Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see May lease deals!
Options
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
It is at the dealer right now and they say they cannot replicate the problem, although they just have to wait for it to rain! But they are replacing some software that has to do with the air conditioning system that is supposed to take care of the musty smell.
Does anyone out there have any experience with this problem? It seems that some door frame gasket is not sealing. I told them to run a hose over the door, but I can't believe that they can't see the problem. Any advice is much appreciated.
2) sun roof drains? they might be clogged. pull away part of the front carpet and feel down in there. There is 2 to3 inches of foam under your carpet, so by lifting up your floor mats you might nit see it.
3) there is software for the "afterblow feature" which will turn on the a/c blower.when the vehicle is not in use.this will keep your vents dry for that initial smell. see when the pollin filter was last changed in the vehicle also.
---more to come got to go back to work. :shades:
And like the rest of you, gas mileage sucks big time.
mary
He did tell me that they were upgrading software for the afterblow feature mentioned above that should dry out the air conditioning system after it is used. I believe this was done once before and improved the smell coming out of the vents for a while.
If I get any more info about the door jam, I will let you know. I'll also check those weep holes. Thanks for the info.
Unfortunate situation with trans. I would think you are under warranty still (50k).
Volvo was extremely hard to deal with, and offered us 3k off. We were past the warranty at 61k miles. They have a bad problem and probably do not want to admit it by handling it correctly. Let me know how things go.
Good luck with everything.
Dianne
I am extremely furious.
mary
thanks.
Em
Ann Belec and Management Staff
Chief Executive Officer
Volvo of North America LLC
1 Volvo Drive
Rockleigh, New Jersey 07647
CC: Better Business Bureau
BCC: Attorney General’s Office - Tom Corbett
Dear Ann Belec:
I am writing to you regarding my 2003 Burgundy Red Volvo XC90 T6(VIN: ). I am writing to you to express my extreme dissatisfaction with this car and the service Volvo has provided me. I have been meaning to write this letter for many months now, but with the lack of time provided for me due to my important responsibility of taking care of others, I have not had the chance to express my dissatisfactions. As I noted, I am a Doctor, and reliability is the core of my occupation. This Volvo under many circumstances(which I will note below) has been less than stellar. To further worsen the problem, the Volvo Dealer’s have made these instances even worse. It makes me begin to think that Volvo has no pride or self respect in their products that they manufacture. We had similar problems with a 1983 Mercedes. We wrote many letters to the manufacture and they did not respond. We vowed to never come back to Mercedes and we switched to Lexus. In the last 11 years we have purchased 4 Lexus’s because we were extremely satisfied with not only the products but the service as well. If you take a look at the Luxury Car market in the last decade, you can see that Lexus’s strategy has been more than successful. Please read a list of my complaints and please don’t allow the Volvo Experience to become similar to the Mercedes one.
Ann here is a list of problems:
1. Our first instance occurred last year at Burdumy Volvo. We had given the car in for inspection and it had returned without any problems. At 8:30am the following week the car would not go past 15 mph. I called Burdumy Volvo of Huntingdon Valley, and told them I was bringing in the car. As I entered the dealership the first thing they told me was that we do not have a loaner car available. Our Lexus Dealer would bend over backwards for us. After a very heated argument with the dealer, they finally gave me a loaner car. The computer had malfunctioned and needed to be replaced. I want to stress the importance of my occupation. I am a Doctor, and I need to be on time at work. The dealership was irresponsible in their actions, which made this computer failure much worse. This is the start in the string of instances which showed the lack of reliability of the vehicle and the lack of customer satisfaction training of the network of dealerships.
2. The most severe malfunction occurred In March of 2007, 3 months after the car had outrun its warranty period: the transmission of the car failed. Luckily I had the extended warranty. But I have purchased over 15 cars in the last 30 years and never once have I had a transmission failure. We have a 1990 Chevy van that still runs smoothly. This is a four year old car and its transmission failed. The car was in the shop for two weeks, and I was given a econobox rental car from Hertz. When I pay over fifty thousand dollars for a car, I expect it to deliver, along with the dealership. Just recently over the long weekend(Nov 22nd 2007), the transmission began to jerk and shake the car violently while switching between 1st and 2nd gear. The next day a message lit up – “Urgent Transmission Service Needed”. Mind you this is the second transmission problem in a 5 year old car. Furthermore the new transmission barely reached six months and gave us problems. The Volvo dealer responded back saying that the gear ratios need to be changed. Then on November 27th, we were told that the car would need a new transmission, AGAIN!!! We were then told the problem was that the second transmission was a remanufactured transmission. This is unbelievable, and the straw that broke the Camel’s back. It really makes me think that Volvo’s reliability is subpar and one of the worst on the market. As an update on November 30th the Volvo Dealer called to state that there was a radiator leak. To further complicate the problem they were adamant over a measly $100 for the deductible for the extended warranty. I have two qualms with this. First their technician had taken the car home the first day of service, and mysteriously a radiator leak was found after that. If you look at the past record, new problems occur right after a service is performed, every time. Once is a coincidence BUT 3 or 4 times is not. Secondly what kind of pride do you have in a dealer network that fights over a measly hundred bucks, especially with the poor experience we have had with the car. This dealership(Volvo of Langhorne) has made so much money off of us(bought the car from them, installed the aftermarket navigation, our normal services and the service repairs(the transmission service alone is a six thousand dollar service – now multiply that times two).
3. Just last month we had given the car in to Volvo of Langhorne for a expensive $1000 service. One week later the car began to shake violently and would not accelerate. It turns out that a coil in one of the spark plugs was defective. Again I want to stress that, it is a coincidence that every time we bring our vehicle in for service that another problem appears one week later. We are very disappointed with the service and the quality of Volvo.
4. We also had the Navigation System Installed aftermarket through Volvo, since there weren’t many cars available with the navigation system. After we drove the car home, we realized that the Langhorne Volvo had forgotten to replace the Center Console Properly. This is especially dissatisfying, because the first time they had taken in the car to install the Navigation, they had ordered the wrong parts.
5. The tires that came stock in the car went bald after 15000 miles. The Volvo dealership was unwilling to help us with his problem. We had realized that they went bald, when on a slippery snowy winter day, the car slid backwards on a hill. We had to have police backup to help us up the hill.
6. Last year the car began swerving to the left when I would brake. Not just a slight swerve, but one that made if very nerve-racking to drive the car. The service was performed under warranty at Volvo of Langhorne. In the process the dealership had broken the ball bearing of the front suspension. It only shows you the type of employees a dealership hires if they are inexperienced at working on these cars.
7. We had preordered a Volvo XC90 that ended on the bottom of the English Channel. It was on the Tri-color. It is just fate I guess telling us not to buy the car. I knew that my Volvo was at the bottom once I heard the news. I called Burdumy Volvo to confirm this suspicion. He had told me, no it’s fine. Then a week later he calls us back to tell us something we already knew. This should have been a clear foreshadowing of what we expect from Volvo.
I think you will
The original reason for the visit to the repair shop was the "urgent transmission service" message that popped up a week ago last Sunday. We did buy the extended warranty but unfortunately for us has expired by 8K miles. We drive 50 miles everyday to work and have grandkids that live in Washington so we wanted a good safe car to travel in. So now $4200 dollars later for a "new" transmission, the car is back in because it doesn't run properly...I must admit that we are receiving better customer service from the dealer that is trying to fix the problem than it seems you received.... however, its still a very hard pill to swallow on a car that we thought was built better than that. We, like you found out after they took out the old transmission and installed the "new" one that it really isn't new. I then proceeded to ask for compensation for my old transmission since I knew they were going to send it back and rebuild it.. . I didn't get anything for it.
So basically I paid top dollar for a failed XC90 transmission that was in somebody else's car and now it's in mine! We, like you have had many problems with our XC90, broken motor mount, broken shock, problems with the climate control, rattles . . and like you with this latest incident with the transmission have had zero customer service from Volvo Customer Care. So I wondered if you got a better if any response from Anne.
Thanks for Anne Belec's address!
FROM ANOTHER DISAPPOINTED VOLVO OWNER
Volvo did not change manufacturers for the transmissions.
Aisin Warner, which makes the 5 speed now makes the 6 speed for Volvo
GM made the 4 speed for the T6. That transmission was dropped when the T6 was replaced with the V8.
If you geta 5cyl XC90, you shouldn't have any tranny issues.
:lemon:
The vast majority of Volvo's are excellent cars with little or no troubles.
I am sorry that yours isn't, but you can't paint all Volvo's as bad just becaise yours has had problems.
FWIW, I know people who have had problems w/ their Honda's.
Does that make Honda a bad car?
Sorry for the delay - have not been on this board in a while. We are waiting for a response - my email is lexusap@gmail.com - you can contact me if you want to speak more about your transmission problems - we are totally fed up - and yes volvo's used to be reliable - but put an american part in it - ie a GM transmission and say goodbye to reliability - ie reason why GM and ford are like the titanic - sinking - will def stay with japanese cars.
Yes, Honda's do have problems and I know somebody that had to replace a transmission on a Honda that she bought new, the transmission was out of warranty. . . and guess what, Honda replaced it for FREE! Honda stands behind their product!
:lemon:
Volvo 2004 xc90 61k, trans goes- Volvo will not do a thing, we continue to b and moan and they pay for half - which still comes to 3200.00 on our end. The problem is that we had around 4 other major repair issues with the Volvo before the trans went, so they felt they had done enough. Bad business, bad car.
Has anyone had any experience with a starter in the XC90?
tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper
i have total respect for volvo because of stuff like this. also sounds like you have a great volvo dealer!
i think it somehow feels better to pay thousands for an extended-warranty up front than it does to pay thousands for an out-of-warranty failure. (only if something big does fail, of course!)
if absolute reliability and avoidance of big-failures is your top goal, driving a 5 year old european vehicle is possibly a nonoptimal choice - so shopping/trade-in for a newer vehicle is probably a wise idea for you. best wishes!
peppagirl, your vehicle still runs even though the trans needs urgent service? i say drive it until it fails, and be sure to have a cellphone and maybe AAA or whatever. maybe consider trading it - obviously it will bring $5k less on the trade-in, but considering a newer/more-reliable/non-european vehicle may be a good idea for you too. cheers!
I am at a loss on the XC90 2.5 turbo AWD.
wheredoes the oil filter live? drain plug? do you have to remove a skid plate?s it worth it? Any troubule getting parts from non volvo sources?
Many thanks!
The '04 V70 2.4L non-turbo has no skid plate, and the filter is a paper element which fits in a can accessed from below. The can is sealed with an O-ring. I think the can is unscrewed just like you would remove the old style filter, but the used paper element will remain in place when the can is removed. You then remove the used paper element by pulling down on it with something. Sounds messy! I will probably have it done at the dealer or at an oil change place I have used for my other cars. At that place I supplied the filter and oil and they charged $14 for labor. For the past several years I have used Mobile1 10W-30 Extended Performance (I would give the dealer 6 quarts) and had the dealer change it at 8000 mi which has been about 1 year for me.
If the filter in your 2.5T 5-cyl is the same type and in the same location, then you may have to remove the skid plate to drain the oil and change the filter. But there may be access holes in the skid plate.
My wife has an '07 XC90 3.2L 6-cyl and the oil filter is accessed from above. It is a paper element in a container which the lid unscrews from. I have seen this same arrangement on a BMW. I didn't get it exactly straight, but the Volvo service advisor told me that they change the filter first and then drain the crankcase. He said when they unscrew the lid on the filter housing, the check valve releases and allows the contents of the filter housing to drain into the crankcase.
It seems to me that this arrangement is ideal for changing the oil using one of the commercially available suction devices which removes the oil through the dipstick tube. Then you wouldn't have to remove the skid plate or getunder the car at all.
"Hand Pump Oil Extractor
No more crawling under the car to drain your oil.
Changing your own oil saves time and money--plus, you know the job is done right. The Hand Pump Extractor is the easiest way to remove your old oil. The unit comes with two different tube sizes, to fit your car’s dipstick tube. After a few pumps to build a vacuum, oil flows from your crankcase into the canister. A safety float shuts off flow if the unit is full.
And if you’re skeptical about extracting oil through the dipstick tube, consider the fact that this is how Mercedes-Benz factory technicians are trained to change oil.
Great for lawn mowers and motorcycles, too!
Capacity: 6.5 Liters (about 7 quarts)."
This type of oil change pump would be worth it not having to get under the car. Every couple of years you could drain it out through the drain plug if build up of sediment in the bottom of the pan would conceivably be a problem.
Has anyone here vetted the advertisers claims of MB officially doing it this way?
I assume that this would preclude the formation of sludge so that I could use one of the oil change pumps. Do you agree?
The manual says the "typical" replacement is 37,500 miles OR every two years at owner request OR every one year at owner request if driven in a humid climate.
I'd think that means they'd AT LEAST cover one brake fluid change, regardless of mileage within the 3 year "free" service window.
What's been the experience of others on these boards?