I flew to Oregon and picked up a pretty decent looking 2007 XC90 V8 with 119k miles on it. Had a clean CARFAX and was actually a California car near me until end of 2017.

During my lengthy inspection, I noted that the AWD wasn’t kicking in (it was a wet day and when I floored it, that yamaha engine broke loose instantly lol). Sadly, I didn’t have VIDA with me to diagnose on the spot. I also observed a fluid leak from the front-passenger side of the engine (ended up being power steering pump leaking). Couple other minor things I noted but those two were the biggest issues for me. I told the dealer that they could agree to repair those two things or I’d have to be on the first flight home. Needless to say, we worked out a contract that addressed both and I had an eventless journey home, but I bought snow chains just in case (tax free!). I think the XC90’s seat is even more comfortable than our XC70. Figuring out the Volvo bluetooth was interesting.

But back to the AWD. After hooking it up to VIDA, it was confirmed that the DEM was not responding. I tested the pump and the resistence was about 2.2ohms and it did actuate when I put 12v to it, so the dealer is paying to have the DEM sent to Xemodex per our agreement.

The DIM screen was garbled and orange/red triangle light would never come on, so I figured it was faulty and it would be another thing I have to send to Xemodex for repair, SOOOO I pulled the gauge cluster and was very surprised! Someone had gone to the trouble of trying to hide the fact that the awd function wasn’t working properly! I have to admit it was pretty clever, and had I not been a Volvo guy, I’d probably be none the wiser. I’m glad that it was written that they would repair the AWD system AND that now I have a fully functioning DEM and not have to spend $400 to fix it.