V60 Says Radar blocked

[kdst5]

I expect it's not that it has stopped working but that the computer is no longer completely sure what is rain etc. and what is the car in front. So safer to disable the system.

[SwissXC90]

Originally Posted by GrahamHR

The radar on my boat, ( the sender/ receiver is in in a radome) works perfectly well in fog, snow, torrential rain, covered is seagull poo etc. Why should a Volvo radar sender/ receiver behind a clean PC/ABS plastic shield stop working due to slight road grime ? ( I know they do, as it's happened on my car !) A very low power unit I expect.

I used to install and repair boat radars. Everything from little pleasure craft to racing yachts to big oil tankers and passenger cruise ships.

The environment and antenna on a boat is totally different to that in a car.
The boat radar is optimised for long range, and suppresses the immediate sea clutter that you get around the boat. The older radars had clutter controls that allowed the operator to set the anti-clutter level themselves.
It was extremely hard to pick out a small boat such as a kayak within the near-field of the radar.

And yes, boat radars suffer from grime too. First rule when the radar range is reducing is to clean the radar antenna of salt and grime.

On a car, the radar is optimised for the immediate road in front of the car, and has to detect objects within very short distances within the near-field clutter. A very difficult job.

So different operating arenas, different radar frequencies, different power outputs, different technology, different... well... pretty much everything

But dirt and snow and rain and grime will always impact radar performance.

[GrahamHR]

Originally Posted by SwissXC90

I used to install and repair boat radars. Everything from little pleasure craft to racing yachts to big oil tankers and passenger cruise ships.

The environment and antenna on a boat is totally different to that in a car.
The boat radar is optimised for long range, and suppresses the immediate sea clutter that you get around the boat. The older radars had clutter controls that allowed the operator to set the anti-clutter level themselves.
It was extremely hard to pick out a small boat such as a kayak within the near-field of the radar.

And yes, boat radars suffer from grime too. First rule when the radar range is reducing is to clean the radar antenna of salt and grime.

On a car, the radar is optimised for the immediate road in front of the car, and has to detect objects within very short distances within the near-field clutter. A very difficult job.

So different operating arenas, different radar frequencies, different power outputs, different technology, different... well... pretty much everything

But dirt and snow and rain and grime will always impact radar performance.

I bow to your greater knowledge of radar, no sarcasm meant. What a stupid Volvo message though " radar blocked". Why not "clean the plastic bit covering the radar".

[AndyJudge]

Originally Posted by GrahamHR

I bow to your greater knowledge of radar, no sarcasm meant. What a stupid Volvo message though " radar blocked". Why not "clean the plastic bit covering the radar".

Because the Radar can become temporarily disabled in very heavy rain or snow, mine did the other day & as soon as the rain eased normal service resumed didn't have to stop the car to clean it.

A permanent fault would register a code in the ECU.

My Active Headlamps also do the same in heavy rain, Snow or Fog give me a message to say they're temporarily disabled but then clear again as soon as conditions improve.

[john11668]

None of the grotty conditions you all describe need to be present for this to happen. It can be a fine day . May happen after five miles . Maybe 20-30 miles. Dealer is going to book it into the Volvo shop.

Not sure I always trust diagnostics though. Had one "general failure " (which it seems meant computer has died) , and a quote of £1300.
Wasn't worth repairing at that price on that vehicle but subsequently a switched on guy told me it would probably be the air mass meter. He was spot on and £60 fixed it.

[john11668]

Right .
So the vehicle has been to the dealership for diagnostics and the diagnosis was that the forward sensing module was at fault.. Fair enough.
Then the technician started to talk about replacing a module in the screen. Then when I asked about the cruise control radar behind the grill he changed his tune to talk about that unit.
When asked for a quote it was initially about £350
When asked for clarification it went up to about £900
I was worried in advance that this might be the case .
The staff at the agents do not seem to know what they are talking about.

I am wondering if water ingress , into connections, or maybe the module itself , may be the problem particularly as it seems intermittent but who on earth can we turn to in order to get sound advice when the dealership dues not seem to Know.
Can we phone Volvo technical ? or will they only talk to their own dealerships.