Concerns about an '08 S60 2.5T

KRUAndu · Post by **KRUAndu** » 09 Oct 2018, 15:32

Hello, new to the Volvo scene, so apologies if I can't describe as precisely as I would like to

I got to try an '08 S60 with the 2.5T motor, automatic.
When checking the car's log with VIDA, it got a load of errors on the "Initial State" screen.

The first three are actually yellow, the rest seem to have a Good (green) status for the "Current operation cycle", when the "Previous operation cycles" are red. CEM-8A32 is probably due to one front Xenon happens to be blown.
Can some of these be false positives or is there no such thing for these modules?

About the first three: all of them have a Yellow status with <30% disturbance for "Current operation cycle" and "Previous operation cycles" have Red statuses with a Low frequency (<33%). The most important one of them are probably the ones with ECM. The people who were selling the car were more than welcome to change the affected camshaft sensor(s). There was no "Check engine" light up on the dash. Can this affect overall performance, as driving it was fine?

Driving the car was actually pretty good, everything worked just fine, no out-of-the-usual quirks, but noticed the acceleration to be a bit "lagged" when giving full blast, if you get what I mean. FYI the road was a bit wet, not raining but maybe enough to kick in the trac control - is this hypothesis correct? I remember how an S60 R manual drove with good instant boost, but just wanted to know if this is normal for this car.

ALSO, the av. fuel consumption was 19.5 l/100km, that's about 12mpg for US. That's 100% city driving and the car has about 1000km of test drives during the time it has been on sale. Is that particularly high or that is not enough data for it to be analysed to be a high fuel consumption? Seen that particular car get less, probably 9-12 l/100km. I forgot to check the instantanious consumption, oops...

Any feedback is appreciated, most of the info is still probably on my computer so I can check for something I might have forgotten to. I don't have the car yet so.. have to work with what I have

Post by **oragex** » 09 Oct 2018, 15:45

1000km of test drive.? Did you mean 100 ?

Any how, 20 l/100km is SUV mileage, you will need to figure out what to fix. When the anti anti-skid kicks in it will indeed cut the gas but also show a yellow light on the dash.

Not sure what to say, the mpg can be tricky to figure out and discouraging to live it. How many miles ? Another test is to undo the oil cap and look on the grid inside: thick baked oil sludge means poor oil changes

KRUAndu · Post by **KRUAndu** » 09 Oct 2018, 16:08

Not sure what happened before hand, but the site stated 199900km. When I got in the car to test it, the mileage was at 201300km.
Our official service info showed that the car hasn't gone through official servicing for the past 2 years either. No clue on what oil is being used. As I am not at the car, I can't check that sadly.

The car reports that it's time for a service, so hope that's not too big of a moneydrain then.

Post by **oragex** » 09 Oct 2018, 17:08

The car went on sale 1000km ago, so if its being sold by a dealer, they have used it since then for their needs plus a few customer drive tests. So that mpg is from normal driving. It may also mean the last owner had it for two years. Sometime such owner doesn't really maintain the car, the poor mpg may be an iindication of this.

Post by **mrbrian200** » 09 Oct 2018, 18:16

If trac engaged while goosing it on wet pavement you'd know it. In my experience it feels/sounds like the engine or tranny blew with a yellow flashing light makes your heart stop for a second until you realize it was just the traction control function that kicked in and cut the engine from a momentary WOT to near idle.

I don't see anything on that list that isn't probably addressable by a DIY, though you should consider that the underlying issues behind ECM611B and ECM614B might necessitate replacement of a VVT hub. Or it might not: sensor on one and a new solenoid valve on the other or the TB could be a tooth off on one or both cams.

If it were me I would probably buy it if the price was 'average or better' for the year/mileage/overall condition. But your decision might depend on how accomplished you consider yourself at DIY on a modern vehicle (and potentially throw another ~$500 at parts), or whether the price is good enough to throw $1500-2500k toward a mechanic/dealer without going underwater.

Post by **abscate** » 10 Oct 2018, 03:16

The low mileage reported just means the car sat idling for a while. Clear the average mileage, test drive it, it will be fine. If the car really consumed 20 liters per 100 km, all sorts of things would be wrong

You can get spurious can Bus errors that don’t trip codes, especially if the battery is weak or allowed to be discharged, like a car sale lot.

KRUAndu · Post by **KRUAndu** » 10 Oct 2018, 03:21

Yeah, the car has been there for some time, but not sure whether it has been that long for the battery to get weak (no clue on the condition).
The fuel consumption can really be a shot in the dark for me, as I really don't know the usual faults for why this could occur and I don't own the car yet (bad oil or filters maybe?). The car idled for maybe 10min and the average bumped from 19.4 to 19.5

This discussion is actually for if the car is worth buying for the price. The 2.5T '08 is actually worth 4.5k € (little over 5.1k USD).

An '06 AWD Summum with less mileage (157000km ~ 97555mi) with the same engine is 5.5k € (~6.3k USD) from the same seller, but I doubt it's worth more than the '08.
Those errors on the list could have been mostly placebo except ECM errors, where the seller can replace the sensors with no extra cost (if that's the case).

If you were in my position, would you take the '08 or save from the possible hassle? Realisticly my budget maxes at 6k €, but I don't see any better ones apart from these ones, the next ones are going for 10k€.

I still have some data on my VIDA, so maybe I could check something if needed.
I'm just dying here with my current car and need replacement ASAP.

Post by **abscate** » 10 Oct 2018, 04:00

When you are idling the car is getting 1,000,000 liters per km economy since you aren’t moving

The computer reporting the average will keep increasing the average economy number as it sits, that’s normal. The fact that it changed in a few minutes means it was recently reset , so it’s reflect idle mileage which is poor

The sales vale has to do with how it is cared for more than time and miles

Buying from a dealer, you will always be underwater

Post by **BlackBart** » 10 Oct 2018, 09:51

I don't like mystery cars with issues. Unless it's really cheap and you have the knowledge to diagnose and tinker, is it worth it?

With that said, I bought a known car from a friend, with service records, and I'm fixing all the "issues."

Post by **mrbrian200** » 10 Oct 2018, 12:13

Gauging the mileage: on a 2.5T, if it's FWD on a stretch of flat level pavement with cruise set at 60mph you should settle somewhere between 35-39 on the instant MPG-o-meter on the dim unless you're driving into a strong headwind. If it's less than 30 either somethings up with the engine, a brake is dragging, the tire pressures are low, or the wheel alignment is whacked.
If the vehicle is equipped with AWD it think the the target is 30-35mpg with the cruise set at that speed.