing myself on the mercy of more knowledgeable forum members (and going out the check the fuseboxes myself in a sec!)

Any help or suggestions would be most gratefully received, thanks.

Dan & Emma

[ma70]

Well I'm pleased to report that the dead door electrics are fixed. Seems it's had a new window regulator in the not too distant past & when they fitted it they omitted one rivet that allowed the mechanism to move enough that the window derailed, knocked the green plug off the switch pack and then got taped up.

Now with a nut & bolt in place (couldn't find my rivet gun, even though the rivet was waiting patiently in the door shell!) and connected back up we have a fully functional locking/alarm/windows/mirrors and external temperature display.

If only I believed the stereo and NAV system were going to be such easy fixes... Any clues on these not working anyone please?

[ma70]

Nobody got any ideas whether a failed stereo (HU850) would cause the nav screen to not function also?

I've had a further play today removing some of the minicab radio/camera wiring and found a couple of missing fuses in the dash, kick panel and rear fuse boxes, including two for the radio system, now we get it to switch on and respond to controls but no sound, just the occasional click of static so I'm guessing that this combined with a burned looking area of the main HU board around 2 small transistors(?) and an IC mean we need a repair or replace/code on the unit. Perhaps there's further fuses missing that would wake up the nav system? Not sure if this would be relevant but I found the AUX socket fuse blown and have not yet replaced it?

Had an interesting moment when I went to start the engine after doing this and it point blank refused to fire. I worried for a minute it was something I'd done while removing some of the additional wiring. Fortunately I'd not half an hour previously been reading some threads regarding the shape of the fuel tank and it's pump arrangement, this coupled with the groaning sound from the back of the car prompted me to dump a couple of gallons fresh diesel in & hey presto! She was showing 71 miles to empty, and the gauge was higher (well, less low!) than when we test drove so it's a big thanks to this forum that I didn't spend all afternoon chasing imaginary wiring issues rather than adding go juice.

So, another job to the list. Either attend to the balancing pipework or remember to keep half a tank in future.

[ma70]

Further progress, had a go reflowing the problem joints on the stereo unit & it's getting better. (It worked for a couple of minutes whereas it never did before).

I need to get a finer tip on my iron as the 4mm blade is definitely NOT the tool of choice for SMD components but I feel at least semi-confident at making a fix. Having heard the sound I don't even mind if it's a yearly "maintenance" thing, it is a pretty sweet stereo I will admit.

It didn't help the sat nav any though so there's more fettling afoot before the screen shows it's face. Never mind, baby steps...

[ma70]

Hmm, can't edit the last post now. Next bit of progress is I've re-reflowed the IC's next to the tuner/IF cans, and a couple of resistors on the underside of the main board, and now the stereo seems to be dead for the first couple of minutes (still doing it's "click......click" thing even when switched off) but then the clicking stops and next time it's powered on it works.

Still definitely made a hack job of the soldering due to my tip size but it'll do for the moment & the sound quality is good enough that I'd seriously consider the same unit again if this one dies permanently. As I said before, baby steps. Next point of call the sat nav.

(I need to replace the brake fluid, a CV joint and top up the AC soon too. Not to mention a full service and looking into the variable steering assistance but these jobs all require some spending & that unfortunately is out of the question until next week).