I bought a 2004 XC90 in October from an independent dealer-it was the loveliest car I've ever owned and at first was very happy BUT within a month it had a message saying 'anti-skid service required' a few weeks later it said 'anti-skid turned off' and 'transmition failure' . I took it to a Volvo garage who replaced the pedal brake sensor and replaced the contact reel and did an SAS reload. It seemed fine but a few weeks later it started with the same messages and then started to say 'Brake failure - stop safely' followed by loss of power. It made a clucking noise from the automatic gear box as it changed up gears. Within a couple of days it became completely underivable as it just kept stopping dead in the middle of the road - very dangerously!. I have sent it back on a low loader lorry to the dealer I bought it from -100 miles away. He took it to his mechanics who said they found litres of water in the driver's footwell!! I hadn't noticed any water in the foot well or dampness in the car and neither had the Volvo mechanics who had done the work a few weeks before or my local garage who also had a look before I took it to the Volvo garage. The car has been drying out for 3 weeks in the dealer''s garage. He had an electronics expert look at it yesterday who said the following;

[There is no gearbox fault, or mechanical issue with the the car it is simply a case that somehow water has got underneath the drivers footwell and caused damage to the main control units for the car.The YAW rate sensor is beyond repair and we believe the Central Electrics Module is also damaged beyond repair.[/B]

Not sure what to do as the warranty I had with the car doesn't cover electrics so the dealer says I'll have to pay. Does anyone have any idea what has caused the initial problems and how water could have got into the car? Could water damage have caused the initial problems? Are they something completely separate? Can anybody offer any advice?

 

Sunroof drains commonly clog and leak. There was also an issue with the seal around the CEM on US models. Not sure if it applies to others.