I have several issues with my 2001 S60 2.4T. Some are minor annoyances to which I have learned to adapt my driving; others are to be expected, although perhaps not in the ways manifested; and a couple issues have surfaced recently that have me concerned. I would appreciate comments or suggestions related to any or all of these issues:
- Front tires rub the wheel wells near maximum turning radius. I bought the 17" wheel package that included wider tires, so I suspect that the car isn't quite engineered for this option or that wide of a tire -- or is this an issue with all of the tire options? I've adapted by anticipating a wider turning radius as I maneuver the vehicle to avoid rubbing.
- Car "slams" into gear if accelerating too soon coming out of a turn. It doesn't happen every time, but I think I've identified several factors, including temperature, duration of braking prior to the turn, and speed. The symptom is that if I brake before a turn, ease up on the brake entering the turn, then jump immediately to the accelerator, the car will sometimes thud and shudder as it engages the appropriate gear. My understanding from the manual is that to prolong clutch life, the car is taken out of gear when braking (not sure what parameters are around this), so I have imagined that too rapid of a transition from brake to accelerator under certain circumstances is what is causing the car to slam into gear. I have found that if I essentially roll through the turn, giving the car a second or two between brake and accelerator, I do not encounter this issue. This has also occurred several times when in creeping traffic, where I might be using variable pressure on the brake pedal as I inch forward slowly. Does this make sense, or have I created an elaborate fiction to explain away a defect?
- Intermittent position light failure. This vehicle seems to be especially hard on its bulbs. I imagined the intermittent nature of this problem was due to a broken filament that managed to somehow reconnect, perhaps through vibration, and becoming temporarily fused to complete the circuit. I had one bulb that routinely would fail and heal itself, until it finally did expire. The dealer replaced all of the bulbs. Perhaps two or three months later, I had another couple failure/self-healing cycles -- and haven't had a problem since!
- Door locks do not always engage. This has been an intermittent problem with only the rear passenger side door. I first believed that maybe the electronic motor failed, but after manually lifting and depressing the lock plunger, it began again to respond to the key fob and cabin button. It has stopped working on several other occasions, but manipulating the plunger a few times will resume operation. I imagined it might be a lubrication issue, but the plunger seems to move freely without binding.
- Cruise Control intermittently disengages when set. I have become quite adept at turning on the cruise control and setting the speed in one fluid motion. One day, I set the cruise and the car began to slow down. I looked and saw that the cruise control was not on. Furthermore, it could not be turned on -- it was completely non-responsive. My first assumption was that the cruise control assembly on the steering wheel had simply failed. However, after turning the car off and restarting it, the cruise control was active again. Since then, this failure occurs about 20 - 30% of the time, but I have not been able to notice any patterns. It does, however, seem to happen with less frequency if I wait 3-4 second after turning the cruise control before setting it. What happens is that the cruise control indicator will illuminate when cruise control is turned on; however, as soon as I set the cruise speed, the indicator goes off and this sub-system is dead, until resetting by turning the car off. I had it in to the dealer for this problem, and they indicated that the computer did not log any events when this happens.
- Engine System Service Required indicator; rough idle; stall on restart. As described here, this problem appears to be directly related to the cruise control issue noted above, as the timing was spot on with attempting to set the cruise control. The situation occurred today and began as noted above: I turned on the cruise and set it. However, for the first time, just as the cruise control disengaged and failed, I immediately got the message Engine System Service Required. I was on the interstate at the time, and noted no problems with the performance of the vehicle. Engine temperature was nominal and no other indicators suggested problems involving oil pressure, voltage, etc. No problems were detected until I left the interstate and came to about my 4th stop on secondary roads. At that point, the engine started to idle very roughly and I feared it would stall. Disengaging the A/C allowed the idle to stabilize and I continued on to my final destination. When I arrived and turned off the car, I full well expected the problem to disappear as readily as the cruise control issue has after being reset. However, it did not. The car starts with the Engine System Service Required, it idles rough, and even with the A/C disengaged, the engine stalls at idle.
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Tim Summers