I have a 2016 V60 and last February, during my wife's acute leukemia episode, the low coolant light was illuminated for a second. It happened when I started the car, on my driveway that is on a grade. Stopped the engine, looked at the coolant bottle, it was down a bit but nothing drastic. I re-started the car and no light. Hm maybe a glitch but I have bigger problems, my wife has cancer so I take off for the hospital.

Then this summer the same thing happened. On August 6th I went out and bought some of the required coolant, installed 22 ounces and that brought the coolant level up to the line.

The last time I was in my Volvo dealership I told him the story and asked, do these cars use coolant. He sheepishly said, yes they do. Ok.

I just looked at the coolant this morning and it is now lower than when I installed coolant on August 6th. I have put about 900 miles on the car.

I've been a car guy all my life and I was given this same speech about coolant by a Subaru dealer and never believed him. In a closed system coolant shouldn't disappear and was one of the reasons for trading in the Subaru on the V60. Personally I could swear there are times the V60 feels like it is missing or it could be the trans is vague, not knowing which gear to be in. Last week during the first start I did see white smoke (the only time I remember). If I had more than 37,000 miles on this car I would guess head gasket. Last February the car was still in warranty but I had no time for cars. In two weeks my wife goes in for a stem cell transplant and again I have no time to play with cars.

This is my 4th Volvo that I've owned and probably the worst. The steering wheel is peeling, the clear plastic on the shift **** is cracking, I think that the windows don't stay fully engaged to the top. Why do I think this about the windows? There are times I will hit the window up button and they move up about 3/4 an inch. I know I don't leave them down a 3/4 inch. They've never been able to correctly adjust the passenger door. It doesn't latch like the remainder of the doors, it always feels like the hinge is hanging down a bit.

The repair file on this car is as thick or thicker than Volvo's we owned for many years and had many, many more miles on them. Thumbs down

We bought the car in 2019 with a bit over 20,000 miles on it.

SO my big question is this - is anyone aware of premature head gasket failures on the 2016 V60?

 

I'm not but what is the appearance of the coolant?
Not siure on yours but my S70 and S80 both developed small leaks that would drip down onto the big black plastic thing that covers the bottom front of the engine compartment. Took me a year to finally find it on the 70, the second time I added coolant to the 80 I removed it and there it was.

 

when it comes to loss of coolant, the simple rule is "its gotta go somewhere". So the list of suspects will be 1) hoses 2) overflow reservoir/cap. 3) radiator 4) water pump 5) heater core 6) turbo being most common. After that you get really expensive - ie head gasket or cracked head/block, but I wouldn't jump to the conclusion its either system to Volvo or the most expensive thing is the cause. LOL its not a pre-2015 Subaru with a 150K miles :-)

Have you had a full visual inspection done and has a tech done a system pressure test? Try driving with the AC off for a few days and look for any spotting under the car (its hard to tell when its coolant or AC condensation). Look around the hoses and edges of the radiator and under the reservoir after an "in town" drive. You may need to remove some of the shrouds to see anything and use a flashlight. My bet is you have a radiator pin hole, a weepy hose or a hairline crack in the reservoir.

 

My V50 had a hairline reservoir crack but that was at 125,000 miles.

Never any spotting under the car.

I have a blood hounds nose for the smell of coolant but haven't smelled any.

The service manager at the Subaru dealer said the same thing, "they use coolant." That was on a low mileage subbie and boy that thing would use it. It was a certified car that withing the first week of owning it the reservoir was almost bone dry.

I always thought that the Volvo techs checked out the car before releasing it after a completed service. I've had my car into the dealer multiple times (inspections, oil changes, service recalls) and the coolant was at minimum. It's also why I didn't even consider any problems could exist.