Volvo V60 D6 PHEV - First joys, but then worries (big)

I have to write that I really liked the car and the plug in hybrid is exactly the solution that suits me for my car every day. If you are interested in using this car, I recommend reading the original review (link). This will be about service.

And so it began

The car made me very happy for about eleven months - until the fateful day, July 17, 2020. After about 12 km of trouble-free driving, a message about a hybrid failure popped up and the internal combustion engine started. I was about 2 km from the house, so I drove to the garage and turned off the car. However, the next start has already been banned by the system. I immediately sensed that I had probably joined all the other owners of this car and I would change the climate compressor. But most can still drive a diesel engine. My car couldn't move at all.

Here, every owner has to make a difficult decision. The first option is to have everything fixed at Volvo. When I bought the car, I read about amounts up to € 1,000, so let's say CZK 26,000. For me, as a user of cheap cars until then, it was a really high amount for service and I hoped it would not meet me (as I was wrong). But at the moment, the amount of around 30-33,000 CZK has already been written on the forums. A huge advantage of this option is that Volvo provides a lifetime warranty on the replaced part - meaning that if the compressor fails again, it will be replaced again free of charge. The warranty applies to the owner, so only as long as I own the car. The annoying thing is that some compressors really break down over and over again. The second option is v60service.hu. He is a gentleman in Budapest who deals with these hybrids, and it can be seen from the photos that he has extensive experience with this. It is said that the repair (and not the replacement) would cost less than CZK 20,000. The problem is a bit that the owner of the service speaks only Hungarian and any agreement is then difficult. I haven't heard any complaints about his work yet, so maybe he's doing well.

I was already thinking about renting a tow truck and taking the car to Hungary, but in the end I probably didn't find the courage to tow the car to Volvo České Budějovice. (I have to warn everyone here - check your insurance policies, because some insurance companies only guarantee towing in the event of an accident and the failure does not fall into it. Very "pleasant" finding.)

Here they had a free term after less than three weeks. They had a service hybrid here for the first time and consulted Volvo's management in Prague every step of the way. I have described this defect to them several times and…

Initially, I had a few long paragraphs ready about how things went at Volvo B&W. But what if one of them read it here…. I'll cut it short - please don't come here with a hybrid at all. After three months, I take the car on a tow truck in its unaltered state (but with a "nice" bill for nothing) to Volvo Vysočany.

In Volvo Vysočany, it is a completely different story. They already take care of a few hybrids here and have replaced a few compressors. It was nice to finally talk to someone who knew something about the car. The repair was promised within a week. Unfortunately, with a more accurate calculation, the price is much higher than I expected - about 45,000 CZK. I had to absorb it for a while, but what I have left. The parts were ordered and the exchange went smoothly.

Happy ending?

Not yet. A new problem has emerged. So far, I have not learned exactly how this happened, but probably the compressor failure "burst" the battery fuses that monitor the battery charging process. The problem is that these fuses are directly in the battery packaging and may not be officially changed in any service in the Czech Republic, but it is technically possible. It took a month and a half before the service center communicated with Volvo CR that a trained technician would come and replace the fuses with his assistance. The second option was to tow the car to Germany, where it is said that about 3 services are allowed, but if I imagine the bills for towing and work of the DE service… This problem is said to be the first time in the Czech Republic and it should not be something that had a potential car entrant count.

Anyway, after waiting for the jigs for replacement, we managed to take the whole battery out of the trunk of the car, open it, replace the mentioned fuses and put it all back together again. At this point, I was most worried about the battery. The car stood outside from mid-July to early February with a flat battery, freezing all winter. They assured me it didn't matter, but I have to say I didn't sleep for a few nights.

After more than half a year, I was looking forward to my car finally coming back. The car started working, but only as a classic burner - the battery in the trunk seemed to be ignored by the car. This was more of a curious problem in the end. The car remembered that it hadn't been refueled in it for more than half a year, and it only ran on diesel to burn the old one as quickly as possible. In the end, it was enough to remove the warning about old diesel with diagnostics, and the car finally started to run on battery power, as it should.

Summary

Now it would be useful to sum it up. Unfortunately, I have to write that every (even future) owner of this car has to count on replacing the compressor climate. The good news is that we have at least one service that has experience with this and knows how to do it, including multiple flushing, which used to be often missed. Also, the repair time (when it goes without complications) is including ordering parts within one week. The positive is mainly a lifetime warranty. The bad news is the final price of around CZK 45,000. Everyone has to evaluate whether it is ok. It feels like about three times what I would consider normal. It cost me a few thousand more for battery fuses and especially work. In short, I'm probably not used to more expensive cars, and especially the prices of authorized services. :(

So now finally a happy ending?

Yeah, so we still have a long way to go with my car. Another problem emerged that day. Although the car drove as it should (so on the battery) and after discharging it behaved like a full hybrid (recuperation downhill, starting only for electricity and so on), but it could not be charged externally. We tried everything - charging from the socket, from the wallbox, from the charging station. After each attempt, the charge light only flashed red and the diagnostics displayed too high a voltage. This is quite a problem with the plug-in hybrid, because then this whole drive concept doesn't make sense. So, after more than half a year, we closed the original order to replace the compressor's climate, I didn't even take the car, and a new one was opened immediately to repair the charge.

Probably no one in the Czech Republic has experience with this defect and it is said that they had to consult everything with Volvo in Sweden through the Czech representation. In the end, the culprit of this mistake was identified by a voltage converter installed in the car, which is in charge of making 230V AC from a conventional socket to make 400V DC. The input voltage was OK, but there was no output. The inverter itself is located directly on the battery cover and a single loop of the thermoregulation circuit (cooling or heating the batteries) leads through it, so disassembly is not much. A new inverter is available. Price after taking into account discounts on older cars and all kinds of other discounts? CZK 29,000. That's too much for me.

Coincidentally, I work in a company that deals with the installation of printed circuit boards. We have a few experts here, and if there is a mechanical problem on the board (a malfunctioning component, etc.), we will find it. The odds are 50:50. We succeeded and found the wrong component - MOSFET IXFB100N50P. Availability? 2 pieces are in stock in Houston, USA. They have none anywhere else and the expected deliveries are in 6 months. I buy immediately, we solder it to the board in a week and take it to Volvo. And now get ready….

It did not help. The individual components (ie the ones we were able to check) work mechanically as standard, but the problem persists. One of the larger chips may be to blame (and there are some of them here, it's a rather complicated board that has 2 smaller… powered up perpendicularly) or programming. The whole thing is complicated by the fact that wiring diagrams are not available for this board. If anyone wants to deal with it, it's an Eltek Power Charger 3kW.

I search the internet in various ways and find a used inverter in Poland (where elsewhere) for CZK 19,000. Now what to choose? After more than 9 months, I just want this over and I order the original in Volvo. Within a week, it is mounted and I get a photo of the green LED at the charging car from the mechanic. They themselves were relieved that they would finally get rid of it. I mixed the enthusiasm for a fully functional car with the concerns about the invoice. And unfortunately, the fears have come true. The amount of CZK 53,000 is crazy for me.

So is everything finally okay?

Yes. The car finally works as it should. The car returned to me on May 17, 2021, exactly on the day 10 months after the breakdown. It took me a few weeks before I started to like the car again, but now I'm always looking forward to it again before driving. Fortunately, my worries about the battery have not been confirmed and I will still cover the same 42-45 electric kilometers. But in total, I paid over 100,000. Only when I write it do my fingers tremble. For me, as an ordinary employee, this is just a terrible amount for which I bought the whole amount before Volvo. Once again, it is necessary to take into account the replacement of the compressor climate. The rest should not happen, but on the other hand, nothing can be ruled out….

Is it worth buying a Volvo V60 D6 plug in hybrid?

I have calculated that it will save me about CZK 25,000 a year on fuel with my raid. I drove a car for a year, then it was in the service for 10 months - if I drive with it for another 3 years, the repair will pay me. Then there is the difference in purchase price compared to the classic version, but it is no longer very significant (max. Lower tens of thousands). So if I drive this car for another 4 years or so (and nothing significant will happen to me), it will probably work out for me as if I bought the classic version (but the driving experience is at a different level). If I only repaired the climate compressor, like most, I'd be on my own after about two years of ownership, and that's it. Whoever drives more would probably get back a little earlier. The problem is also that any fault in the electricity will be solved only by Volvo service, others do not want to do it. So if someone wants to buy a Volvo V60 D6 to save money, I can't recommend it. But I bought it for performance and it's still great in this area.

And I would buy it again…

… If I already know all this? It washes in me. I've been thinking about the answer for several days now, because I know I'll write about it, but I still don't know. Now I like him again, and if I were sitting in it now, I would say that I would have chosen him anyway. But when I sit here at the computer and remember how much it cost me nerves, time and money - I really don't know.

The local member jirih helped me a lot of experience, whom I would like to thank again.

And a question for discussion: What is the largest amount you paid once for the service, and did you find it adequate?