V70R is already the least reliable Volvo I've owned

[Santa]

On the S60 it's a switch that wears out on top of the gearbox. My reverse lights work about 2-3% of the time and sometimes when they're not working, if you move the gear lever slightly whilst in reverse they flicker on, but not much as of late.

Fairly easy to replace, just requires removal of the air box and a bit of fiddling around with a ratchet and socket on the end of a UJ.

The non genuine ones are about £12 I think, unsure how much the genuine Volvo replacement is.

Thanks for the advice but I've found an easier method ;-)

[Al115]

Yeah that's why I'm spending my Sunday soldering the wires in the tailgate hinge instead of paying Volvo to replace the loom

Central Services wants £50 to diagnose the fault with the RTI, which I didn't think was too bad...?

Looks like the screen is the faulty component; the DVD drive diagnoses OK, apparently.

Further news to follow...

[Al115]

Screen in and RTI working again!



The main board in the screen unit had failed. Apparently rare - its usually the DVD units that break.

Vey impressed with Central Services for their diagnostic / repair work. Not cheap as such (£250 inc) but far cheaper than any Volvo dealer solution! Thanks guys.

Their details are:

CENTRAL SERVICES (IPSWICH)
Volvo radio service
188 SPRING ROAD
IPSWICH
SUFFOLK
IP45NR
TEL 01473 725953

[JUDGENINJA]

...is it all working now then???

[Al115]

...is it all working now then???

Yes, I think!

[Santa]

Yes, I think!

That is the problem with these, something may be wrong but you might not know it.

[LeeT5]

Screen in and RTI working again!



The main board in the screen unit had failed. Apparently rare - its usually the DVD units that break.

Vey impressed with Central Services for their diagnostic / repair work. Not cheap as such (£250 inc) but far cheaper than any Volvo dealer solution! Thanks guys.

Their details are:

CENTRAL SERVICES (IPSWICH)
Volvo radio service
188 SPRING ROAD
IPSWICH
SUFFOLK
IP45NR
TEL 01473 725953

Not that rare Al. I know a few people that the screen goes black whilst being used then comes back on. Even mine has done it 2 years ago....said so in the service history! I think thats the start of the PCB going faulty. Mine has since done it once or twice but it works fine. When it packs up i will give these guys a ring.

[Storm-Troll]

I think yours and mine need a photo shoot together All like when we did your Evo by the gates

[Al115]

Yeah that'd be a good idea Especially on a sunny day like today!

[Vikingxl]

I think yours and mine need a photo shoot together All like when we did your Evo by the gates

Just leave me out then why dont you lol

[Storm-Troll]

Yeah that'd be a good idea Especially on a sunny day like today!

sorry mate.. was working all day today. but we will set a date on a nice sunny day and we will even invite uncle Viking along too lol

[Storm-Troll]

Just leave me out then why dont you lol

of course you can come. I dont invite you as your part of the furniture and will always be around lol

[Al115]

Adding to the list... 2 leaking shocks (one front, one rear) --> 4 OEM replacements... ouch. At least SWs got a great price on them!

Interestingly, the new shocks are a LOT softer than the old (98k) ones - so I can now drive around on "Sport" whereas before I'd have got annoyed with it being too crashy.

Also on the plus side, either the new shocks or the SUM recalibration has really helped the side-hopping problem that I was having. Now I can go round corners and hit a bump mid-way, and not end up in the opposite lane.

And leaking aircon (seal failed... easily replaced).

Plus, a seized bonnet cable, for which we had to take quite a lot of the front of the car off... bloody thing. It's been an expensive month!

Still loving driving it though.

[S70T5Chris]

How much you pay for the shocks? I just had to buy 4 for the s60, paid £660 for all four delivered. Did you do the springs too?, mine were tired anyway so had too, but I think it's advisable to renew the springs when you do the shocks.

[Jimmie]

How much were your oem shocks?

[Jimmie]

Sorry Chris double post.lol

[JamesT5]

Nothing major wrong yet though, touch wood! But in the space of a month...

• High-level brake light has packed up. Probably wiring.
• Handbrake sticking. Easily sortable.
• Rear side marker light failed. Only a bulb.
• Phone battery (for On Call) low. £100 battery and Volvo software reset required.
• Alternator control module fault. Gone away for now.
• Satnav fault still under investigation.

Add a cambelt service and two front tyres, it's not been a cheap month

All little stuff, but it's just amusing how buggy these cars can be when you cram more and more electronics into them!

It IS a beautiful car, so all is forgiven. Looking forward to getting it all sorted out in Jan.

I haven't read the responses to this yet but I really feel for you on this matter because you'll see all the threads and posts I've been posting on this site about my irritating electrical issues on my T5 with coils, misfires and now the perfectly fine battery randomly flattening itself whenever the hell it feels like it (or so it seems)!

You are so right about these cars being' buggy', they are just that. They're great cars otherwise but they seem to be plagued by so many electrical derived issues, not something I was aware of when I brought one. You solve one issue and another comes up and then something else and something else. It's like painting the forth bridge, (although they don't do that anymore I hasten to add).

Why they have so many issues like this I don't know. Whether it has something to do with Ford's input, remember Ford stands for 'Fix Or Repair Daily', and at the moment that seems to be what I'm doing on my 2001 T5.

Thankfully, there are lots of very helpful people on this site who have already saved me hundreds in garage bills by offering advice and trouble shooting solutions. I just hope I can give something back although most on here are far more mechanically adept than me by a long way.

I was driving back from work tonight trying to work out what the hell is going on with my car, it's very confusing and there seems to be no obvious logical explaination, probably because I'm missing a crucial bit of information that only an expert would be able to consider. I was also thinking, why can't the car just work as it's supposed to, how can there be so many issues.

I echo your comment about the costs racking up, you buy one little thing, and another little thing and another little thing and then you look at how much you've spent and you go "Oh my goodness, I could have brought another car for a little more money and saved all the hassle". But then you think, if these issues are so inherent to the model, maybe you're better with the devil you known than the one you don't! At least once you've fixed the issue you know the works been done and you learn some valuable skills at the same time.

Anyway, I wish you luck and I will do my best to help you as much as I can with the very limited knowledge I have.

Regards

James

[Al115]

How much you pay for the shocks? I just had to buy 4 for the s60, paid £660 for all four delivered. Did you do the springs too?, mine were tired anyway so had too, but I think it's advisable to renew the springs when you do the shocks.

Like I said, great price, I got under £150 per corner which for the R shocks is amazing! And probably not repeatable in the near future, there aren't so many that can fall off lorries LOL

The springs seemed fine so we left them for now, though I might go back there sometime soon.

[t5_monkey]

Just remember whatever it costs - it's probably a fraction of the cost of running most cars with equivalent performance.

With an older car - you're not paying depreciation, which is always a massive hit on anything less than 5 years old.

[Harvey]

Since I had my S60R I have lots of issues ,I think that when the main dealer does there services they only look at the tick boxes and very little else, time/cost is the biggest factor.
But when the car is not just a-b too,l we I think are that bit more aware of what is really required ,bit like gearbox oils fitted for life so Volvo say but some dealers say it needs it some say sealed for life this type of things goes on.
I was thinking about what I have spent since I have had this one and it's not funny at all approx £1800 in less than 10 months and I have done a lot of jobs my self, so a fair bit was on parts at trade cost as well.
But I have no problem at all as I think that a lot of the jobs were needed to be done but the service was done at the main dealer main reason was for the software update,
Would I buy one again.............YES.