Hi,
I’m new to this forum, but my daughter suggested I try this forum to get suggestions for my frustrating car problem!!
I bought a used 2016 S60 T5 in March 2020 through car guru at a used car dealer about 200 miles from my home. I know now that it was a stupid thing to do because I had it about 2 weeks & got an overheat message along with a low coolant message & low battery voltage. I called the dealer & he said he would pay for a new battery & for me to take it to a local garage & have it checked out. I did & that garage said it needed a new motor because the coolant was leaking out of the head gasket. When I called the dealer, he said he didn’t believe that, because he drove it while it was at his dealership & I drove it 200 miles home without a problem. I never had any sign of leaking in my garage either. He said to take it to my local Volvo dealer, which I did and that’s where my second mistake was. I should have just taken the car back to the used car dealer, but it would have cost around 1,000 to have it towed there and I was optimistic that it wasn’t really overheating, because there weren’t any signs of that and the motor looked clean.
The original used car dealer paid for a new battery at a local auto parts shop & reimbursed me for the diagnosis of the local garage shop. The numbers below are from my local Volvo dealership service visits since March.
1. The 1st visit they reassured me that nothing was wrong with my car & said it was just a bubble in the coolant line. I was very relieved that I didn’t have to have the car towed back to the original dealer. The auto parts store battery didn’t get rid of the low voltage message, so while there I had them put a Volvo battery in & luckily my auto parts store took back the other one. I paid for the new battery & the charge for diagnosis & coolant at that visit. I ended up breaking my foot the end of March and with the 2020 global pandemic, I didn’t do much driving until July.
2. I was heading out to go to my daughter’s home, 225 miles away for my grandson’s birthday in mid-July & I was a few miles from home when I got a low coolant message again. I called the Volvo service rep immediately & he said to stop in on my way & he would top it off. When I got there, I told him I had gotten another overheat message the day before so he gave me a gallon of coolant to carry with me. About 10 miles from my daughter’s the low coolant message returned. It was popping up & down as I was braking & accelerating in traffic. When I got to her house, I filled the coolant over flow tank which had been about an inch & a half below the min line. I stayed for a long weekend & headed home & the same thing with the low coolant message a few miles from my home. The next day I called the Volvo service rep & he told me they would come pick it up. When the rep was dropped off he went to the coolant tank & opened the cap & all the fluid came back up to the top of the tank. The next day when he was driving it to work, I was told the overheating message appeared again the next morning & he had to have it towed to the shop.
3. Each time they had my car there for weeks, because they said they weren’t seeing any error message code. Finally, he calls & said it needs a new water pump, which is covered under the used car service plan I purchased from the used car dealer.
4. I was so excited thinking finally the problem is fixed, but shortly after that I got the same overheat message and back it goes by tow truck from my house to the Volvo service dept. This time they say it is the thermostat, which wasn’t covered under my added-on plan, so I paid over $300 for that.
5. Again it happens & back it goes by the Volvo tow truck & they have it about a month & call saying it was damaged wires to the water pump. They aren’t going to charge me though, because they missed that before.
6. Not much longer after I got it back maybe 2 weeks tops it happens again with the overheating message. The message is very scary because the temp needle goes up with red at the top & a big message says to stop as soon a safely possible. This time they say it is another air bubble in the coolant line & charge me over $100 to empty & refill the line.
7. I drove it home & was getting ready to fly to visit my daughter in Florida for Thanksgiving. Less than 50 miles since I picked it up & 3 days later, I ran out to a store about 1.5 miles from my home & a message appears to slow down because the car is overheating. I pull onto the shoulder of the road and slowly pulled into the store parking lot. I go in & get a few things thinking maybe it will cool off while I’m in the store & be ok when I’m done shopping. No such luck, I had to stop & shut the car off 3 times within the 1.5 miles to get back home. Each time I took a picture of the message & a video of how the motor fan was racing after I shut it off in my garage & sent them to the service reps cell phone exclaiming, I can’t believe this is happening again!! The rep said he would call me the following Monday about getting it back there. I told him I was away, but my brother could be there for the tow truck, but he never called.
I’m new to this forum, but my daughter suggested I try this forum to get suggestions for my frustrating car problem!!
I bought a used 2016 S60 T5 in March 2020 through car guru at a used car dealer about 200 miles from my home. I know now that it was a stupid thing to do because I had it about 2 weeks & got an overheat message along with a low coolant message & low battery voltage. I called the dealer & he said he would pay for a new battery & for me to take it to a local garage & have it checked out. I did & that garage said it needed a new motor because the coolant was leaking out of the head gasket. When I called the dealer, he said he didn’t believe that, because he drove it while it was at his dealership & I drove it 200 miles home without a problem. I never had any sign of leaking in my garage either. He said to take it to my local Volvo dealer, which I did and that’s where my second mistake was. I should have just taken the car back to the used car dealer, but it would have cost around 1,000 to have it towed there and I was optimistic that it wasn’t really overheating, because there weren’t any signs of that and the motor looked clean.
The original used car dealer paid for a new battery at a local auto parts shop & reimbursed me for the diagnosis of the local garage shop. The numbers below are from my local Volvo dealership service visits since March.
1. The 1st visit they reassured me that nothing was wrong with my car & said it was just a bubble in the coolant line. I was very relieved that I didn’t have to have the car towed back to the original dealer. The auto parts store battery didn’t get rid of the low voltage message, so while there I had them put a Volvo battery in & luckily my auto parts store took back the other one. I paid for the new battery & the charge for diagnosis & coolant at that visit. I ended up breaking my foot the end of March and with the 2020 global pandemic, I didn’t do much driving until July.
2. I was heading out to go to my daughter’s home, 225 miles away for my grandson’s birthday in mid-July & I was a few miles from home when I got a low coolant message again. I called the Volvo service rep immediately & he said to stop in on my way & he would top it off. When I got there, I told him I had gotten another overheat message the day before so he gave me a gallon of coolant to carry with me. About 10 miles from my daughter’s the low coolant message returned. It was popping up & down as I was braking & accelerating in traffic. When I got to her house, I filled the coolant over flow tank which had been about an inch & a half below the min line. I stayed for a long weekend & headed home & the same thing with the low coolant message a few miles from my home. The next day I called the Volvo service rep & he told me they would come pick it up. When the rep was dropped off he went to the coolant tank & opened the cap & all the fluid came back up to the top of the tank. The next day when he was driving it to work, I was told the overheating message appeared again the next morning & he had to have it towed to the shop.
3. Each time they had my car there for weeks, because they said they weren’t seeing any error message code. Finally, he calls & said it needs a new water pump, which is covered under the used car service plan I purchased from the used car dealer.
4. I was so excited thinking finally the problem is fixed, but shortly after that I got the same overheat message and back it goes by tow truck from my house to the Volvo service dept. This time they say it is the thermostat, which wasn’t covered under my added-on plan, so I paid over $300 for that.
5. Again it happens & back it goes by the Volvo tow truck & they have it about a month & call saying it was damaged wires to the water pump. They aren’t going to charge me though, because they missed that before.
6. Not much longer after I got it back maybe 2 weeks tops it happens again with the overheating message. The message is very scary because the temp needle goes up with red at the top & a big message says to stop as soon a safely possible. This time they say it is another air bubble in the coolant line & charge me over $100 to empty & refill the line.
7. I drove it home & was getting ready to fly to visit my daughter in Florida for Thanksgiving. Less than 50 miles since I picked it up & 3 days later, I ran out to a store about 1.5 miles from my home & a message appears to slow down because the car is overheating. I pull onto the shoulder of the road and slowly pulled into the store parking lot. I go in & get a few things thinking maybe it will cool off while I’m in the store & be ok when I’m done shopping. No such luck, I had to stop & shut the car off 3 times within the 1.5 miles to get back home. Each time I took a picture of the message & a video of how the motor fan was racing after I shut it off in my garage & sent them to the service reps cell phone exclaiming, I can’t believe this is happening again!! The rep said he would call me the following Monday about getting it back there. I told him I was away, but my brother could be there for the tow truck, but he never called.
On Monday 11/30/20 my daughter suggested I call the Volvo customer service & that rep said she is going to investigate it, but at this point I feel my car in hopeless.
Anyone else ever have such a problem? The car doesn’t show any signs of overheating other than the fan racing after I shut the car off. No steam coming out & I never see any fluid on my garage floor other than water from AC in summer time.
I am so sorry I didn’t take the car back after the 1st over heating message but the Volvo dealer reassured me there was nothing wrong with my car!!
Help!!
Lisa