Help My Volvo engine has died on me!!

[bokmunc]

Hi everyone,

My beloved XC90 yesterday did not behave itself and when I started it up took a little longer to start the engine, it did not sound too great when it fired up and 10 metres away from the house cut out, there was a message which said engine failure then refused to restart,

Has this happened to any one elses Volvo?? Mine is under 2 years old (March 2004) and is a D5 diesel. That morning took the Volvo to Leeds and back a journey of just over 30 miles in total with no problems...

Now having to wait till the Volvo dealer opens at 11am to give them a call,

This should be repaired under warranty, I hope....... Should I get a courtesy car whilst mine is under repair?? I plan to drive to London on Thursday morning and back a round trip of around 450 miles!

Thanks all !!

[bokmunc]

This morning the RAC man got the engine to start but did not recommend me to drive.. He thinks its a sensor problem, he arranged a flat bed lorry to take my Volvo to the dealer!! Very sad!!

Dealer's not too helpful, no courtesy car, no phone call to tell me what is wrong with the car. Not the kind of service which I associate with my dream car which I spent over £35000 (US$60,000) on. Not too pleased......

Anybody with a similar problem, and can anyone recommend a UK Volvo dealer which has great service??

Funny how service matters, even thinking of my next car.........

[bokmunc]

Dealer has told me that the problem was not the engine, it had fun out of fuel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The fuel gauge showed 1/3 left in the tank but it some how failed!!!
Any one had this failure before.

Well it was replaced and thought that was better than repairing the engine!

Driving to London in the morning, keeping my fingers crossed...................

[MilVolvo]

I have been searching the internet to see if this has happened to anyone else. I have a 2005 Volvo XC 90. At the end of December my car "ran out of gas" on the on-ramp to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was quite a harrowing experience for everyone in the car, and we were all confused since the gas gauge was reading that I had about 1/3 of a tank left. I took the car to the dealership, and they immediately replaced the fuel gauge and sensor chip. The service was free, but for 4 days I had no car and a loaner car was not offered to me. Plus, when I got my car back, it wreaked of gasoline for about a week.

Assured that the problem had been fixed, I filled my car up with gas and have been driving around town with no issues...until this morning. Still on my first tank of gas "post fix", I get into the car with my 2 kids in tow, start the engine, stall, start it again, stall. It's the same problem - car says that I have a 1/3 of a tank, but it's empty?!@#$% I could scream I am so angry about this. I called the dealership this morning and heard nothing back from them all day. I am having nightmares that I bought a $55,000 lemon!

Please let me know if your issue has been fixed. Is there anyone else out there that has had a similar experience?

[bokmunc]

Hello MilVolvo

Funny My Local Volvo dealer is called Mill Volvo!!

Since my XC90 was returned I have had no faults, keeping my fingers crossed. It is worrying that after a fault one does wonder if the car will be ok?? Especially after your experience. I do not think I will buy Volvo after this experience ........

Dealer was very poor, no courtesy car, no call from them when I asked them to inform me of any update with the car, (I had to chase them all the way). I felt like an awkward customer giving them a problem!!!

When I phoned up the sales department and asked them about breakdowns during the warranty period and their policy on courtesy cars they replied absolutely...... Not sure if that is pure sales talk........or what.................

Next to the Volvo Dealer is the Audi dealer who are trying to tempt me with their Q7...which looks great....

What a promotion video......think that this is the future the internet can promote cars. The interactive test drive is brilliant.

http://www.audi.com/audi/com/en1/new_cars.html

I am thinking about it..................
Volvo dealers got to improve their service esp in this competitive luxury car sector.... Last sales report for the UK is that Volvo sales are down for 2005 by 4.4%.......

[Big]

Is there anyone else out there that has had a similar experience? Welcome. Always sorry to hear about problems and crummy dealers. Which dealer is it? If you have a choice, you might try another one. Loaners vary by dealer but if sales said that they provide one, make sure they deliver. Note that in an emergency like yours all the loaners may have been out but they should have offered to make other arrangements. My dealer always offers a current Volvo loaner.

As for the "out of gas," I have not heard of that specific problem but there have been a few reports of bad fuel pumps and engine control modules which can cause stalling. Whatever it is, they should have figured it out the first time, especially since it took them 4 days! No reason to worry about a lemon, although a bad dealer can make straightforward problems seem like it. Of course, if they don't fix it in several tries you can start talking lemon. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Good luck.

[weroll]

Bokmunc

Same happened to my Jan 2004 D5. Luckily my wife managed to have the car rolled to a safe spot. The ANWB (dutch AAA) came to the rescue. Had no clue about the cause of the problem. They towed our car with their VW Golf (!!!) to our house which was luckily not too far.

The next day the dealer came to our house, filled the tank with some diesel and took it to their workshop to replace the fuel meter. It looked like they were familiar of the problem having it fixed so quickly. This happened spring 2005 and no problems since then.

They offered a courtesy car. No complaints!

[bokmunc]

Weroll,

Thanks Weroll for your reply. Seems that there might be a problem with the fuel gauge for some XC90. So far two 2004 models and one 2005 one. Faulty batch??? hopefully we do not have future problems.....................................

It was the last thing on my mind when my XC90 grinded to a halt that the fuel ran out, but it could help other XC90 owners out there to know that a simple remedy could bring your car and family back home. ................... Then sort it out with the dealer!!

Also here in the UK the RAC said that their Ford Transit was unable to tow the XC90!!! Against the regulations they said and hence called for a lorry to drag the XC90 up the ramp.... very sad sight!! Bet the VW Golf was stuggling to tow your motor!!

MilVolvo

Can you tell us what engine your XC90 has? As our 2 European XC90 were both diesel D5's!

[dmd]

Lets see... You know it run out at 1/3, so fill it at 1/2 until you can get
a good time to take it to the dealer and get it looked at at your convience.

Really, it isnt a big deal once you know about it. Yea running out sucks, call AAA.

[MilVolvo]

My Volvo dealer informed me that Volvo is aware of the faulty fuel gauge problem and they have "upgraded" the part. When I asked if they were recalling the vehicles, they said no because only certain VINs were affected. I guess those of us on this thread fell into the range of VINs affected...

To dmd, I understand your point "Yea running out sucks, call AAA," but where I unknowingly "ran out of gas" I could have easily been killed. It was more than just a sucky situation. It was 11:00 at night, on a blind turn, on a road without a shoulder. Cars were coming around the corner traveling 45 mph and had about 30 feet to slam on their brakes and change lanes. A policeman had to literally push my car with his (bumper to bumper) to get me to safety. There was no time to call AAA, and I don't know what we would have done if that cop hadn't been nearby. Also, you seem to think that I knew my car had this problem. "Lets see... You know it run out at 1/3, so fill it at 1/2 until you can get a good time to take it to the dealer and get it looked at at your convience." I had NO idea my fuel gauge was reading incorrectly. Otherwise, I most definitely would have made the time to take my car into the dealer and have the car fixed. Like I said earlier, Volvo is not recalling these vehicles, nor are they informing their drivers of the potential hazard. This is a lawsuit waiting to happen. The next person in my situation may not be as lucky, and it seems criminal to me that Volvo is doing nothing to prevent it.

To bokmunc, I have a 2005 XC90 5 cylinder (gas, not diesel) engine

[Big]

My Volvo dealer informed me that Volvo is aware of the faulty fuel gauge problem and they have "upgraded" the part. When I asked if they were recalling the vehicles, they said no because only certain VINs were affected. I guess those of us on this thread fell into the range of VINs affected... I wonder which VINs? I tried searching the technical bookstore for notices relating to this problem but no hits. Fuel sensors and gauges are off-the-shelf parts and can fail in any car but 3 reports on a small forum like this is unusual. A cheap part but quite a bit of labor to replace I imagine.

Was the "distance to empty" readout also showing 1/3 tank left (100+ miles)?


I had NO idea my fuel gauge was reading incorrectly. Otherwise, I most definitely would have made the time to take my car into the dealer and have the car fixed. Like I said earlier, Volvo is not recalling these vehicles, nor are they informing their drivers of the potential hazard. This is a lawsuit waiting to happen. The next person in my situation may not be as lucky, and it seems criminal to me that Volvo is doing nothing to prevent it. What could they reasonably do for a few random failures? They could bring in thousands of cars and test them but chances are the bad gauges would check out Ok until they failed.

I'm sure I would notice if the time had come to fill the tank and it still showed 1/3 left--that's well over 100 miles! I routinely reset one of the trip odometers at the gas station because I like to keep track of fuel mileage that way. But I might be tempted to keep going to see if I really was suddenly getting 30 mpg! ;)

[weroll]

Big

Also the computer showed a few hundred km's remaining. This didn't help because that was the first thing to check. Therefore I thought I had still sufficient fuel.

About using your 'instinctive' approach:I don't know about your situation but it happens that my wife also takes the car to the gasstation and as she has no reporting line to me I am not always aware when the car had its last fill.

I agree with Milvolvo and bokmunc that if this is a known problem, Volvo could at least make it's customers aware of it. They don't have to check all cars but at least they might suggest to use the trip meter as a reference.

[bokmunc]

Milvolvo

yep I agree about this could be a major lawsuit waiting to happen, my engine did cut cut suddenly.............. I thought what would have happened if I was on the fast (sorry overtaking lane) on a typical busy UK motorway, a major accident could have happened. I was very lucky the engine cut out just 50m from home with a place to gently coast and park.

Sure volvo know about this and should do the right thing, I do not think that owners should be warned and check their trip meters as a reference and "hope" it is still working. Yes this forum does help us owners in that if one's engine cuts out and it shows 1/3 tank left then there could be a simple remedy...............but that is for tip is for us!! Not for Volvo corporation to deny that there could be a problem.

This is a top of the range car!!! It works or it does not.... simple. Volvo should find out when the problem was brought to their attention and isolate the batch of faulty fuel gauges and call them in to replace. It would be costly ( or would it? .....matter of a few hours labour and a £10 part)but would save them in a potential court action and would restore my confidence in their cars.


Big

This I would not classify as a random failure....this exact problem happened twice for Milvovo what are the odds of that for being called a "random" event!! I would have been mad if after the "problem" was fixed and it happened again. My XC90 did cut out at 1/3 tank, the error message did not say "low in fuel" or "out of fuel" it said major engine failure.... or some words to that effect........

[Big]

This is a top of the range car!!! It works or it does not.... simple. Volvo should find out when the problem was brought to their attention and isolate the batch of faulty fuel gauges and call them in to replace. I appreciate your annoyance but paying a lot for a car does not improve its reliability. One should expect superior service with a premium brand but the dealers are independent so quality will vary. The reputation of local dealers is one reason I went with Volvo instead of some other top brands. In your area it is probably different.


This I would not classify as a random failure....this exact problem happened twice for Milvovo what are the odds of that for being called a "random" event!! I would have been mad if after the "problem" was fixed and it happened again. My XC90 did cut out at 1/3 tank, the error message did not say "low in fuel" or "out of fuel" it said major engine failure.... or some words to that effect........ By random I meant that there is no way to predict if or when a given gauge will fail (except in the unlikely case that an entire batch is bad). You may have just been unlucky. I have yet to see a XC stranded on the road but it will hurt when I do! :(

It's interesting that you got an engine failure message. I wonder if this message occurs whenever the car runs out of fuel or if there is something else besides the gauge involved. Inaccurate gauges and running out of fuel for various reasons are fairly common no matter what the brand, but engine failure messages are not. Please keep us posted on how this works out. And good luck!

[bokmunc]

Hello everyone,

It has happened to me again 2 years after the first faulty fuel gauge.....



My now 4 1/2 year old XC90 33500 miles on the clock had another failure today, (2 in its life),
I was driving down the high street when suddenley the engine shut out and it just would not start.

I had a similar problem around 2 years ago( pls see previous posts!)and the diagnostic was that the car had run out of fuel, the gauge was then reading just over 1/3 full.

I glanced at the fuel gauge and it was reading just over 1/2 and the gauge went to zero when the ignition was removed, and went back to just over 1/2 was iginition was restarted.

So I thought that the fuel gauge was working fine...... ...I was 50 metres from a BP station so I filled up a small jerry can of diesel, but no luck!! Called the AA man, who did his wonders and suddenly it worked. He said it was no fuel and some air stuck in there some where!! He then accompanied me to the BP station to refuel, remember the gauge awas reading over 1/2 a tank, I will filling the tank all the way to 66 litres!! So the tank was indeed empty......

Could have been worse, has this happened to any other XC90 owner out there.....

[dmd]

Until you find a time to get it fixes, keep track of the milage so you dont run out again...

I always keep track of how far I have gone with a tank. If I had seen half a tank and
milage for a complete tank I might have gone and filled it because something wasent right.