XC60 Fuel Starvation Issue? (Warning, long post!)

[CSZ]

Apologies in advance, this is going to be a long post/question, but I think I need to give you as much information as I can.

I have a Volvo XC60 D5 first registered in December 2015, I acquired it in March 2019. It has a full service history with Volvo Main Dealers since new. The vehicle has done just over 50k miles.

At the end of June, we were coming to the end of a caravan tour of Norfolk and Suffolk and our last stop was a Caravan Park outside Cambridge. It was Wednesday afternoon. As we approached, the fuel warning light came on, and the gauge advised that I had about 55 miles range to empty. After dropping the caravan off, I drove to the nearest fuel station, which was about 3 miles away. As we drove there, the car suddenly lost power on a downhill stretch of road, the engine stopped and I had to pull into the side of the road. My immediate thought was that we had run out of fuel, despite the gauge showing over 50 miles to empty. I thought that going downhill might have forced the remaining diesel in the tank away from the take-up, because the symptoms felt like fuel starvation to me.

I managed to coax the car to the fuel station, where I filled it with diesel. We then drove 20 miles to St Neots where we did some shopping. The car ran perfectly normal during this journey. We were parked up in St Neots for around 45 minutes to an hour. When we left St Neots, the car started normally, but as soon as we got onto the main road to Cambridge, it suddenly lost power again, the engine died and I had to pull over. It felt exactly like it had earlier, like fuel starvation. I could get the engine started again, but it died when I tried to pull away. I managed to coax it along the road 100 yards at a time until we were able to get off the main road at the next roundabout. The engine would start, but would die if the revs increased above 3500. There were no engine warning lights showing.

We called out our roadside recovery provider whose initial thought was that if we had run out of fuel, air might have gotten into the injectors and that they would need to be bled. This they did, but the engine still died when the revs approached 3500. Their OBD Code Reader, showed no stored error codes. After various attempts, they couldn’t get the car started, and we ended up returning to the campsite on the back of a low loader.

The next day (Thursday) I did not try the car at all, I spent much of the day trying to find a mobile mechanic who would come out to investigate the problem. No joy in that respect.

Having read on various forums that air in the injectors can clear after a while, the following day (Friday) I decided to try the car again. It started first time, as usual, and it was happy to rev above 3500. I decided to take it on a local run and did about ten miles at various speeds to give it a good run, there were no problems at all.

Following this we decided to visit Ely, about 17 miles away. Got to Ely no problem, car ran perfectly, even through some stop start roadworks. We spent about 2 hours wandering around the city and then decided to head back to Cambridge as we were due to return home to the Cotswolds next day. However, just outside Ely, the engine problem occurs again; fuel starvation symptoms, engine suddenly dies and we’re stranded at the side of a busy road again. This time I remember that, because we get the car serviced at the Volvo Main Dealership, we have Volvo Assistance, so I try that.

I describe the problem to the Volvo Assist person, and tell them of the earlier experience, and they agree that Roadside Assistance is probably not going to sort the problem, so we go straight to Recovery. Back up onto the low loader, this time to the local Volvo Main Dealer where we arrive just as they are closing for the weekend. They said they would look at the car on Monday, and would get in touch with me.

Monday comes and the Volvo dealership calls. They confirm that there are no stored error codes on the system but their Master Technician thinks he knows what the problem might be: XC60s have a known arcing issue in the connecting plug to the fuel pump. Unfortunately, this can only be checked by dropping the fuel tank and two of their ramps are out of action, so it might be a day or two before this can be done.

Given that it looks like it’s going to be Wednesday before they can look at the car, and God knows how long to fix it, we call on our Caravan Recovery provider to get us home, and to take the car to our local Volvo Main Dealer which has serviced the car ever since I have owned it.

We arrive home on Wednesday 6th July with the car once again on the back of a Recovery Vehicle and the caravan being towed behind. We, and the caravan, are dropped off and the car is taken to our local Volvo Main Dealership.

And, as of today (2nd August), that’s where the car still is. On the positive side, they can see what exactly the problem is: the engine is dying when they drive it. However, they don’t seem to be able to find out why. They have replaced the fuel filter, but that didn’t sort it. They have replaced the fuel pump, that hasn’t solved it. They have changed the distribution pipe, still no joy. When I phoned today, I was told that their Master Technician had spent most of Friday trying to sort it, including flushing out the fuel pipes but, when he took it for a road test, it still cuts out.

So far, I’m out nearly £2,000 and I still don’t know when I’m going to get my car back.

Has anyone experienced anything similar, or have any ideas what might be the problem?

[jasmith44]

I have something similar with my S60 car but it is petrol.It works ok until i have to use stop/start about 4/5 times in quick succession,then it starts but will not go over 2500/3000 revs.No codes show or been logged. My local indy can't find anything wrong either.Now i switch s/s off when in slow moving traffic.I have lived with this for the last 3 years.Of course it could be completely different to yours.

[jameselson]

My car (V40 T4) seems to have been in a similar state. I did have an error code, but they just replaced bits of the fuel system over 13 weeks until eventually (apparently) replacing one that worked. I don't really know if the fuel injector pump really was faulty, but I now have a £2k bill to get my car back and find out if it works.

Did you get your car back in the end? What was the final outcome?

James

[Adrian B]

Hi.
How can a dealer charge you for parts making up the the majority of the 2k when after changing parts that did not need changing as it did not fix the car??
If they don't know what they are doing then bring it to me, as I don't either. I'll charge you a lot more and give you a new car!
I am not being rude but I have heard this a lot from others. A Dealer charging rip off numbers for guessing what's wrong and then expecting the customer to paying for nothing!
Wow.
No other service could get away with that.
Regards