V60 CC steering feels ‘Odd’

[MikeGMT]

Spa Volvo's don't have power steering fluid, unlike hydraulic systems they have EPAS (Electronic Power Assistance) which is handled by a electric motor taking data from various sensors. As such it makes finding a fault a lot more difficult as aside from the usual suspects it could be a software problem or a faulty sensor giving the wrong information.

Originally Posted by GrahamSkinner

Hi there

One last thing, I have changed the steering force which reduces a lot of what I have described but it’s not a fix

Graham,
Any help would be much appreciated.

Steering force options only work in Individual Mode, all the other drive modes are pre-determined, so if you set it for minimum assistance in Individual then change to another mode eg; Comfort then the force will revert to the
force applicable for that mode.

[GrahamSkinner]

Hi Simmy

No the car is clean.

Nothing came back on the checks and nothing looks out of place to either myself (I’m no mechanic but I have a good eye for detail) or the Volvo guy who (twice) did the 4 wheel alignment.

[GrahamSkinner]

Hi Mike

Yeah adjusting the steering force is like turning up the radio to fix a squeak.

Would a steering fault come up as a ‘code’ if I took it back to Volvo?

Thanks

[MikeGMT]

Originally Posted by GrahamSkinner

Hi Mike

Yeah adjusting the steering force is like turning up the radio to fix a squeak.

Would a steering fault come up as a ‘code’ if I took it back to Volvo?

Thanks

As far as I know Graham if there were a serious fault it would flag up in the Driver display.

Have you tried leaving it in Individual mode with minimum assistance to see what happens. I realise it's not getting to the root cause but may be a step in finding the problem. As you have driven a comparison car without the strange behaviour there is obviously something amiss.

[Ulrikas PA]

Originally Posted by GrahamSkinner

I’ve been doing a bit of looking about myself and my ‘symptoms’ appear to match a vehicle whose Caster needs adjusting.

However I’ve also seen that Caster is one thing which cannot be adjusted on a Volvo!

I’m pretty sure what’s going on is not a Volvo characteristic and there is something up.

My debate now is how much do I spend chasing this issue or do I just flog it?

I’ll update this as I find out more

Thanks everyone

Just another thought:-

I've had 3 Octavia Scouts of the model you had, which all had 17 inch wheels and they were very composed over broken roads. There will be a difference to how the steering feels on 20s, but it does sound like a fault (!)

Also, I'm not familiar with the V90 lane assist but presume that you can't switch it off permanently - it comes back on each drive ? (I hate lane assist - a Tiguan did my head in)

[GrahamSkinner]

Hi all

Just got back from my local Volvo dealer with a bit of an update.

First off I know dealers have a bad time from us customers but I was in there for hours, drank my weight in nice coffees and ate loads of their goodies and was not charged a penny.

A couple of things came up. There was a question if the car was (partially) steering itself e.g. lane assist, pilot thing etc but that was all turned off. When looking at the intellisafe thing by the rear view mirror the tech wondered if it was an original windscreen.

I said that I had wondered the same thing. When I went to look at this car (as a private sale) I noticed the windscreen looked a little off and it was made by Lamishield. After viewing this White CC I then went to a main dealer and viewed a Seleckt Black CC which also had the same Lamishield windscreen. This issue wasn’t resolved (original or not) as it had no bearing on the steering issue.

He checked all the joints, bushings bars and anything else involved in the steering and all came back clear.

The tech said he would put the alignment kit on and see where we’re at. He did and it was off. He also said that caster was not adjustable. I have photos of the alignment print outs which I’ll try to add if a can.

After a test drive by both of us the car felt almost perfect with the only thing still outstanding was the effect driving over something (cats eyes etc) had on the steering wheel. He explained that in my last car (Skoda Octavia Scout, which we had for 10 years and 100,00 miles) had a different steering rack configuration and as a result we would feel the road differently, with the Scout less sensitive and the Volvo ‘providing more driving information’.

He asked if that was all and I felt a little bad but I had to point out that in a straight line the steering wheel was pointing to 11. He took it back into the workshop and put it right.

I’m not a gullible guy and I don’t think he’s lying about the different feel coming from a different steering box but I guess I’ll find out. He said it’s good that all 4 tyres match but he did say Falken were crap and better tyres would improve the car.

It’s been aligned 5 times in as many weeks so let’s see how we get on.

One thing I did notice and brought to his attention was that the Caster (which can not be changed) had changed from test 1 to test 5. Test 1 showed the Caster at -0.14 and test 5 showed the caster at -1.15. He double checked how the levels were mounted onto each wheel and guessed that the previous tech had misaligned them?

So I think (hope) it’s solved. Part the tracking and part the difference of the steering rack

Thanks to all for you for helping out and providing suggestions

I hope I never speak to you (about this) again.

Graham

[Ulrikas PA]

... Good luck - at least you've exhausted everything, including yourself.

I do think some of it is adjusting to the swap from 17 inch wheels on a compliant steering system, to 20s on a more sporty rack.(The Scout was dead easy and my other halfs Yeti has great steering)

[Simmy]

glad you got it sorted . its not uncommon for these alignment garages to have all the gear but no idea how to use it or put a trainee on it . enjoy your new steerable car.