Right off the bat, the steering wheel buttons did not work, i read up on that thanks to this forum and had the technical bulletin printed out and in hand when we went to the carvana “preferred” service center which was basically a Firestone shop. I knew they wouldn’t touch it and as soon as my brought it there, they said “Yeah, we can’t do that here” and sent her to Viti Volvo in Tiverton, RI. In order to get the warranty claim processed, we needed to leave the car with them with no loaner, they had it for a little over a week (nuts! as I know what is involved with this repair and it should take no longer than 1 hour, but hey, they have other customers that actually bought their cars there, right?).
Got the car back and all steering wheel buttons were replaced along with the short wire that caused the problem in the first place. They claim a software update was not needed, which I find strange, but maybe they only do that if there is some major issue.
Drove 3 hours one way up to Portland Maine to check out a college with my son and wife, drove back and the car didn’t skip a beat. Excellent highway cruiser, extremely comfortable except I found my right elbow bone to be primarily riding on the armrest as it is a bit far back in reference to the steering wheel. Raining the entire time and no water intrusion, was a very good test for the sunroof issues!!
Fast forward to Tuesday night and my wife was at a stop light heard a horrible squealing noise and the idle was surging, researched online, told her to bring it home asap and stop driving it. Knew it was the oil valve that went bad from some videos.
Our deductible to get things fixed in the first 100 days and 4800 miles of ownership is $100 for a “preferred” repair facility, and $250 for a non-preferred facility. This is a Volvo only part. Did some research online, really wanted to get a lifetime part from FCP for this thing as 39,000 miles and this part goes bad and you can only drive it a short distance?? NUTS seems like a strand you item to me.
Anyways, bought the part at Steingold Volvo in Pawtucket RI, used the SWEDESPEED discount code for a deep discount and paid $184 and picked up the part yesterday. Swapped it out without issue, pulled the old one apart and saw a tiny tear in the diaphragm (cracked the valve housing in the process – be forewarned anyone who wants to just replace that diaphragm with a part from ebay or amazon, the plastic gets brittle over time and is prone to cracking around that valve cap).
Reset the check engine light that was tossing the P0171 System too lean bank 1 code, and went for a test drive around the neighborhood. Pretty soon, the check engine light came back on, but the car sounded totally fine and that horrific whistle was now gone. From some other videos online, saw that the fuel trims may need to be cleared so they can readapt, or the car needs to go through a few drive cycles to readapt.
Went down the highway for about 5 miles, pulled off, turned the car off for awhile, restarted it, check engine light still on. Pulled over again into a parking lot, cleared the code with my code reader again and drove home back on the highway. Light still off, all looks good, knock on wood. Thankfully an easy repair, but I will say, that vacuum on the crankcase is MASSIVE and sucks air not only through the torn diaphragm, but also through the oil cap, which makes the noise REALLY appear like it is coming from the belt area when it’s not. Internet FTW!
Also installed the roof rack bars on this car that my wife had on her Ford Flex, so it’s all set for the roof box if and when we need to use that.
Pics to follow.