Well, I Kinda Murdered My Moms Volvo Tonight.

"m-b-w loves his SUBAROO" (m-b-w)
09/04/2014 at 21:58 • Filed to: None

I'm going to start off by saying that I have awful luck with cars. I've been driving my moms 2013 XC60 since last week, as my Elantra has been in the shop with transmission issues. While driving home from school, a warning light came on warning of a charging system malfunction. I kept on going, as I was quite close to my house. When I pulled in my driveway, the power steering quit, parking brake got jammed on, and the airbag light turned on. My mom told me to put the car on the street, which required flooring the gas pedal. Then the service transmission light came on, and the engine died. Volvo sent out a tow truck to tow it 30 miles away, and they should be delivering a loaner tomorrow afternoon.

DISCUSSION (44)

Sam > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/04/2014 at 22:00

I don't think YOU killed your mom's Volvo. It seems like it died on it's own.

Now I killed my dad's Miata by getting t-boned in an intersection.

m-b-w loves his SUBAROO > Sam
09/04/2014 at 22:00

My bad luck murdered it.

jvirgs drives a Subaru > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/04/2014 at 22:01

Does it have one of those electronic parking brakes? Thats why I don't like those. Just give me a fucking lever/pedal

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/04/2014 at 22:01

This is a story my mom would just LOVE to hear(she wants an XC60 badly).

m-b-w loves his SUBAROO > jvirgs drives a Subaru
09/04/2014 at 22:01

Yep, that was one of the many things which killed it.

m-b-w loves his SUBAROO > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
09/04/2014 at 22:02

My mom is happy that she is leasing hers. Only 17,000 miles on it.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/04/2014 at 22:04

My mom wants to purchase, my family doesn't believe in leasing. Buy it or buy nothing I think is the mantra.

My citroen won't start > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/04/2014 at 22:04

I have a ever-growing fear of warning messages such as this coming from my car. I like the color on the XC60 though.

AM3R > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/04/2014 at 22:05

you ever think about getting a bike?

Just kidding, hopefully they're just duds and you aren't unlucky.

Dunnik > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/04/2014 at 22:07

Oh good, so really it's somebody else's problem.

And yea, I hate e-brakes, ugh. Another example of a technological "just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should."

You say you have bad luck, but I'd say you have very good luck to have that epic clusterfuck of fail occur just as you were pulling into your driveway. Could have easily happened on the road.

His Stigness > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/04/2014 at 22:08

Sounds like the alternator quit charging the battery, which in turn ran down the battery, which in turn made everything run by electricity (which is everything in new cars, including the power steering, which is why it quit) go haywire.

So I'll bet good money that the alternator died and everything will be fine once it's replaced, and the batter is charged (or replaced).

m-b-w loves his SUBAROO > His Stigness
09/04/2014 at 22:12

Well, I guess we will learn tomorrow once the volvo dealer takes a look at it.

m-b-w loves his SUBAROO > My citroen won't start
09/04/2014 at 22:13

Thanks. Its Caspian Blue. Hopefully your citroen won't copy my moms volvo.

My citroen won't start > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/04/2014 at 22:15

"Suspension Failure" would make me cry.

m-b-w loves his SUBAROO > My citroen won't start
09/04/2014 at 22:16

air suspension?

Vicente Esteve > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
09/04/2014 at 22:16

You are about the first person on this site that agrees with what my family does. We have never done leasing.

My citroen won't start > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/04/2014 at 22:18

Yeah, Nitrogen.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > Vicente Esteve
09/04/2014 at 22:19

Yay! Lemme put it this way, when the Modern Dodge Charger first came out, one of my mom's coworkers leased one for a couple years, then decided that she loved it so much that she wanted to actually buy it; in essence, buying the car twice.

m-b-w loves his SUBAROO > My citroen won't start
09/04/2014 at 22:19

Well, good luck to your suspension.

My citroen won't start > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/04/2014 at 22:20

Thanks. Well, good luck to all those things your volvo complained about.

m-b-w loves his SUBAROO > My citroen won't start
09/04/2014 at 22:22

Luckily my mom doesn't own it, she's only leasing. Hopefully they can fix it up all good so that she can trade it in on a newer XC60 or XC90.

Vicente Esteve > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
09/04/2014 at 22:27

Thats EXACTLY what happened with my uncle. He did it with his Jetta, and the dealership ended up with more of his money. MSRP For me!

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > Vicente Esteve
09/04/2014 at 22:28

The right way! :)

My citroen won't start > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/04/2014 at 22:30

Both the facelift XC60 and the new XC90 look great.

ikutoisahobo > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
09/04/2014 at 22:31

Same lol, Besides leasing is like renting, and renting is lammme.

EL_ULY > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
09/04/2014 at 22:37

I've never seen this happen. Knowing my Volvo, if the alt goes out (extreeeemly rare) it will set off other codes. The problem is that m-b-w should have stopped as soon as the warning came on

m-b-w loves his SUBAROO > My citroen won't start
09/04/2014 at 22:40

she likes the old XC90. The dealer would probably deal on one of them, as the new ones are coming soon.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > EL_ULY
09/04/2014 at 22:49

This sounds like a very peculiar issue then.

Matthew Phillips > Dunnik
09/04/2014 at 22:50

yea.... If you've been reading my post My Cluster of a Ford explorer that I owned for two days had a massive engine failure in the middle of Rush hour.... on a busy street.

Dunnik > Matthew Phillips
09/04/2014 at 22:54

There's a reason some call it the Ford Exploder.

ikutoisahobo > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
09/04/2014 at 22:54

And I hope this article doesn't put her off. I drove a 2014 XC60 T6 AWD, fucking fantastic. Quick as balls and the interior is uncreaky goodness compared to my 2008 Honda Fit Sport (which, don't get me wrong; I love)

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > ikutoisahobo
09/04/2014 at 22:55

We test drove a 2014 T6 AWD back in June, we both loved it! I drove it in sport mode the whole time and it was my first experience with paddle shifters and it wasn't that bad!

Matthew Phillips > Dunnik
09/04/2014 at 22:56

Meh it was free, and had 327k on the clock. it was bound to happen.

Trevor Mohr > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/04/2014 at 23:19

I'm sorry about this. It's just bad luck. On another note, I just realized how much I truly love the XC60's gauge cluster. I love the font, the LCD displays, everything about them I love.

945T > ikutoisahobo
09/04/2014 at 23:20

my family too, and my mom is ALSO dying for an XC60

Leasing is lame because you're paying the depreciation on someone else's asset. Think about it. You have nothing to show for spending that money for four years.

boxrocket > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/04/2014 at 23:33

Very likely just the battery or something between the battery and the car. As others have said, most things in cars are electric nowadays, so if there is a fault at the source, problems just go downstream. I believe I encountered a similar phenomenon a few months back in an S60 that a customer had left the overhead lights on, draining the battery, and while it started (barely), the dash lit up like the metaphorical Christmas tree, but once it was hooked up to a battery charger for a couple hours, it was fine. Don't worry, it happens to other brands, too. Also, it's pretty great that the dealership is bringing you the loaner.

Imirrelephant > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/05/2014 at 09:00

It's under warranty. Things happen. It's not like you were bouncing it off of the rev limiter and doing repeated hard launches.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/05/2014 at 09:53

You probably didn't do any lasting damage. I'm guessing once the charging system failed the battery just drained until it wasn't able to power all of the electrical systems any more. Once the charging system problem is fixed it will take resetting the computers and everything should be good to go.

atfsgeoff > His Stigness
09/05/2014 at 17:30

This is my conclusion as well. Alternator goes, voltage drops, all kinds of wonky things start to happen.

His Stigness > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/05/2014 at 20:55

So did you find out what was wrong?

m-b-w loves his SUBAROO > His Stigness
09/05/2014 at 20:58

A coupling was shredded. The Volvo dealer had never seen one with this issue before.

His Stigness > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/05/2014 at 21:34

A coupling on the alternator?

m-b-w loves his SUBAROO > His Stigness
09/05/2014 at 22:24

Yes

His Stigness > m-b-w loves his SUBAROO
09/05/2014 at 23:21

AH HA! I was right!

At least now you know you didn't kill the car.