2016 XC60 Control Panel Buttons - Replaceable?

[Bromie]

Hi,

I'm hopefully a few days away from owning a 2016 XC60 D4 R-Design AWD, and had a couple of questions regarding my plans to tidy it up.

To start with a bit of history - I used to have a 2013 V40 D3 R-Design and have regretted ever since replacing it with a 2018 Golf GTD. The build quality, ride quality, refinement, etc., was nowhere close, and it was one of the stupidest things I've ever done.

The V40 was a Rebel Blue ex-demonstrator in great condition, and with almost all of the options (even DAB, which wasn't standard at the time!). It also had the amazing 5-cylinder, which was later Polestar'd to D4 spec. when Marshall Leeds had an offer on for around £300.

I therefore replaced the Golf in 2020 with an XC40, and although it has been a great car with no issues, I just didn't enjoy it like my V40. It is on a lease, so I convinced myself that even ending the lease early and paying 50% of my remaining payments (one year left) saved money in the long run if I was going to buy used at the end of the deal anyway.

So I have put a deposit down on an XC60. It is a 'basic' R-Design Lux Nav spec. without any options other than the rear tinted windows, but being honest with myself I realised that, although nice to have, I hardly ever used any of the optional extras I used to have. I do like a quality sound system, but I've heard that even the High Performance audio isn't too bad, so don't mind skipping on the Premium Audio in this case.

On to my question - the waterfall appears to have some kind of black paint overspray on it. I haven't got a clue where this is from but it covers most of the vertical part, and I'm sure the screen and vent surround has a non-standard finish (but I don't know why it would have been repainted). Although I can remove the waterfall and most likely clean off the paint, a couple of the buttons are bubbling and flaking a little.

From what I've found these buttons can't all be replaced. Namely, the Eject, Media, and number buttons - could someone confirm this is the case? If I am required to change the whole Control Panel, are they a simple swap (as long as the exact same part is used)? Or does the car have to be 'plugged in' to get it to accept the new one?

Many thanks, Dan.

[Bromie]

OK, I'm just following this up in case anyone has the same problem in the future.

I managed to source an identical control panel still fitted to its waterfall for £60 (I saw one for £25 but couldn't confirm its condition), and this is easily removed using four Torx screws.

The panel itself has a number of small screws to undo on its rear side, and once the temperature sensor is also removed the entire front half of the panel (containing all of the buttons and the four knobs) comes away.

However, to prevent any errors requiring a trip to Volvo I decided to swap the front of the control panel in situ while it was still plugged in (instead of trying to replace individual buttons). This was awkward due to space constraints, but angling the waterfall and the control panel as required allows you to remove all of the screws. Once this was done, I simply swapped over the nice new front panel with the old one, and put everything back in reverse order.

It does appear that the buttons would come out with some persuasion, but I would recommend replacing the front panel as I did to prevent any unintended damage.

While I had access, I also took the time to clean out the interior temperature sensor. This is a delicate component attached to the end of a wire, but I carefully cleaned the dust from this (there was a lot) and the fan at the rear. I can only presume that this improves the accuracy of the interior temperature.