I've been down with a wee bit of pneumonia and haven't driven for two weeks. Today I took our 2016 V60 out to the grocery store and we are having exceptionally warm weather. So I felt a bit sweaty and turned on the AC but no fan. I heard the vent flaps moving but no fan, turned the fan up to max and nothing. Tried heat, nothing. Oh great, now I get to sweat and I'm not in a great mood or feeling 100% well.

Finished shopping and never had any fans.

I've noticed in recent months that the infotainment center would take time to update channels and there were several unwarranted reboots of the infotainment. I also noticed that there were a few times that the low battery light would illuminate when I first started the car on cold mornings. In my mind I started thinking parasitic drain and now I have dead fans. Hm?

Are there any known issues with the climate control / infotainment ecu or any ideas what is going on?

This is a certified car with about 27,000 miles on it and I am hoping it will be a warranty event.

 

Since there is no ammeter*, the only view I have found into battery condition is the availability of the stop/start function. On my first service visit to the dealer with my 2015.5 V60 - CPO - @ 47K miles, I noted that the start/stop function was never available - the diagnosis was a failing battery that was replaced (under the CPO warranty) Since then I have noted that, during periods when my driving is mostly short, in-town trips, I still see no availability but after a longer drive of an hour or more, the function returns.

My assumption is that this function is very sensitive to the state of charge of the battery and, compared to cars I have owned previously, the charging system is, at best, marginal. Further to this, it seems that most of the problems discussed in these forums are electrical in nature - lights not working, windows don't work, display problems, fans etc. etc. It would appear that fault tolerance e.g. voltage spikes, transients or interruptions, power loss etc. is unfortunately not a design parameter for Volvo.

* when cars had real instrumentation, battery state/charge was easy to assess. Immediately after start-up, one would see a high positive current flow that would, after a bit of driving return to near zero. Continued high rate of charge or significant discharge while driving was a sign of trouble - alternator/generator, voltage regulator or battery - a useful warning to have to avoid an unexpected "no start"

 

Hm? Well I'll put up with many things but electrical nonsense is not one of them. Accepting electrical problems was weaned out of me back in the days when I drove Jaguars with Lucas electrical nightmares.

I was not aware of the electrical problems of these cars and going forward it possibly will mean a short ride for owning this 2016 V60. Errrrr!!!!!

 

Actually, I spent a lot of time in British iron in the 50's - 60's MGs, Jags, A.healey, Sunbeam, etc. The recipe for electrical reliability was simple:
Replace the Lucas plug wires with Packard 440 cable with KLG ends
Replace distributor cap and rotor annually (not needed after the German ochre colored replacements became available)
Replace the voltage regulator every two years
When the SU fuel pump fails @ 30K miles, replace it with a Hardi and forget about it for the life of the car.

 

I'll go off topic here for a bit but my Jags were not all engine bay electrical issues, they were inside the cabin issues. The one SIII was fun at night because you were never sure if you would have headlights, have one high, one low or what would appear. Spent a lot of time shimming fuses in the foot well.

I made an arrangement for the Volvo to be taken to the service department. This is where the rubber meets the road for the warranty. This is a CPO car, I paid extra because it was certified and I BETTER NOT see any invoice.

Sigh! Our 2011 Honda CRV, the one we bought three years ago with over 90,000 miles on it, the one we've driven on many long trips, the one that was not a CPO is the one car that has not needed anything except new windshield wiper blades.

The Honda has a timing chain on it, something that Volvo should adopt. I liked the V60 so much that I set aside my parameters of not buying another car with a timing belt.

 

Quite agree - MY V60 replaced an '09 V70. The V70 was a nice car and had a 3.2L 6 with a timing chain but it also had accumulated some miles before I bought it- At 150K I began to see regular replacement of various electrical bits - the last one was a fuel rail pressure sensor - about 20 minutes to replace a mostly plastic bit that might have had a manufacturing cost of $10 > $350 repair bill. When the transmission started to make funny noises, it was time for it to go. I had an '03 V70 2.4T with a timing belt - replaced @ 85K miles, well ahead of mfr. recommended interval but it was well worn and showing cracks - no problems after that but the car was essentially scrapped at 160K when cyl #3 lost compression and the cost to diagnose/repair far exceeded the value of a then 13 year old car. I think you are safe going 80-90K miles on the timing belt. A bigger problem will probably be Volvo's mediocre electrics.

 

A Volvo with the premium price tags that come with them should not have anything such as this "A bigger problem will probably be Volvo's mediocre electrics.".

I remember replacing one of those little fuel rail bits on my V50. Took me minimal time to replace it but I did have to go out and buy a tool. Can't remember but I think I needed a thin walled socket -- or something like it.

So I guess I better not go back over to the Subaru forums and tout the robust build of the V60. I sold a nice 2015 CPO Outback because of electrical issues. Owned that car less than a year and took a $5,500 hit on trading it.

I'm really starting to agree with my mechanic friend....if you want maintenance free you go with Honda or Toyota. Maybe he is correct.

I just wish I had another local dealer because me and the dealer have a jaded history. I caught them not fully completing a n exrended warranty PCV TSB on the V50 and trying to fool me on it. To their determent I am a long time wrench turner and had them dead to rights on their misdeed.