XC90 Complete Electrical Failure

[pcurry]

Dear All


I had my new XC90 Inscription
in November 2016 and have had recurrent issues with low charge 12V battery as you can see from previous threads

I had the car delivered back in April 2017 with the subsequent battery change and software upgrade seeming to have sorted the original problem. Volvo UK had kindly agreed to extra accessories to be insulted as a gesture of good will including a media server. This was carried out recently and the XC90 returned from Volvo on Thursday 28th September 2017.

Just to give the sequence of events since Thursday.

XC90 returned from Volvo ‪on Thursday 12:30‬ hrs 28th September 2017

No issues with driving that day and ‪on Friday morning‬ car started without difficulty and no warning signs on display

Whilst driving to work approached stationary traffic at a road junction and XC90 start / stop activated

Then instantaneously all electrical displays started blinking and their was complete loss of all function - unable to use SOS / Volvo On Call function - unable to activate hazard warning flashers - car stuck with Parking brake on

After 15 minutes stationary I had opened driver side door to direct traffic away as had no hazard warning lights and on return I tried again to re start - the car then rebooted and started with a constant warning on display - Rear child lock Deactivate. I was able to drive home.

‪Saturday morning 30th September 2017 drove away from the house without difficulty and no display warning signs. Whist driving with my two boys approached a busy roundabout in the outside lane of a four lane dual carriageway with no central reservation with stationary traffic at roundabout the XC90 start / stop activated and again then instantaneously all electrical displays started blinking and their was complete loss of all function - unable to use SOS / Volvo On Call function - unable to activate hazard warning flashers - car stuck with Parking brake on.‬

As this was around a bend on outer lane dual carriageway with no central reservation leading into the roundabout and with two boys in the car and no hazard warning lights I had to call 999 for police help for traffic control and remove the boys to a place of safety.

With police Scotland traffic car parked with flashing blues to slow and divert on coming traffic away from the outside lane on the roundabout approach. I then phoned Volvo On Call via my mobile to arrange recovery after 20 minutes waiting I again tried to re start with success and again the constant warning on display - Rear child lock Deactivate. I then drove home under police escort as they would not allow my boys travel in the XC90 in case this happened again whilst returning home - hazard warning flashers and Volvo On Call buttons now working properly and parked in driveway.

After 30 minutes I again returned to the car and again - immediately noticed no immediate start up of car displays and subsequently tried to start without success and complete electrical failure - and again able to use SOS / Volvo On Call function - unable to activate hazard warning flashers - car stuck with Parking brake on. I then repeated the above steps to try and re start after leaving alone without success. Find attached a video clip showing whilst in the car with key fob yet complete failure displays, hazard warning flasher and start / stop failure.

Volvo On Call was contacted again and they arranged pick up of XC90 back to Volvo

Main concerns regarding the complete failure of the car after the recent media server / USB port upgrade ? linked to insulation

Is this the recurrence of the battery drain problem previously experienced not linked to media server insulation

Even more worrying is the complete electrical failure with the SOS function and hazard warning flasher failure which could be catastrophic or fatal to another driver or myself / family if this happened whilst driving at night

Thoughts??

[KNVXC90]

Sorry to read this happened to you. Not heard of something like this in this forum or on Swedespeed.

Btw, did you forget to attach the video clip?

[SwissXC90]

I would be checking battery terminals are secure and main fuse distribution blocks are secure

It sounds like a main power feed is loose somewhere....

[Lexman8]

I haven't seen any reports of such a catastrophic failure before now. It's somewhat concerning that the SOS system also failed as this has its own emergency battery backup in case of total power failure in the rest of the car.

It's hard to say if this is linked to the media player installation or whether it's just a coincidence. I'd only be happy that it's properly fixed if/when they definitively say what the problem is and not just some waffle about software, etc.

Hope it gets resolved quickly.

[Rooster]

What engine does your xc90 have in it??

From what you say its obviously related to the stop/start but has it done it any other time??

Have you had any excessive condensation issues, smells of damp or damp carpets

[pcurry]

Originally Posted by Rooster

What engine does your xc90 have in it??

From what you say its obviously related to the stop/start but has it done it any other time??

Have you had any excessive condensation issues, smells of damp or damp carpets

XC90 D5 Auto Inscription
No damp smells at all
Cheers

[Philip Fisher]

Originally Posted by Rooster

What engine does your xc90 have in it??

From what you say its obviously related to the stop/start but has it done it any other time??

Have you had any excessive condensation issues, smells of damp or damp carpets

My thoughts exactly. I wondered if it was related to the "air conditioning condensate pipe leaking into the electronics" recall - It can happen without damp carpets as the water runs into the false floor below the drivers feet.

[Philip Fisher]

Originally Posted by SwissXC90

I would be checking battery terminals are secure and main fuse distribution blocks are secure

It sounds like a main power feed is loose somewhere....

That is also a good thought. Maybe it is something as simple as not reconnecting the battery properly after working on the car.

[Georgeaa]

Whilst not exactly the same, a similar thing has happened to me. The difference being that the complete shutdown occurs after I stop the car and turn off the engine. The first time it happened I noticed the display trying to display a number of messages with an associated audible warning whilst I was driving, but nothing was displayed in the message centre. After I got home, I turned off the engine, then the complete electrical shutdown. I got out of the car, and on shutting the door the car powered up and rebooted. After resetting the parking break (not fully released) and a message about the Child locks being disabled, everything was fine the following morning, but I did take the car straight to Volvo to diagnose. They sent the information to Volvo HQ as the master technician wasn’t clear on what he was seeing.
It has happened again since, again after stopping the engine and again the car came back to life after opening and closing the driver’s door.
I’m still waiting to hear from Volvo on their diagnosis, but in the meantime, based on the observation that this seemed to occur after the last app updates, and coupled with the fact the Sensus system was noticeable slower and misbehaving, I did a factory reset.
After setting up my profile again, the problem hasn’t returned, and Sensus is much more responsive. Whilst this doesn’t necessarily mean that this is fixed, for now everything on my XC90 is working fine.
My XC90 delivered in June is a R-Design Pro D5

[Freetime]

Just had the system failure all electrics out no starting . jump started but died after jump leads removed. key fob was stuck in dash. Had to get recovery out at 11.00 pm . recharged battery still not starting . started with power pack and died as power pack was switched off.