Volvo Service Tips

Volvo’s Clogged Sunroof Drains Will Fail In Heavy Rains

She was pissed, and really angry with Volvo. She was literally in tears and her Volvo V50 Wagon smelled moldy.

The day after Sandy hits us, we had 6 Volvo’s in the shop, hanging out to dry.

We used heavy duty industrial size fan blowers day and night, to dry out soaking wet Volvo carpets and the foam padding beneath them. Even with all this equipment, it still takes two days to dry out a wet Volvo.

When the monster storm hurricane Sandy slammed onto the shores of the U.S East Coast, I expected the worst. A  disaster on a epic scale, Katrina Style.

I had recently moved to Baltimore in Maryland to join my fiance as we prepare for our nuptials, so naturally I was expecting massive flooding. Mostly, I was worried about losing electric power. Having experienced living without electricity for 5 days in the winter of 2010, it was no fun. This was after an unusually heavy wet snow that caused top heavy trees to come crashing down on power lines. I had never felt so cold in my life.

In June, 2012 we suffered the effects of Derecho.

Derecho, a fast moving straight line wind storm packing severe thunderstorms blew through the Washington DC area without any prior warning. It was gone in a couple hours, but the destruction was massive. And as you can now tell – no electric power for another few days.

So, you might be thinking,  what does all this have to do with me or my Volvo? It has everything to do with your Volvo’s Leaky Sunroof.

I am inferring  that if you live on the U.S East Coast, think twice before you purchase a Sunroof equipped Volvo; unless off-course, you have garage to safely store your Volvo in. If you live in the deserts of Saudi Arabia, then you have nothing to worry about.

The sunroof package cost extra — about $2800 — and you will spend $$ hundreds more fixing the water leaks in the future not counting repairs to the sunroof mechanism cable that makes it open and close. In addition, the sunroof glass make crack if you use an ice scrapper to clean out the ice after a winter storm.

She was now pissed, and really angry with Volvo.

 The lady who called us yesterday was well prepared because she had been through this previously. She had the sunroof drains cleaned and cleared before Sandy stormed ashore, but to no effect.

Mildew was starting to take hold, and the car smelled moldy. 

She was justified in complaining that her husbands sunroof equipped Mazda parked right next to her Volvo V50 was nice and dry inside after a soaking from Super-storm Sandy. Her assumption; a more expensive superior vehicle like her Volvo should not keep having the water leaks, time and time again. After all, had she not had the sunroof drains modified (Enlarged) to prevent this very same concern.

Read my post on water leaks as a result of poorly designed Sunroof Drains here

Just when you think you’ve seen it all and heard it all, in comes someone who shocks and awes you.

A young attractive lady had her volvo S40 towed in recently.

This pretty young lady’s car looked liked it had been through hell and back. Sitting atop a flat bed tow truck, the S40 Volvo’s rear right tire was shredded and torn to bits. The steel rim was partially melted and lay flat on the ground. The steel rim looked like a hot knife had sliced off a chunk, clean, through and  through.

 She came in with the Tow Truck driver and walked directly to her service Advisor — a lady, old enough to be her mother. She started to describe how her wheel was all jacked up and the how the brakes were all Fucked up, and then profusely apologised for her colorful language.

The only logical conclusion we came to was that the the brake caliper may have failed, but she must have ignored the loud clunk clunk noises and continued to drive the car, eventually the wheel locked up and the tire ripped to shreds. She continued to drag the poor wheel on the asphalt, melting off a huge chunk of steel. The mechanics were shocked beyond belief, they shook their heads in silent amazement.

Common Volvo Noises for the layperson

• Power Steering Wheel Noises: Whining when turning sharply to the left or right or a groaning hydraulic noise.
• Engine noises: High pitch whining noise – worn belts.
• Sludged Up PCV Breather Box: Whistling air noise in the engine.
• Clunky Transmission Noise: Defective universal joint, prop shaft or rear differential.
• Grinding Noise in the wheel: Worn Rotors/Brake Disks.
• Squealing or scraping while braking: Metal on metal contact means the brake pads or shoes are worn out.
• Hissing sound when braking: Could be a failing brake booster.
• Thumping noise when going over bumps: Your suspension system needs to looked at.
• Humming noise in the wheel area that changes in pitch as speed increases: Could be a failing Hub assembly or hub bearing.
• Bang.Bang. Thick black smoke: This means buy a new Volvo.

Are you suffering from the dire effects of a suffocating heat wave — 100 + degree fahrenheit weather like I am?

As you can imagine when the A/C unit that cools the Shop — Technician’s Bays — goes down, consequently the productivity also goes down.

In your case, when your Volvo  A/C unit goes down, you need to have it fixed ASAP.

The first step is to Evacuate and Recharge the A/C system with R134-A refrigerant

This will cost you $230 at our dealership.

Now, this may or may not fix the problem because you could have a leak in the pressurized System. This could as a result of a broken hose, a loose A/C compressor drive belt or a blown seal in the compressor.

So, depending on the size of the leak, you could go the entire summer with A/C working fine– tiny leak – or you could be back next week if you have a gaping hole.

When we Evacuate and Recharge, we draw out the remnants of the old refrigerant in the system including water moisture and recharge with new refrigerant. A fluorescent dye is also added. In case of a leak, we can inspect the system with UV light, to detect traces of fluorescent dye leaking out.

I would recommend you go to your Volvo Dealer for an Evacuation and Recharge because they have the proper equipment to do this work. I learned this the hard way when my girlfriend bought a 22 ounce Can of R134A one day after her A/C stopped working and she sweetly asked me , ” can you please recharge my A/C”.

I am not a technician. But because I work in a Service Center she expects me to know these things. So, here I am, trying to figure out the low pressure valve from high pressure valve on her car’s A/C system. I am reading the instructions on the can, which says to start the car and set the A/C on full blast. Fan settings from low to high. I do all these things, and I am starting to feel good, confident. I shake the can like a professional, elevate it and depress the button, Psssss…Psssss. Nothing is happening. I start to sweat and swear. Damn! where is a good mechanic when you need one.

Every year, when Volvo releases a new model, dealership employees get to take all these wonderful tests online, to familiarise themselves with new Volvo features.

The tests are a pain in-the-you-know-what. But the extra knowledge has paid-off for me, because when a customer who is having difficulties with some features on his or her new Volvo calls in, I know how to solve their dilemma.

One hard to use feature is located on the Sensus Infotainment System.

Customer’s usually call to ask for help with the new Sensus Infotainment System, especially how to turn off the radio because it’s tricky, you have to hold down the power button for 5 seconds to shut down the radio.  

The second hard to use feature is the  new box keys that slide into the dashboard.

The new box key is confusing to Volvo owners who are used to inserting and turning the key in the ignition lock cylinder. This is now a two or three step process.

 The trick here is to first slide the box key into the dash  — gently does it — if you push too hard it will pop out again. Next, Step on the brake pedal and push down on the START/STOP button, to start or stop the engine. Don’t yank out the box key. I see customer do that all the time with our Volvo Loaner cars — replacement vehicles.

The third hard to use feature is the hands-free Blue-tooth.

The problem here is pairing up your phone to the blue-tooth.  Software Engineers and IT Experts too, have difficulties with Volvo’s Blue-tooth.

 We get quite a few customers who just purchased a new Volvo havIng issues with pairing up their phones. Just last week, a customer called about this same issue. His blackberry phone initially paired up just fine with the bluetooth and worked great for six months. Then out of the blue it the phone stopped working with the car.

What the accessories technician says to do is, first isolate the problem. Use a different type of phone and see if it pairs up with the car. And if it does, then the problem lies with the first phone, in this case, the blackberry.

Next, call the blackberry help line and find out if blackberry recently did a software update on the phone. If they did an update, then here lies the problem. We discovered that Blackberry had indeed updated the software.  The solution was to get the old software put back in the phone. This can be a pain if Blackberry or any other phone keeps updating the software on a regular basis. Volvo should come up with a software patch to accommodate phone software updates.

Blue-tooth dropping calls is entirely another issue, probably a software bug in the blue-tooth.

Recently, one morning, a customer called the dealership to find out how much it would cost to have a bike rack installed on her 2009 XC90. So, I set out to do some research on trailer hitches.

Our expert Accessories Technician, David, says there are three ways to do this.

1. Bike Carrier mounted on a Tow Hitch

A trailer hitch installation will run you about $1100 ($700 for parts + $400 labor). And a Trailer Hitch consists of a cross member, a ball mount and a two inch diameter ball.

A hitch mounted bike carrier is a safe and easy way to transport up to 4 bikes on a tow hitch.

A quick locking-coupling makes it easy to fit a bike carrier onto the tow hitch. And an added advantage is that it’s easy to load a bike because the height is low. The bike carrier holds up to 4 bikes  — 4 non scratch cradles lock down the bikes. Dual quick release levers makes it easy to unload the bikes and if you are worried about security, there is an integrated locking cable which stores conveniently in the carrier arm. A bike carrier will cost you about $400 to install.

2. Fork Mounted Bike carrier - Roof Bike Carrier

This is a very stable way to transport a bike, with little to no risk of swaying or rattling. This kit is used to carry a racing type bike without the front wheel attached. However, you have to need cross bars installed to make this attachement possible. This will cost you about $100 to install.

3. Upright Bike Carrier - Roof Bike Carier

If you have load bars and crossbars installed on the roof of your Volvo, this frame-mounted rack can be easily attached. However, if you have a T-Track crossbar, you may require additional installation kits  for some attachments. We carry two types, the Aluminum Upright Bike Carrier and the Regular Upright Bike Carrier.This attachment will cost you about $125 for installation.

Get Rebates from Volvo Parts

Trailer hitch up to $35, Roof Bike Carrier $20, Load Bars/ Cross Bars $15