Hi, I'm a new member here and am asking this question out of quiet desperation over the issues my new-to-me 2003 S60 2.4t is giving me.

I bought it from a dealer in Philly and drove it home to the Rochester, NY area. Aside from a few perceived suspension issues, I loved the drive home and had no concerns. It is a car for my wife, so she began driving it to work two days after bringing it home and began to experience hard shifts between 1-2 gears and also from 2-1 in the downshift. So much so, that she feared to drive it home on the second day. We took it to a transmission shop and had the fluid flushed and replaced as well as the coolant. Both were quiet dirty and it was suspected that they were the original fluids by the mechanic. The vehicle did not show signs of shifting hard driving from home to the shop until about 20 mins into the trip. A minute or two later I was at the shop, so the symptoms did not get bad. After flushing and replacing the fluids, I drove it home and no lights were on and no symptoms of hard shifting.

There is also a fresh gas smell that is noticed while driving, but much more so when u step out of the vehicle. I am thinking it may be a cracked fuel pump housing that only leaks under pressure. My gas mileage was only 23 on my way home from PA. And that seems to be a fairly common problem.

Now to the current problems. I let the vehicle sit for two weeks while we sorted out the registration, etc. We have two other vehicles, so the s60 is not needed for transportation. I drove it up and down the driveway....no problems....waited a few days and drove it to my father-in-laws garage over the grass (next door) to park it in his garage. I had hoped to remove all the wheels and get snows installed and thoroughly check the suspension myself. In driving the one-hundred yards across the grass, it took what seemed like an inordinate amount of rpms to drive slowly....hoping the clutch is not going now....parked it in the garage, shut off the car....let it sit for one week.

Upon receiving the registration, and plates, went to take the s60 for a spin....put the key in the ignition, turned it....nothing. No lights on dash, no dings, no clicks, nothing. Not even power to trunk to open it to check battery. No blinking light for security system either.

Thinking the batter was dead, I connected a trickle charger to the + terminal under the hood and ground. Lights is vehicle came on, but key would not turn, and steering was locked. Key would not turn to any position. Took trickle charger off (showed full charge so am assuming battery is not dead), and immediately tried to turn key again. Key turns but no power to anything, steering is not locked.

Question: What is causing the loss of all power to everything? How can I correct the problem, at least temporarily so that I can drive to the Volvo Dealer to diagnose the problem?

Thanks.

 

You ever get this figured out? Curious if this was a key transponder?