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  1. #21
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    SF Bay Area
    Posts
    26

    Default Battery Problem with all 2008+ Volvo cars

    I was prompted to post to this thread after another episode of my 2010 XC60 T6 not starting up after returning from a trip and the car sitting in my garage for 5 days and investigating the issue online.

    Some background:
    I have been dealing with this battery/car not starting issue when the car hasn't been driven for a few days for a couple of years now. First, like almost everyone else, thought it was just that the factory battery needed replacing. I have a trickle charger so I would keep the battery conditioned when I knew the car was going to sit for a few days. After a couple of instances, I figured I would replace the battery and I went with an Interstate M7 AGM high-end battery, that was Nov. 2014. Things seemed fine for a while, I wasn't away and there weren't many instances where the car sat for consecutive days. However, less than 2 years after the battery replacement, Aug. 2016, car would not start after several days when I was away. The battery is warrantied for 4 years and I took it back to the battery dealer to have them check it out...they thought it would be best to replace it...so another new MT7 AGM installed. The latest incident occurred yesterday, car was sitting in my garage for 5 days. Needed a jump from a tow service truck, neighbor's car couldn't do the job with jumper cables.

    Upon doing the usual forum searches and investigation...clearly I'm not the only one with this problem. Lots of information and advice out there spanning the range from alternator, battery condition/replacement, charging system issues, possible battery drain from a system/component, software updates, etc.

    One thing that caught my attention was a forum post by someone that mentioned the Volvo On Call system and its function to "monitor" and possibility this was a source of battery drain. Investigating on how I might disable this feature and more searches resulted in finding articles and websites noting a class action lawsuit filed against Volvo Cars NA on this exact issue:

    Volvo Battery-Draining Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Theresa Jenner v. Volvo Cars North America LLC, Case No. 2:15-cv-06152, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

    https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-...ction-lawsuit/
    http://www.seegerweiss.com/news/inve...battery-drains

    I thought this was good information to pass along, apologies if someone has already posted on these specifics...

    So my question to this community is this:
    1.) Volvo is obviously aware of this issue...does anyone know if there is a specific s/w update that will resolve this problem that I can go to my dealer and request that it be installed? To my knowledge my car is current on s/w updates, perhaps this is something that is "off-menu" that Volvo doesn't want to publicize.

    2.) Other than keeping my battery on a trickle charger every time I'm traveling, anyone have insights on how to disable the Remote Digital Audio Receiver (RDAR)? FYI-I pulled the fuse for the Sirius Satellite Radio in my fuse box...just in case this satellite system uses the same fuse.

    Thanks,
    Chik
    Last edited by chik; 04-16-2017 at 02:46 PM.
    2010 XC60 Polestar T6 AWD
    2001 Volvo V70 XC (traded- in)
    1985 Volvo DL (died 280K mi.)
    1998 BMW M3/4 (rear-ended by cabbie...totaled)

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    SF Bay Area
    Posts
    26

    Default Dealership fixing the problem

    I took the car into my dealership this morning and explained what I outlined above to my service manager. He let me know that he'd heard of the RDAR problem and that once he received authorization from the factory rep he could do the s/w update that would resolve the battery drain issue.

    Service manager called to tell me they were able to verify that the RDAR was responsible for the battery drain. But apparently, my car would not accept the s/w fix as the RDAR was not functioning properly. However, I was told there is another fix that installs a wire bypass which used to be the workaround before the s/w fix became available. I'm going ahead with this option but the bypass will disable any ability to use the SIRIUS satellite radio feature, which in my case is a non-issue. Kudos to my dealership and my service manager for taking care of this for me.

    Makes me wonder if my DIY fix of pulling the SIRIUS fuse would have also prevented future battery drain problems

    Now the ultimate test is to leave my car sitting for a week and see if she'll start up...
    2010 XC60 Polestar T6 AWD
    2001 Volvo V70 XC (traded- in)
    1985 Volvo DL (died 280K mi.)
    1998 BMW M3/4 (rear-ended by cabbie...totaled)

  3. #23

    Default

    I do not know how long doe sit take to drain battery, not to mention why.

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    SF Bay Area
    Posts
    26

    Default Back from out of town and car started up

    Update: After returning from a business trip, the car started up and battery issue seems to be resolved. The car was left sitting in the garage for nearly 6 days. When I returned and checked everything out, all seemed to be in good working order and was able to start the car with no problems.
    2010 XC60 Polestar T6 AWD
    2001 Volvo V70 XC (traded- in)
    1985 Volvo DL (died 280K mi.)
    1998 BMW M3/4 (rear-ended by cabbie...totaled)

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Location
    Pleasanton CA USA
    Posts
    486

    Default

    The math doesn't work. If you have a trickle load of 2 mA on a car sitting idle for 5 days (120 h), the charge used up is:

    0.002 x 120 = 0.24 Amp-hr

    A typical batter stores 60 Amp-hr. So, you've only consumed 1/250th of the battery's capacity. Alternatively, you could let the car sit idle
    over a year, and at this level of leakage, it should start.

    To drain the battery in 5 days, the leakage would have to be: 60 Amp-hr / 120 hours = 0.5 Amp. You would see a spark when disconnecting the battery.

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