We bought a used 2004 XC90 in 2009 and all was well until the summer of 2010 when on a long road trip our car suddenly lost power on the interstate. The dashboard went dark, the emergency flasher did not work. Luckily I was able to pull off to the shoulder. After a few minutes the car started by itself and we were able to complete the rest of the trip safely.

The next day I took it to Volvo Darcars dealership near Rockville MD. They ran the diagnostics and could not locate any problem. They felt the problem could have been caused by my key.

All was well until yesterday. On a 1.5 hr road trip we again lost all power but got it back in under a minute. Then about 30 minutes later the engine lost power, but this time the dashboard had power. Again the engine regained power in less than a minute. All together we experienced three such incidences in one evening.

Another interesting finding, the message panel went from displaying an average fuel mileage of 18.5 before the engine seizure to 18.1 after. Also the clock went blank.

Based on my detailed description of the symptoms does anyone have a clue as to what is happening.

Thanks
Naveen

 

Have them check the ground straps.

 

Thanks but can you explain what you mean by ground straps.

 

Ground straps are a key part of the electrical system that 'grounds' an electrical circuit to something metallic such as the unibody, sub frame, etc. If the ground strap is not firmly attached the circuit will not work correctly.