Volvo XC90 Maintenance and Repair

lev_berkovich

While I agree with some of your comments, I would challenge the 0.1% figure.
In my household, with 1 male (myself) and 3 female drivers - this is 75% of drivers. My wife and my daughters ALWAYS keep passenger doors locked when they drive alone. My younger (17) daughter LOCKS all the doors of her Mazda MPV, when she drives - and I can not convince her not to. Apparently, quite a few females are scared enough off hijacking by our wonderful media.

P.S. And we live in very safe, predominantly jewish neighborhood, where people still walk at night...

Go figure...

I am the only one who hit the unlock button twice, mainly because I have a habit to stove my briefcase behind the driver's seat.

astrand

We have a 2005 XC90 and are currently in the :lemon: law process for Florida.

When a passenger (mainly my wife) is in the seat the "passenger air bag off" light goes on. It doesn't happen every time, but about 1/3 of the time. The dealership has had 6 times to fix it and so I called Volvo of North America Service Headquarters in New Jersey to see if they could help. My local dealership was telling me that my wife must not be using the seat belt correctly and she may have to fully extend the belt as far as she could pull it to trigger it. Basically a load of bung.

Has anyone else have this problem?

robriz

At long last our problems may be over. Goodyear is now producing a 235/60 R18 tire called the Eagle ResponsEdge - with Kevlar and Carbon Fiber Technology - 400 Treadwear rating (vs. 300 for Michelin OEM) and A for traction and temperature. It is a M+S tire as well. Already contacted my local NTB and will have them as soon as they are available!!!!!

kiiwii

Astrand, how can seatbelts be used incorrectly? It's just pull and click. The dealer you went to was talking garbage. I'm just surprised the number of bad dealers out there. You made a good decision to proceed the lemon law. Please let us know the result.

dlsparks88

We own a n XC90 (2004) with 50000 miles on it.Six months ago we brought it to the dealer with scratching noise when we turn left. They checked it over and replaced a wheel bearing on the right!! wheel. We drive off the lot and it makes the same noise that we brought it in for. Returned the car back to dealer, this time they claim it is the shoe at the end of the driving shaft. They exchange that, I pick up the car it makes the same noise even more loud when I drive off. I complain and they tell me that the grease and the dust are rubbing and the noise will continue for some time since it is a new part.All previous work was done under warranty. 1000 miles later I still have the same problem but now the warranty is up. Yet the dealer has another guess and wants to replace a bearing somewhere in the driving shaft??? for lots of our money.As you can tell anybody can tell us anything and we believe it , please help

techfan

I also drive a 2004 XC90 (T6AWD), and had a similar problem virtually from the date of delivery. One difference possibly is the description of the noise. In my case, a hard turn to the right coupled with acceleration was met by a noise I described as two PVC pipes rotating in contact in opposite directions. The delivering dealer made three attempts to locate the problem without success. Their final diagnosis was that the power steering hoses were not properly "buffered" from their surroundings. I changed dealers, and the second maintemance manager determined that the entire steering assembly required replacement. That was done under warranty, and the problem never reoccured. Some advice---since you have established a stream of problems dating back to the car being under warranty, go as high as necessary within Volvo America to gain their agreement that your warranty is still attached to this specific problem.

ga_xc90

I purchased our 2005 XC90 T6/nav/dvd/3rd row in Dec 05. From the start we have had issues with the vehicle. Problems range from AC failure, knocking in the front suspension, and the most frustrating issue being a reoccurring problem with the brakes making a hideously loud squealing noise. I admit that we put the vehicle to the test with 42K on the car. To date, we have put on 3 sets of front rotors and 2 sets of brakes. The car is sitting in the shop now with the same issue. Of course the recommended "fix" is to replace the rotors and pads. The dealer is now unwilling to make the repairs on their dime and say that this is "normal wear and tear". This was my last bit of patience. I have now requested a buyback from Corp. I am not happy with the response and “It’s not our problem” attitude of the .corporation. Of course the appraisal is a little low and they are of course deducting the costs for replacing the rotors and brakes all around. My net loss if I go with the buyback is 12K. I am very disappointed with the vehicle and the corporation as a whole. Volvo Corp said they can't do anything and recommend that I call the Dealer and the Dealer basically gives me the same line. I call Corp and the gentleman that I talked to was border line rude and not willing to help or get involved. I make all the calls to Corp and have never received a call back. Corp Customer Service Rep said that this is normal performance for these brakes... Obviously I was wrong to think that this was a quality vehicle.

steveswife1

Our 2003 XC90 has 43K miles on it. We leased the car new and have suffered one problem after another. In addition to the safety recalls, we have had to have the car in for problems with the parking brake failing to disengage (the beginning of a long line of brake problems), the reservoir for the washer fluid leaking, various leaking hoses,euro rail vibration noise, exhaust system supports needing to be installed because of loud screaming noises, bad wheel bearings, rear shocks needing to be replaced, doors not opening, doors falling shut on our toddler, various electrical problems, problems with the radio, and --most expensively-- multiple sets of replacement tires. This is only a partial list of what we have experienced. Volvo tells us this is "typical" of what other XC90 drivers experience. If so, my prayers go out to all of you.

On top of everything else, this past weekend, the transmission died. Luckily it is under warranty. Even more luckily, we weren't rear-ended and killed by the truck that was coming up behind us when I suddenly couldn't accelerate.

Upon inspecting the car, the dealer also discovered it needs new rotors (also under warranty) as well as new brake pads and new tires. Like the previous person who posted, we have had replace the brakes multiple times (I believe this is our 3rd or 4th time). We also were told that we have to replace the tires again. This is our 4th set of tires -- average life span on each set of tires is 12K-15K miles. We drive the car with the 4WD engaged a total of about 30 miles a year,so I doubt it is taxing the tires excessively. In an effort to prevent premature tire wear, we also RELIGIOUSLY check the alignment (which the vehichle cannot seem to hold) and rotate the tires. Despite this added maintenance expense, we keep having to replace the tires. (We also keep upgrading to whatever tire is recommended as the latest "solution" to this problem, but none of them survive.)

We have been pleading (unsuccessfully) with Volvo to buy out the remainder of our lease. They won't. We have asked them to replace the vehicle with a different one (even a lower-end model) for the remainder of the lease. They won't. We asked them to eat the cost of the latest round of repairs so we could finish out the lease. They won't. We now have hired an attorney to help us. :lemon:

templeton3

We too had the same problems, but ours was a 2004. We bought it new. Most of the driving was highway miles. Our transmission went out at 52,500 miles.

Since this is a problem and solution section, my thing is this. Problem: Volvo XC 90. Solution: Get rid of it. It cost us alot of money, but learned a valuable lesson. Don't buy another VOLVO.

elias

sounds like the last two folks got lemons! citrus fruits do happen sometimes!
our 2004 has been mighty fine so far, 40k miles on it.
previous posters had brake rotors replaced multiple times, and once under warranty at 40k miles? i'd love to get free rotors at 40k miles! are you folks delivering US mail to chew up the brakes so fast?
these xc90s do eat tires quickly. i think we got 25k out of the factory michelins. we have yokos now with 13k on them, wearing plenty fast, but they should make it to 50k i think.
re the comment about "4wd engaged", the xc90 does not have 4wd, and it's awd system cannot be disengaged. i bet the fwd xc90s also eat tires just as fast.
it was the factory pirellis which really wore the fastest - in 9k miles for example. i met lots of folks at the lime rock xc90 driver training who had their pirellis wear out absurdly fast. they got new tires for free or for half price.

steveswife1

To clarify my recent posting, the dealer did NOT repair the rotors at 40K under warranty -- the dealer verbally indicated that they were going to do this, but did not. (Of course they never told us that this was the case -- they simply returned the car to us without having made that repair.)
With my comment on 4WD engagement, I meant that we minimally used the "W" setting -- pardon my lack of correct "car-speak."
On the brakes front, we have owned several other vehicles over the years and have driven all of them the same (not delivering the mail, I'm happy to say). We have had to have the brakes done on one of those vehicles (a Ford) but it was not a recurring problem. The other vehicles (BMW, VW) never experienced brake problems like this. I don't think it is likely that our driving behavior is at fault here.
Finally an update on the most recent service challenges: to continue our fun, after the transmission repairs, the car was returned to us with a new set of problems. When we picked up the car, it immediately gave us erroneous warning messages about the gas cap being loose. Then a few miles later, the "check engine" light came on (never good, in my experience). The dealer sent a tech to our house to "clear the codes." How long were we able to drive the car before the problem recurred? Six miles. Sigh...
Also, the new transmission is not performing well at all and the steering wheel now vibrates (which it did not do prior to the repair work).
Good luck eking 50K miles out of those tires -- Volvo has told us repeatedly that we are unreasonable to expect more than 20K out of any tires.

guyf

The W setting means winter. The car starts in 3rd gear to minimize wheelspin.

tsalzer

I am driving one of the first XC90 delivered in Europe. I actually have driven about 96.000 km (55.ooo miles) in Europe. Since End of January 2003 there have been changed 5 bearings allready.

Yust yesterday my wife had the worst possible experiance: the left back trie stuck during (slow) drive totally. I am happy that did not happen on the motorway.

As I have quite good industry contacts I got to know allready some month ago, that the bearing design was changed in q1 2005, and volvo knows about this problem to be an construction fault.

I am not totally sure, that the new design does not cause any more problems. As this problem is continuing on my car, i am going to tell volvo that i am going to sue them to take back the car, if they cannot prove to have solved this problem and guarantee any cost due to this problem for the cars lifetime.

I made the experiance before with some minor problem (exhaust system rusts) that volvo is lying to costumers.

I strongly recommend you to be very strict with volvo regardign this problem. They know about it and you can be sure that all bearings might brake.

elias

thanks for the clarification, steveswife1, in particular that you are not delivering US Mail! i hope i wasn't too rough on you in my other post. W mode possibly warms up the transmission a bit more than no-W-mode.
so i think you are astute to wonder if W mode would cause faster transmission wear.
about the tiresto be clear, looks like we are getting about 25k per set of 17" tires (factory michelins & the yokos we have now). not 50k!
regarding the brakes, i think that all big SUVs should eat brakes much faster than any passenger car. the pads/rotors disappear that much faster due to the extra kinetic energy they have to dissapate from all the extra mass of the SUV. the brake rotor/pads are a bit larger on a SUV than a car, but probably not enough larger so you'll get lots of miles out of your SUV brakes.
given my comments here, i figure that our xc90 brakes will require maintenance soon! they sometimes do make a crunching noise right as the vehicle comes to a full stop, but no squeaking/squealing/grinding noises yet.
sounds like your xc90 might need new gas cap if that "gas cap" code keeps happening. or worse, the fuel filler-neck could be scored or bent - requiring a whole new gas tank!

vhawaii

I have a 2005 XC-90 I purchased in Europe. My question is why does all the lug nuts and other hardware rust? I asked the dealer and he said they all do. I've been checking all the other XC-90s and have yet to find one. Can you tell me if this is an accurate statement?

elias

our 04 xc90s lug nuts are a bit corroded. i think the dealer may have actually replaced the first set under warranty due to corrosion. not 100% sure - that might have been an issue with a different/nonvolvo car !

mistry

On the 2006 XC90 with RSE, does anyone know if the it will play burned DVD's? DVD-R or DVD+R? Both? None?

I buy a bunch of movies and burn them so if my kid scratches the copies, I can reburn from the master.

Who has Dual-screen RSE and how do they like it?

Any more opinions would be greatly appreciated? I'm about the buy in a few days. Thanks in advance.

astrand

Dear Kiiwii,

We received the vehicle back and so far it's been going fine. We are currently waiting on the final paperwork as the local dealer could not complete as the lemon law paperwork must be more complicated. They still don't know what they did or if anything was done. My advice is to give the dealership 2 times to fix something and then call Volvo of North America so they can call the experts in for help. The local dealerships have the means to contact the main national help center, but a lot of times refuse to as they "know" what they are doing.

Thank you for your reply.

guyf

My lug nut heavily corroded. Volvo supplied chrome nut covers at no charge. They have a bulletin about that. The covers look nice.

kd2md

Your screen name says a lot if you do live in Hawaii now. Any ferrous (iron) metal is going to corrode in a coastal environment, and at a much faster rate than inland. All hardware is generally electro-plated cadmium or electro-galvanized for corrosion protection.(the exception to this is power line or bridge hardware which is hot dipped galvanized) Electro-plate is VERY thin, it will not last long within a damp or salty atmosphere, consequently there is not a long life expectancy with them, hot dipped galvanized is not compatable with standard hardware since the coating is substantially thicker, the threads are cut larger to compensate for the increased thickness on the bolts. If it just cosmetic, you'll be replacing lugnuts regularly, if they a siezing, there is not much one can do but put a fine shot of light oil or corrosion resistnce compound on the threads. Note that this needs to be done in moderation as excessive lube or oil could affect the bolts ability to remain tight.

crazebabe

I am finally glad I found others on the island with me. I too was experiencing doors popping open while driving. At first I thought I did not close it well. Then it kept happening again. I found this concerning since I was pregnant and was soon to put my newborn in the back seat. I had the dealer fix this 3 times. All I was left with was doors that was adjusted to the point that it left them out of alignment and with a 1/8'inch space when it was completely shut. This was the first of many repairs... Let's not talk about the brakes.....$900.00 later....eeeeekkkk.

drjose

I was about to get an XC90 Ocean Race Blue, a 2006, but after reading all the horror stories, I am having second thoughts. Any viable optional 7 seater SUV ? I was going to get rid of my Isuzu Ascender.

onawhim

I have been driving my XC90 V8 since last July. I had one minor problem with one wheel when I first got it, but otherwise, it has been a joy to drive. My husband prefers it over his Audi. Maybe I haven't had it long enough for problems to emerge, but everytime I drive it, I think it is the best vehicle I have ever driven. My last car, a Honda Odyssey, had a long unending list of problems including Transmission replacement at about 70k, constant break problems, tire wear, constant electric sliding door problems, broken instrument panel with a odometer that went back to zero! This is what I remember off the top of my head. And I thought that Japanese brands were supposed to be the most reliable.

I was told by a friend whose husband is a mechanic, these heavy vehicles are just bound to have breakdowns due to the wear and tear. If I wanted to have a Honda Civic again like the one I used to own which never broke down, I can be pretty sure that it would wear well, but I like the safe solid not to mention sporty feel of my Volvo and I am willing to put up with the heavy wear on tires, breaks and transmission to give my kids the safest transportation there is.

lev_berkovich

There was almost 90,000 XC90 sold in 2005. A really strong figure for a such rather small company like Volvo.

XC90 outsells Mercedes M and BMW X5 in US.

Put everything in perspective and remember that there are thousands of "wonderful" stories for each "horror" one. It's just people with good experience seldom share it.

We personally, have 2004 2.5T AWD for 18 month and 38K happy miles with zero defects.

I will repeat myself with the actual story, just look my posting up.

XC90 is a great urban SUV with the best (IMHO) style.

drjose

Thank you I feel reassured. I got a call from a dealer who will sell me the Ocean Race XC90 for $ 4,000.00 under invoice; I think I will take it. I have 4 to choose from. Thanks again. Jose

templeton3

Good for you. My 2004, XC90, T6 transmission went out at 52,700 miles. Don't fool yourself, its a piece of JUNK!!!

lev_berkovich

And my Nissan Frontier transmission went out at 40.5K with the 40K warranty. So what, I have replaced the transmission, and kept driving.

Stuff happens...

XC90 is anything BUT piece of junk!

wotto

I guess the rear wheel bearing problem was not fixed in 05 or 06. just had my rear wheel bearings replaced at 7800 miles. Was told water got into wheel bearings due to a problem with a bolt not sealing properly.
First time in 55 years of driving I ever replaced a wheel bearing
Repairs were taken care of and I was back on the road in an hour or so. Other than the bearing problem I am very satisfied with the XC 90

drjose

After going back and forth, I checked Consumer Reports and J D Powers and Associates websites. For the vehicle that I want, the Toyota 4 Runner wins hands down and for about ten thousand less.

Jose

templeton3

Maybe I shouldn't complain that my transmission went out at 52,500 miles. The service writer at the Volvo dealer told me that his transmission went out at 34,000 miles for his XC 90.

XC90 is the biggest piece of JUNK.

lev_berkovich

Then I really pity you - driving a piece of junk - what a misery...
On other side all our family is extremely happy to drive a great piece of modern automotive technology - XC90.

Everything is relative in this world, and it is up to us whether we live in misery or in happiness :-)

chomondely

I just replaced the right front axle where a crack in the CV boot let water into the joint. I also replaced various bushings in the front suspension. The transmission is fine and the engines burns less than a quart every 7,500 miles. I use regular gas without any problem. I get around 22 mpg.
The front brake pads lasted around 100,000 miles. The replacement set will last about 50,000 miles. I replaced one rear wheel bearings around 50,000 miles and the other around 70,000 miles.
I run Michelin LTX AT tires. I have about 60,000 miles on this set. These tires have a stiffer sidewall which gives a rougher ride, but they are very resistant to rock and cactus punctures.

The radio was replaced around 101,000 miles. Replacement as hideously expensive, but my children said that I could not get a second date with a boom box riding in the back seat.
So far , I have been very pleased with the vehicle. I go places off the road where my friends in their 4wd have trouble.

elias

autoweek is reporting what appears to be an important recall for xc90s, relating to both ball-joints & wiper-arms.

louvee

I know cross posting is frowned upon, but I also posted this in the buying and pricing forum because I was already having a discussion about my purchase.

We just bought a 2005 Xc90. We had the iPod and BlueTooth adapters installed over the weekend. The iPod works well. The BlueTooth also worked will initially. I have an issue with it now.

My Wife and I both have Verizon Motorola E815 phones. She was already using a BlueTooth headset with her phone, while I had not used BlueTooth with mine.

I paired my phone as phone#1 and hers as phone#2. When I paired mine, I did not power up the bluetooth for my phone until I started the process, so I had to choose the 'temporarily power up bluetooth' option. Everything seemed to work fine the first day.

I did not try to use mine for the rest of the day and the next day. Since then, I've noticed that when we start the car, the bluetooth states that 'phone two is connected and ready'. I didn't pay it much mind until I tried to use phone 1. My phone was powered up for bluetooth. I tried to get it to work, but I could not get it to connect.

I tried to start from scratch. However, I think I may have deleted the device from my phone before saying 'remove phone 1' from the bluetooth.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I cannot pair my phone again. I say 'pair phone', and the process starts. My phone finds the 'Volvo for life' device, but I am no longer prompted for the password, and it fails. The bluetooth says 'pairing failed. consult the owners guide'. Of course, there is nothing in the owners guide about this. I also can't find any help with Verizon or Motorola. It sounds to me like I either need to somehow reset the bluetooth (I tried to hold down the two buttons for two seconds as stated in the book) or reset my phone somehow.

Anyone have any ideas?

templeton3

Its hard to find happiness when you have to spend over $4000.00 to replace a transmission.

lev_berkovich

Agree,
The trick though is never loose it, then there is nothing to find...

$4000 is hardly a reason to loose your happiness. As I said - everything is relative in this life.

Again, I pity you, if $4000 (on a top of $40000 +) causes such a grim outlook as a total loss of happiness... It is less than 10% of original purchase. Nothing to be cheerful about, but nothing to be really down either.

amag

I am looking at getting a XC90 and I really like the red exterior color. It appears most of the red ones have the light taupe interior leather. I have children and am concerned about how well this color wears. Anyone out there have the leather taupe interior? Does it get trashed pretty easily? Show marks, scuffs, dirt very easily? Is it bad enough that I might want to consider a different exterior color (one that comes with the graphite interior color)?

THANK YOU!

volvomax

The red exterior is available with either interior.
Most XC90's get built with the light interior because that is what sells.
Depending on your location, you may have to special order an XC90 w/ the graphite interior.

lev_berkovich

We have this combination (red-light taupe leather) for 19 month - 39K miles. Looks great inside and out. Still smell of "new leather"

amag

Apparently you can no longer order new 2006 XC90s beacuse the 2007 is coming out in August... but thank you for the response.

amag

do you have young kids???

lev_berkovich

No, but it should not matter. The quality of dark leather is the same as the light one, so it should not wear any faster or later.

44ad

I just finished dropping our 2005 XC90T6 at the local dealer due to my third 100% current drain in last three months(always on a weekend when my wife drives it less) at the nearest dealer. Last time dealer thought it might be a problem with one of the 9 on-board computers not shutting down properly, but then concluded it was a pinched wire in wiring harness to right front door - that sub-harness was replaced. Exactly five weeks later, problem happens again.

Has anyone else had (or heard of) this problem? Wife is ready to get rid of car and never buy another Volvo. I've told dealer that if they can't find problem (which because it's intermittent is likely), then I want them to get Volvo USA to replace all 9 computers, voltage regulator and anything else (including entire wiring harness if necessary) that uses electricity.

I'm very disappointed. This is the 4th (and last) Volvo we've owned, and it is by far the worst mechanically.

sarshar

Just brought home my 2006 XC90 w/RSE. Had EXACTLY the same thing happen. DVD played the first time. Tried for ever to get it to work again. Worked once more. Then nothing. Blue screen with Volvo plus the symbol. Every button I hit makes the little "stop hand" appear. Did you ever get an answer to your problem?

akersa

I am curious to learn about the iPod adaptor you had installed. I have an '06 XC90 and before buying was assured by dealer that a non-FM transmitter solution was coming out any day. Well, it ain't. And Volve doesn't have plans for one anytime soon. Its a shame because the audio system isn't too bad.

Anyone out there have ideas?

Frustrated music lover.

burosky

I'm curious to try it myself but at Target they sell a blue tooth based transmitter for the iPod. Might be worth a shot since it doesn't "share" the frequency with any radio station. Not sure how it works though if you have other blue tooth devices. I would imagine it would still work since typically those devices "marry" with each other.

volvomax

Sadly, Volvo doesn't have(and never did have) plans for a hard wired ipod player for the 06 XC90.
The 07 XC90 gets a new radio w/ an aux port for an ipod, but I would bet real money that that radio won't work on an 06 car.
So, your choice would be to buy an 07 XC90, or go with the fm modulator which sounds fine in the XC90.

volvomax

How does that work w/ the car?

aaddmm

I have a '03 XC90 that the transmission went out at 60,000 miles. I did all oil changes, expensive required maint. at the dealer. Since I bought my $42,000 piece of junk, I have replaced break pads every 15,000 miles ("heavy car" says volvo). Replaced two sets of tires("heavy car" says volvo) and filled my tank more times than when I drove a Chrysler mini van! When I was told that the transmission was going to cost $4000 to replace, I asked the service dept. to help me with the cost. After all, 3 months before I just paid $900 for a "60,000 major maint." service. They did help me with half the cost which I really appreciated. However, I still do not understand how the company gets away with making transmissions that only last a few years. I am wondering how many others have paid for a new transmission? After all, I am still out $2000 for a 3 year old car. Are there others like me and you out there?

burosky

Based on the package it looks like it has a receiver unit that has to be plugged into the auxiliary jack of the radio and a transmitter that plugs into the earphone jack of the iPod. Does the radios for XC90s or Volvos in general have an auxiliary jack? FM modulators are great if you are in an area where interferrence from radio signals are at a minimum or none. Ohterwise, there is a lot of annoying static. If you live in the city, you most likely will not like it.