2004 S60 R - Introduction, Current and Future Maintenance

Post by **rolsen11** » 25 Jul 2026, 22:07

jonesg wrote: 24 Jul 2026, 16:25 N. Minn? you have 3 more weeks before the snow begins.

Ain't that the truth

Post by **rolsen11** » 18 Aug 2026, 17:31

Well, I've got a new problem to solve. As it turns out, the speed sensitive power steering this R has does not work. I found out that the 15A fuse located on the drivers end of the dashboard was blown. I put in a replacement and the steering still doesn't work, no difference in steering feel whether the good fuse is installed or not. I know the electric vacuum pump runs off of this fuse as well. Gonna begin the diagnostic process as I really want to get this system working again. As it sits the steering is very heavy and not pleasant. Hopefully the solenoid in the rack isn't dead, it doesn't look very fun to replace. The vacuum pump and possibly also the blue valve for it may also be dead.

Post by **br0dy519** » 19 Aug 2026, 08:31

Jump the brake booster switch connector and see if you hear the vacuum pump come on. Betting money it blows the fuse.

Post by **rolsen11** » 19 Aug 2026, 19:25

I worked for a couple hours yesterday diagnosing, after isolation the power steering system I was able to determine that the steering rack solenoid is shorted. I was able to determine this by measuring the resistance across it using the connector plugging into the SERVOTRONIC module located under the dash just above the brake pedal. I measured 4 ohms on the solenoid including the wiring that runs from the dash all the way to the steering rack. I've read that the nominal resistance is supposed to be 15-20 ohms but I also read of another person who measured 2 ohms on his broken solenoid but his brand new one read 7 ohms, though the new one did still fix his power steering. I'm going to get a new solenoid on order.

br0dy519 wrote: 19 Aug 2026, 08:31 Jump the brake booster switch connector and see if you hear the vacuum pump come on. Betting money it blows the fuse.

I'm also willing to bet the vacuum pump is the reason the fuse blew despite a bad solenoid. Given a supply voltage of 12V and a resistance of 4 ohms the current draw on the solenoid should just be about 3 amps, the fuse is a 15A fuse. Plus, the new fuse I installed still hasn't immediately blown despite the bad solenoid. The vacuum pump I would assume is far more capable of pulling enough current to blow the fuse than the solenoid so I would like to get that replaced too as preventative maintenance at the least.

Post by **br0dy519** » 19 Aug 2026, 19:32

Good work. Verify your brake booster switch. They often fail and cause the pump to run continuously then subsequently burn the pump out.

Post by **rolsen11** » 19 Aug 2026, 20:02

Good idea, I don't know if that pump even still works or not, I couldn't tell when I was doing diagnosis work.

Post by **rolsen11** » 06 Sep 2026, 12:52

I got the solenoid replaced yesterday and finished bleeding the power steering this morning. Success! I've regained my power steering! The process wasn't too bad considering I couldn't find hardly any information on the replacement process with the exception of a not-so-detailed VIDA writeup. It's actually pretty straightforward to be honest. I plan to make another separate writeup here on the replacement process for this solenoid that I will link in this thread. I also recorded some video during the repair and plan to also put up a YouTube video. Here are some photos in the meantime: