I apologize for the long post, but in the last few months I've had a lot going on with my XC70 and I'd like to get some advice on what my next steps should be.
Back in July 2017, I acquired a 2008 XC70 with less than 90,000 miles on it from a GMC dealer just before moving across country. Everything went fine with the cross country drive and the car performed as expected - this is the second Volvo that I have personally owned, and my family have owned Volvos in the past.
In May of 2018, the car refused to start. I tested the battery with a meter, and it showed it as being bad. I was unable to find a date on the battery, and I assumed it was original to the car and replaced the battery, following the procedure in the manual to do so. Afterwards, the car would start, but there was no Keyless Drive, nor would the PCC operate the door locks. While annoying, it wasn't critical, and I decided to have this investigated when the car was due for it's next scheduled service in July.
Shortly after setting off for work one morning in early June, the instrument cluster told me to service the parking brake at the next opportunity. A few moments later, it said that I needed to stop the car immediately due to a brake system failure. I tried turning the car around to return home, but the car stopped on the side of the road, with all the electronics non-functional. The key wouldn't eject from the slot, the central locking wouldn't work, and the windows wouldn't roll down.
I arranged the car to be towed to a local independent Volvo service center who initially diagnosed a failed CEM, failed brake control module, and failed power distribution module. They obtained the replacement components but were unable to get the units powered up and programmed once they were hooked up to the vehicle's CAN bus, despite everything working on their test bench.
More investigation followed over the next few weeks at the service center, and they traced the problem to damaged insulation on the main wiring harness in the passenger footwell - At some point in the past, dirt had made it's way inside the harness, and had eroded away at the insulation, exposing the conductors underneath which ultimately led to an grounding fault. They gave me the option to replace the wiring harness (at the cost of parts plus at least 40+ hours of additional labor), or they said that they could repair the damaged sections of wiring. I opted for the repair, and planned to replace the entire harness myself at a later date. The service center said that they saw no evidence of water intrusion, which they said was typical with electronics failures found in the passenger footwell.
The independent service center repaired the wiring harness, and also replaced a failed parking brake switch, which got the car back on the road again. I still had no Keyless Drive, nor would the PCC operate the locks, for which the service center had no explanation, other than offering to do additional diagnosis, which I declined. I also had a new TPMS warning light on in the instrument cluster, which the service center said was due to a faulty wheel sensor, which they would replace when I brought the car back for a tire rotation.
The car ran through July, August and September with no problem, until last Thursday. When I started the car on Thursday for my morning commute, it hesitated when I pushed the ignition button, but did start. I had a stop of about an hour on my way in to town, and when I returned to the vehicle I noticed that the parking brake light was illuminated on the instrument cluster still. The car started without problem and I finished my commute, and I also had no problems on the return trip home.
Two days ago (Monday), the key went into the slot and the electronics turned on, but the car wouldn't turn over and start. On Tuesday, all the electronics were dead, and the key would not remain in the slot when inserted. Today (Wednesday), I tested the battery and it was noted as 'BAD' with a voltage of 5.15V. Later today, I plan on jumping the vehicle and running it to charge up the battery, and to get it out of the driveway.
I have talked to both the local Volvo dealer and the independent Volvo specialist about this problem. Both have said that electrical issues can be extremely problematic to diagnose and can make no estimates over the phone, and both want $100/hr to look at the car.
Over the last few months I have sunk almost $4K in parts, repairs and towing for this vehicle and would like some pointers as to what my next steps should be with this vehicle. I'm more than prepared to DIY some of the repairs, but I'm not sure where to begin.
My main questions are:
Edit: I jumped the car from another vehicle and it is now running. A voltmeter across the terminals showed 13.95V, so I believe the alternator is good.
Back in July 2017, I acquired a 2008 XC70 with less than 90,000 miles on it from a GMC dealer just before moving across country. Everything went fine with the cross country drive and the car performed as expected - this is the second Volvo that I have personally owned, and my family have owned Volvos in the past.
In May of 2018, the car refused to start. I tested the battery with a meter, and it showed it as being bad. I was unable to find a date on the battery, and I assumed it was original to the car and replaced the battery, following the procedure in the manual to do so. Afterwards, the car would start, but there was no Keyless Drive, nor would the PCC operate the door locks. While annoying, it wasn't critical, and I decided to have this investigated when the car was due for it's next scheduled service in July.
Shortly after setting off for work one morning in early June, the instrument cluster told me to service the parking brake at the next opportunity. A few moments later, it said that I needed to stop the car immediately due to a brake system failure. I tried turning the car around to return home, but the car stopped on the side of the road, with all the electronics non-functional. The key wouldn't eject from the slot, the central locking wouldn't work, and the windows wouldn't roll down.
I arranged the car to be towed to a local independent Volvo service center who initially diagnosed a failed CEM, failed brake control module, and failed power distribution module. They obtained the replacement components but were unable to get the units powered up and programmed once they were hooked up to the vehicle's CAN bus, despite everything working on their test bench.
More investigation followed over the next few weeks at the service center, and they traced the problem to damaged insulation on the main wiring harness in the passenger footwell - At some point in the past, dirt had made it's way inside the harness, and had eroded away at the insulation, exposing the conductors underneath which ultimately led to an grounding fault. They gave me the option to replace the wiring harness (at the cost of parts plus at least 40+ hours of additional labor), or they said that they could repair the damaged sections of wiring. I opted for the repair, and planned to replace the entire harness myself at a later date. The service center said that they saw no evidence of water intrusion, which they said was typical with electronics failures found in the passenger footwell.
The independent service center repaired the wiring harness, and also replaced a failed parking brake switch, which got the car back on the road again. I still had no Keyless Drive, nor would the PCC operate the locks, for which the service center had no explanation, other than offering to do additional diagnosis, which I declined. I also had a new TPMS warning light on in the instrument cluster, which the service center said was due to a faulty wheel sensor, which they would replace when I brought the car back for a tire rotation.
The car ran through July, August and September with no problem, until last Thursday. When I started the car on Thursday for my morning commute, it hesitated when I pushed the ignition button, but did start. I had a stop of about an hour on my way in to town, and when I returned to the vehicle I noticed that the parking brake light was illuminated on the instrument cluster still. The car started without problem and I finished my commute, and I also had no problems on the return trip home.
Two days ago (Monday), the key went into the slot and the electronics turned on, but the car wouldn't turn over and start. On Tuesday, all the electronics were dead, and the key would not remain in the slot when inserted. Today (Wednesday), I tested the battery and it was noted as 'BAD' with a voltage of 5.15V. Later today, I plan on jumping the vehicle and running it to charge up the battery, and to get it out of the driveway.
I have talked to both the local Volvo dealer and the independent Volvo specialist about this problem. Both have said that electrical issues can be extremely problematic to diagnose and can make no estimates over the phone, and both want $100/hr to look at the car.
Over the last few months I have sunk almost $4K in parts, repairs and towing for this vehicle and would like some pointers as to what my next steps should be with this vehicle. I'm more than prepared to DIY some of the repairs, but I'm not sure where to begin.
My main questions are:
- Would replacing the damaged-but-repaired harness solve these problem?
- What's causing the PCC to not operate the Keyless Drive and remote lock/unlock?
- Why did this all start with a dead battery?
- What could be causing the battery to drain?
- What should my next steps be?
Edit: I jumped the car from another vehicle and it is now running. A voltmeter across the terminals showed 13.95V, so I believe the alternator is good.
