C70: 2008 lemon

[Robbijay]

Originally Posted by noosachic

The car has just now done 18,000 km - no warning light to say it needed a service at 15,000 km. Having done one at 5,000 km I remembered it needed to be done every 15,000 km, and didn't check the service book. But again, wrongly assumed the car would give me a message to say it needed a service. My Volvo manual says it will.

What are you're service intervals then? if they're 18k (mine are)and you got it serviced at 5k then surely you shouldn't expect it to warn you until 23k? Definitley sounds like you've got a lemon though.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by noosachic

No warning light came on re oil pressure. I raised this with the dealership and was told the light would only come on when the car was out of oil. That kind of defeats the point of having warnings doesn't it? I mean, if I'm out of oil the engine is going to seize. How soon before that happens are you supposed to be warned for goodness sakes? I have owned 20 year old cars that had gauges that showed oil pressure and you could see immediately if you had a problem, before it became a catastrophe.

Likewise, the car has just now done 18,000 km - no warning light to say it needed a service at 15,000 km. Having done one at 5,000 km I remembered it needed to be done every 15,000 km, and didn't check the service book. But again, wrongly assumed the car would give me a message to say it needed a service. My Volvo manual says it will. It didn't.

.

Regarding oil level . There IS an oil level warning sensor in the sump assuming it is a volvo 5 cylinder , but it is heavily damped so that it can work properly with a running engine , so will not react fast enough if you suddenly loose all oil from accidental damage. after hearing a bang and seeing smoke one would assume you stop to check things out before damage is caused .

There is an oil pressure light and it is checked everytime you put the ignition on just like in any other car , and it has no delay maybe there was still some oil pressure in the system keeping it off which is good news for when the sump is repaired !.


Traditional cruise control only works the throttle and if you have high geared auto or manual which todays cars have , such as doing less than 2000 rpm at 70 mph
there is no way sufficient engine braking is available with that gearing on a moderate slope to slow you when the cruise has the throttle shut ..

The latest adaptive cruise control on volvos WILL do what you want however ...


The Service indicator WILL warn you when the next service is due , but it seems the garage have not set it up correctly get them to check or adjust the settings of it and explain it to you .


regarding other issues you really must try one of their demonstrators to determine if your car is faulty or not regarding steering and brakes , C70 brakes are huge and powerful the discs and calipers are the largest of the C30 / V50 / S40 range

[the alarming man]

Originally Posted by Blue 8

Mine does, set my 854 at 70mph and with in a couple mph that's where is will stay, Ive never used it long term up or down hills so can not comment about self braking, it might i dont know never taken any notice really , all i know is i set it and that's where it stays, i use it really for road works and the likes, inc both up and down inclines but to my knowledge its very good, my old mondeo ghia x and BMW was the same

yep my old vectra was the same you set it and there it sat....good job really as it was quite fast for a diesel

[foggyjames]

I think you need to separate the geniune issues from the ones that, frankly, anyone who knows a bit about cars is not going to take seriously.

Your sump issue...it's foul luck, but it's really, really not Volvo's fault. The overwhelming majority of cars have neither oil pressure gauges, nor oil level indicators. If the oil pressure light didn't come on, you couldn't have run out of oil, and no damage will have been done. Hopefully, a new sump pan will see you back to where you started. With most engines, a few moments of low oil pressure isn't going to do much damage. You've got enough time to (quickly) coast to a safe halt in neutral.

It's hard to say whether or not your cruise control concerns are a true problem without knowing the terrain in question. I know of several hills where conventional cruise control (with only engine braking to help slow the car) will not be able to keep to the target speed. If, on the other hand the car is running away on a gentle slope, that does suggest something isn't right. Either way, only the driver has responsibility for avoiding speeding tickets...

The braking and steering problems do sound concerning, and I hope you have better luck with convincing Volvo to sort those out. However, it would probably help your case if you were to drop the thing(s?) that really isn't/aren't their problem...

cheers

James

[noosachic]

Thanks y'all for your replies.

@robbijay1 - service intervals are 15,000km. The 5,000km one was a "run in" service that the dealer recommended I do. They just advised me I should have brought it in for 15,000km.

@clan - I was on a country road in the pitch dark, no street lights, no moon. Thankfully one thing they did get right was put headlights at the front of the car. But that means I can't see out the arse at the same time. No other cars on the road until 4wd pulled in behind me. THEN - ah ha - I saw in his headlights the smoke chugging out of my back end and pulled over immediately. Oil had been flowing out of the sump and when I stopped, it emptied. I was doing 100km at the time, so it actually came out slower than it would have at slower speed. Fire brigade said I had only 1-2 minutes more and it would have burst into flames. My saving grace was the 4WD behind me. (Now of course I wish the bastard lemon had blown up - after I bolted from it.)

Also, don't tend to use or need cruise control for town driving, but it holds speed on a flat no worries. The issue I am having is with holding speed on an extended incline or decline (regardless of degree) during highway driving at 100km/hr and above.

My experience of all other cars with cruise control on these very same stretches of the same road is that if the cruise is on, the speed is maintained within 2km per hour. The rental car I am driving now does just that, and the loaner cars from Volvo during previous repairs did.

The point about the warning indicator (service, oil etc) is that the onboard computer still isn't working. It has had two or three fixes now. I'm starting to lose count.

re the brakes - I reckon I've driven more demonstrator models from the dealership than anyone else. Think I'm up to five different cars over seven or nine repair visits (not including this one as 1. it is an insurance job for the sump and 2. they didn't give me a loaner). Had a nice XC90 the other day and it drove beautifully. The other C70s from the dealership did not have a brake problem, although the silver C70 did groan with low speed steering - but it didn't have the loose feeling mine does.

@blue8 - as it should be!

@ foggyjames - thanks and yes, as per bernard333 said yesterday. I have made it irrelevant in my conversations with Volvo - but it remains questionable in my mind.

@4wheeldriver - thanks. Interesting story of your own I see and sad ending. Why are car companies so stupid with their handling of these kinds of issues?

I have to say thanks to all for your time and expertise. You have helped to confirm that this is indeed a lemon. I will keep you posted.

Great forum by the way. Wish I'd read it before I bought.

[Robbijay]

ah right, so 15km is 12,000 miles? i've got no idea, but I was talking about miles for my service intervals.

[GMcL]

I would seriously look for another garage.

Unless you live in an extremely hot/cold/dusty environment I cannot understand why the car requires a service every 9.5k miles.

Originally Posted by noosachic

8. massive concern with brakes. Have to depress half-way or more and when going around a roundabout there is a sound/vibration/feeling through the brake pedal that gives the impression of straining or some other problem. Not fixed. Dealer says nothing wrong.

Does this only happen when entering a roundabout? Is the road wet?
Could the sound/vibration/feeling through the brake pedal be the result of the ABS kicking in if you are depressing the pedal half-way or more.

A good garage should get to the bottom of your braking issue pretty swiftly though if it is the ABS then you may have to modify driving style.

[RaVolvoR]

Originally Posted by GMcL

I would seriously look for another garage.

Place yourself in Australia, how far between Dealers there? A lot more than 50 miles (80km) roughly they are over here in UK.

I say bin the car, blacklist Volvo and move on, cars aren't worth this sort of stress, just never buy one again. If a dealer treats me like this then I move on. Brand loyalty nowadays is worth the same as dealer responsibillity - zilch!

Expensive option but life's too short!

[4wheeldriver]

Exactly what I did. NEver again will another darken this door unless they pay ME!!!

[GMcL]

Originally Posted by RaVolvoR

Place yourself in Australia, how far between Dealers there? A lot more than 50 miles (80km) roughly they are over here in UK.

Within 90 miles of Noosa there are three main dealers which is why I suggested another dealership. It's not all Mick Dundee

Originally Posted by RaVolvoR

I say bin the car, blacklist Volvo and move on, cars aren't worth this sort of stress, just never buy one again. If a dealer treats me like this then I move on. Brand loyalty nowadays is worth the same as dealer responsibillity - zilch!

Expensive option but life's too short!

That's fine if you can afford to walk away. I imagine it was not a cheap car to buy in Oz though and the car is not easily disposed of in its current state.