Steven Ward’s Volvo S60.
Taking on the Volvo S60 which had been a CM project car from December 2015 to May 2016 was a watershed moment. Whichever way you looked at it, the S60 was a press car, a long-term test car, thus my custodianship would mark the moment that I went from dealer to genuine motoring journalist.
Except of course I’m not. The chance of a free curry in Leeds to collect the said Volvo and a small earner if I could fix and shift the unsold Swede was the real gist of it. I already had a buyer in mind.
The curry and the company of CM editor Martyn and contributors Rob Hawkins and Andrew Everett was great. The drive back in the Volvo wasn’t…
First, there was the ride on the new Eibach springs. I’m no fan of lowered and stiffened suspension and this confirmed it. The springs overwhelmed the already marginal damping. The four-square bounce was reminiscent of an uprated Maestro van, but without the suppleness.
Then there was the creaking driver’s seat. Martyn warned me about this irritant, noticeable since the leather bolster was repaired. “So what”, I thought to myself. “How bad can it be?” Infuriating was the answer.
So it bounced, it creaked and, once up to speed, it wobbled. The wheels needed balancing. Still, that five-pot motor sounded great. I’m a big fan of the off-beat warble emitted by such lumps. Strong on torque, tuneful in sound and thrifty on fuel, this was more like it.
It had gone midnight when I joined the motorway. I was now ready to indulge the Volvo in a spot of low flying. Full throttle in third to pass a line of trucks, the rev needle hit 3500rpm, illuminated the EML light which then reduced top-end poke. Gutted!
I got home, parked it up and went straight to bed. Lying in bed, I felt I was still moving, akin to the feeling of sleeping on a ship. How imbalanced is this thing, I wondered? I was in no hurry to find out and it stood on my drive for over a week.
The next time it moved, it was to get its wheels balanced, before going off to my trusty Volvo Specialist, Volmech in Teesside. They’d fixed a smoky S60 D5 for me in the past. The fact that that particular example has covered more than 200,000 miles now shows they know their stuff.
They sorted the seat (a known issue) and carried out a full diagnostic check (alarmingly, there were 24 stored faults), but what it was really there for was the EML light coming on at high revs. The intake swirl flaps were throwing off the motorised actuator rod.
The official Volvo fix involved inserting a split pin into the recently replaced nylon actuator rod. I was advised to give the car a thorough test before moving it on.
Test run
Such an opportunity presented itself when I had to dash to Essex to buy a Shogun and return via Luton to see some old Vauxhall colleagues. That was a round trip of 580 miles at an average of 62mph while achieving 45mpg. Impressive, given the traffic chaos I’d encountered. It was comfortable enough, but the seat base felt oddly angled after a few hours.
Before setting out, I’d treated the car to two bottles of Millers Diesel Injector Cleaner. The Volvo repaid me by once again throwing on the EML light as I accelerated beyond 3500rpm to get past an obstruction on the A1.
It also blew three bulbs as I returned during the night. Replacing the nearside headlamp bulb was an hour’s worth of pain. I felt for my mechanic as I watched him wrestle with it. At least the two side-lights were easier.
Rebooking it into Volmech, they said that the swirl flap issue might necessitate removing the rocker cover, something which required all five injectors to be removed. Neither of us fancied the risk, but it couldn’t sell as it was.
This time they replaced the actuator rod before repinning it. They warned that the swirl flaps were worn; the telltale sign is the rocker cover leaking oil. They suspected the old rod had failed after being repeatedly manhandled by the CM Team (Yes, of course… Ed).
Following another diagnostic check, the occasional starting issue was confirmed as an immobiliser key amplifier. Apparently, this is a common problem: the part is a plastic ring behind the ignition switch that relays the key’s digital code to the immobiliser.
The item costs £50 from Volvo and can be fitted in 10 minutes because it doesn’t require coding. Additionally, Volmech said the injectors were fine, so the additive worked. The next hurdle was the MOT test.
It passed with flying colours. The good news didn’t last: it promptly threw on a Stability Control Warning light. I couldn’t wait for them to clear the fault, so I just used it. It did reset, but I thought I’d better get it plugged in.
The diagnostic wasn’t clear, so its cause is still unknown and the intermittent fault still there. Crucially however, it sold. It has gone to the same family that bought the ex-cm project Micra and Mercedes C-class Coupé.
Relieved to see it sell, the S60 was as disappointing as its turning circle was big.