Chassis Settings Service and more...

[NDenver]

Just bought a used S60R, and it came with the Chassis Settings Service notification. I knew about it when buying, but made the purchase anyway because the seller priced it well under market. I'm looking for help identifying the cause of the notification and an opinion on the strut mount(s).

Car Information: 2007 S60R, 87,600 miles

Known owners history:

New tires and alignment done 1,000 miles ago. Also new brakes, but owner may have done these himself. 500 miles ago a squeaking sound developed on the passenger front side. Owner wasn't sure if this was related to the new tires or not. It's unknown when the chassis settings service notification first displayed.

My (short) history:

Had the passenger front control arms, bushings, tie rod ends, and ball joints inspected by a shop. The tie rod end was replaced, an alignment performed, and I had a new battery installed. The shop also recommended the strut mounts on both sides be replaced as that might be the cause of the noise (it wasn't the tie rod end). I did not have the strut mounts replaced, will likely do that in a week or so after I take it to another shop for another opinion.

The problems I'm having:

The sound from the passenger front is intermittent and seems to only make noise when the car is cold. Once it is warm the noise goes away. The roads do not need to be bumpy for this noise to occur, even smooth paved roads get a squeak. Not sure if this is related, but it leads me to believe the mounts are bad - when braking on an incline, the tire on the passenger front rubs a little on the body, almost like it's moving up too much under the weight, and this happens whether the car is warm or cold. Steering doesn't make any clunking noise, and the noise doesn't seem to be any different when steering.

Also intermittent is what sounds like a humming when coasting at 30 mph. Could be something with the brakes? When I accelerated the hum stopped, and when I pressed the brakes the hum stopped. It only happened when coasting. Haven't noticed the hum since the tie rod end was replaced, but I don't drive it enough to rule it as being fixed.

I noticed that when releasing the brakes when stopping (and going ~10mph or less) the car seems to roll forward roughly before I come to a complete stop. This is my first sporty car in my ownership, so I don't know if this is normal or not.

Regarding the chassis settings service - When the car starts there are no notifications. When the engine finishes cycling and I engage reverse there is still no code. It's not until I push on the throttle and start moving that the code pops up. I can change the settings of the chassis on the dash, and it feels to me like it's operating the way it needs to, although I'm not too experienced with the Rs to know the difference yet. Several shops have said that the struts and shocks look good (no leaks), so unless it's an internal sensor, I'm hoping I don't need to replace those. I'm not sure if the strut mounts are causing the notification, or if there's a bigger bug somewhere in the system. My friend suggested it might be the accelerometer on one of the struts/shocks that went bad, or something steering related. I don't have a Dice/Vida reader, so I can't get to the codes to check it out yet.

Thanks in advance-

[jimmy57]

There is no way to investigate this without Vida. The leads to the sensors purposefully have no ready connector access due to weather sealing. Guesses would be all anyone could give you.
The code will be exactly what the SUM (4C control unit) is seeing as wrong input. WHen the inputs are wrong then the system can make a shock/strut with no problem be noisey.

[NDenver]

An update for anyone searching forums: the intermittant noise was the spring seat. Unfortunately, it was not related to the chassis settings notification, which popped up after the fix. Also had blown control arm bushings, although, couldn't hear them over the spring seat noise.

The hum I'm getting is not from the brakes. Not sure where it's coming from, but I'll report back if I find a definitive answer.

Re: the chassis settings notification; the tech looked up the codes (for free), and couldn't pin down the issue, which means there could be several. He found it interesting that a steering angle sensor was in the list of codes, but he suspects at worst case one of the struts/shocks is bad. The car still responds accordingly to whatever setting is chosen, so I'll put it off for now. If someone knows how to test the steering angle sensor, I'm all ears.

Also, if anyone in the south Denver area is looking for a good Volvo (or BMW, Audi, VW, or MB) tech; the guys at platinum auto left the McDonald group and started their own shop. I highly recommend them.