I need to appeal to the knowledge of the forum to help solve an electrical mystery.

My 2015.5 XC60 T6 AWD (3.0 Turbo) has something going on with the electrical. Car has 57k total miles. 3 events in the last week or so:

1. on startup (crank) car failed to start and all electronics went blank / off. Car seemed to reboot electrical within a few seconds then started normal
   
2. returning to car, pulled car handle on rear passenger door, door unlocked, then alarm went off. Key fob was unresponsive. I had to pop the keyhole on the driver door to unlock the main door. Once at driver seat was able to start the car normal. What was especially weird is that only the siren went off when the alarm activated - no flashing lights or anything - maybe thats normal for Volvo. I'm not sure why the alarm activated in the first place, too, other than the potential door opening during a power fault or something.
   
3. stopped to get fuel. When getting back in car the car was unresponsive. None of the electronics worked and all screens black. Car was essentially dead. Key fob was unresponsive (but doors already unlocked). Pushing start button did nothing. Got out, popped hood, opened battery covers and wires looked well attached. Got back in car and within another minute system seemed to boot back up on its own.
   

Battery is 3 months old. This is the 3rd battery in 4 years - I was told anecdotally that this series Volvo has a problem with seeking and updating the Sirius radio even when off, which is what kills the battery. This time around I replaced with an ACDelco 48PG battery.

Had local service shop run a basic electrical check and everything returned normal. They said battery, alternator, etc., all looked fine and they could not recreate the problem. They said if it happens again I should have it towed to them and maybe then can diagnose.

Any thoughts or tips?

 

#1 thought: contact your dealer. A local shop probably won't know about any service bulletins or have access to Volvo's factory support for diving into the problem. They are also not likely to have the proprietary tools like VIDA DICE to do the more comprehensive testing of software (like to confirm or update release versions).

 

Thanks mt6127! My local dealer is mediocre at best. They sell and service 5-10x more Subaru than Volvo. It’s like Volvo is an afterthought. Kinda a shame. Next closest dealer is 90 minutes away.

Anyways, I called and the service writer said I can bring it by and they’d run their basic electrical tests for like $150, then he said if the local shop didn’t find anything he thought they’d have to do a lot of manual inspection at an hourly rate, which I interpret as “be prepared to pay a bunch”.

I’m afraid I’m moving into a future of high and frequent repair bills coupled with hard to diagnose issues. I don’t personally care for the new Sensus system, so I don’t want to jump to a new model but also don’t want to jump ship to another manufacturer. I’ve always been a Saab or Volvo guy. Yet I’d rather put all that miscellaneous repair diagnostic money towards a new car before going down an open ended repair bill journey. Sorry for inserting the personal dilemma here too.

 

not uncommon for a dealer to quote a one hour diagnostic fee. usually this gets credited to the repair work required to address the issue so best to ask about how they'd credit you when talking to your service advisor. At the end of the day you need to get this sorted so you don't really have too many options. Assuming your issue is not something your local people might see everyday, then factory support for the dealer comes in handy to offer a test strategy. If you are concerned about diagnostics running up a huge bill, talk to the service manager about how/when they call in factory help. Intermittant failures are always problematic unless they can be reproduced or if there's a history of similar cases. Post up how this works out.

 

I have no help but when I read more and more electrical issues, I am having buyers remorse. March 2019 I purchased a 2016 V60 CPO with @20,000 miles on it. Sick and in bed for the past few weeks I crawled out of bed on Sunday to drive to the store and found that my AC/Heat fans were dead. IMO such a thing should not be happening on a car with current mileage of 27,000 miles on it.

I am thinking that Volvo has gone cheap on some electronics. Most of my previous Volvo's were driven 100K and 200K. I think that once the CPO warranty is up on this car, I won't own it anymore ad will trade it.

Hope you get it all worked out.