[Tgo]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

When I start or shut down the car there is a whirring sound that is unusual. After a few minutes it goes away as the engine heat builds up. Not sure what the cause is.

Just guessing. It could be the radiator fan which might have a bearing tending to jam up.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

I
When I start or shut down the car there is a whirring sound that is unusual. After a few minutes it goes away as the engine heat builds up. Not sure what the cause is.

It's a bit hard to diagnose without hearing the sound. Perhaps you could record a short clip - I'm sure you'd get better answers then.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by Tgo

Just guessing. It could be the radiator fan which might have a bearing tending to jam up.

Radiator fan does not run when the engine is cold, right? Once the coolant temperature cross ~90 degree Celsius it starts

[Tgo]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Radiator fan does not run when the engine is cold, right? Once the coolant temperature cross ~90 degree Celsius it starts

Now a days it is a common fan for the radiator and AC condenser.

Its the coolant circuit thermostatic valve which does not open up the circulation path to the radiator, until the engine reaches operating temp.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by Tgo

Now a days it is a common fan for the radiator and AC condenser.

Its the coolant circuit thermostatic valve which does not open up the circulation path to the radiator, until the engine reaches operating temp.

Oh OK. So, does the fan run if the AC is not switched on and the engine is also cold?

[Tgo]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Oh OK. So, does the fan run if the AC is not switched on and the engine is also cold?

It shouldn't, there's no apparent need.

But one never knows the embedded logics in high end cars, at least I don't have any experience to say for sure.

[V.Narayan]

8th Service :: 72,000 kms :: the Brown Mare demands attention

Hitherto all services fell due when 10,000 kms got clocked. This time she went in as 12 months had passed. Thanks to the lockdowns etc over the past 15 months mileage utilization has been lukewarm. First 63 months till March 2020 she completed 65,000 odd kms or a shade above 1000 a month. And since then in 15 months, she has been driven a bit below 7000 kms or ~450 kms a month. :-( She remains my primary self-drive choice. Oh, I love the torque and the muted growl. My work takes me to the interiors of districts such as Faridabad, Palwal & Nuh and for the roads there this car is well suited. She has never, touchwood, failed me thus far.

The cause of the noise referred to in post # 270 was due to the alternator bearings assembly beginning to give way. Volvo offered to repair it and keep it good for another 5000+ kms. But I am a fussy sort and requested for a replacement. The car is now out of warranty and the part alone cost Rs 75,000 and change plus labour. As always the brakes were checked – they remain healthy. The other jobs were – wheel interchange, wheel alignment, fluids, and changing the transmission oil. The last mentioned was due in this the 8th service and cost another ~Rs 28,000. Overall cost including the usual waxing, interiors, aircon ducts cleaning and some minor items came to Rs 128,000.

One issue that has defied a solution is the tiny dirt marks or wear out marks appearing on the drivers seat. Volvo and 3M both have tried their hand at removing these (photo below) but with limited success. I am unsure what will work – soapy water and a toothbrush? Use a different dry cleaner for my pants? Find a cure for my obsessive behaviour.

The attitude, courtesy and helpfulness of the Swede Auto service staff remains very healthy. Infact their quality may make me a repeat Volvo customer when the time comes for moving to an EV. For me top class repair centre attitude and service and sheer reliability of the car rates above any other parameter. However unlike Lexus Volvo's executives consider themselves to be above and beyond replying to their customers. They prefer to hide behind their desks. As someone who has been in competitive service industries most of my life I find this behaviour abominable and unbecoming.

Total cost of maintenance, spares & upgrades so far is Rs 628,000/- over 72,000 odd kms or Rs 8.72 per kms. This includes the Rs 48,000 invested on the polestar upgrade to add more zest and smoothness to the driving experience. The lower driving output has increased the average cost per kms. In terms of time this works out to a little over Rs 8000 a month. The big items in here are – all four brakes, tyres, battery, drivers side ORVM, transmission oil, polestar upgrade and replacement of the alternator. For a car at this price point I believe this is very reasonable.

I wish the 10-year rule on diesels gets amended. This car has much more than 10 years of life.


My beauty. I talk to her, pat her. She responds.


The seat marks that beat me. :-(


Corner damage sustained over the years thanks to Dilli’s unruly traffic. The 3M plastic PPF was redone for the section.


The tight squeeze into the rear seat I don’t like. Why the hell don’t car designers have doors that open all the way to 90 degrees. Well, I rarely sit at the rear but muttering and cursing I enjoy. So there.


Over these past three months oxygenators and other covid19 related medical equipment has travelled in here cheerfully.


Brown Mare giddiup.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

8th Service :: 72,000 kms :: the Brown Mare demands attention

Congratulations on completing 72000km on such a beautiful car. Your ownership thread is very informative and interesting to read. This is a relatively rare car and I do not think there will be any other source with so much information on this car than your thread here! Thank you for taking the efforts to keep updating this thread.

It is amazing how well you have taken care of this car and how well maintained the car is. She still looks like new.

My beauty. I talk to her, pat her. She responds.

So nice to read this. I share this same emotion and my cars talk to me :-) It is great to see your passion towards your cars.

Wish you many more happy miles on this car and looking forward to further continued updates in this thread.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

The seat marks that beat me. :-(

IMO this can be fixed to perfection and hasn't been damaged permanently. Consult a good detailer in your area. 3M is average at best these days, and there are far specialized detailers out there.

Regards,
Shashi

[psispace]

Congrats on 72k.

Your brown mare seems to be getting healthier as she ages. No doubt she is pampered well.

The wear on those seats are as expected in our climate. In fact its worse in Kerala. Its' the lighter shade on your seats that makes it more visible. But if you have OCD it is difficult to unsee.

Maybe as others suggest, you could try a different detailer.

Over time, I have learnt to accept the minor fender scratches as part and parcel of life.

[viXit]

Congratulations Sir.

Your seats can be cleaned very easily with the right chemical formula. Physical methods only go so far. Our Honda city is maintained painstakingly by my parents. But when the car was done with it's service , there were grease stains on the leather of the seats and the doorpads. When asked to clean them, the SA used an orangeish solution. Sprayed it on the affected portion and used a microfiber to wipe it off. No agitation required with a brush if used without dilution.

Sadly it's a specialist product and only dealerships/ detailers use it. 3M is too arrogant to use a product that doesn't have their name on it.

Here is a Flipkart Link or the product. Click Here

It smells great too!

Looks something like this.








Pics taken at my Honda's SVC
It's only sold by the würth distributors.

It's the best cleaner I've ever seen.

Cleans extremely well, leaves a nice matte finish, smells beautiful!
Diluted at the prescribed 1:10

It costs 36 rupees per litre. Cost effective too.

Has your left front fender/wheel arch been repainted? The orange peel looks excessive over there. Or is that due to the thick PPF? I've experienced 3M services and have PPF on my car. But their quality has been deteriorating slowly. I think you should try someone else.

[GRV]

Originally Posted by smartcarguy4u

Hello Mr. Narayan, others,

Have been driving XC60 for 2 months now. Its a sublime drive on highways. DRive on poor bangalore roads is a different story. The suspension seems harder and SUV shakes on bad roads/potholes and particularly on humps, unless I come to complete stop and go over slowly.... I never experienced this in my Innova before. It would take poor roads like a champ. The inner city drive in Bangalore is very uncomfortable. Is there anything I can do to make the drive on bad roads / humps better ? Have you experienced the same ? If so, anything you have done ?

Car comes with Michelin tires. Not sure if tires are an issue.

Thanks

I have S90 (12,000 Kms). Recently, I have also experienced ride quality deteriorating on humps or even uneven roads. The car rocks from left to right like a boat and unsettles the passengers. Nothing seems out of order in suspension, it is working like new, hence my suspicion fell on the tyres. Went for Road force wheel balancing. The tyre-guy told me that two out of 4 tyres have bulge (not visible at all by naked eyes) and that could be causing this rocking ride on bad roads. Shown tyres to volvo service center, they could not see any bulge (neither could I ). But road force machine read out is saying that this wheel can not be fully balanced due to tyre bulge. After road force balancing I could feel minor improvement in rocking issue but with time I am back to square one. Wanted to reach out to Auto car or other experts who can throw some light on this , but till now no luck

[shobhit.shri]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Total cost of maintenance, spares & upgrades so far is Rs 628,000/- over 72,000 odd kms or Rs 8.72 per kms. In terms of time this works out to a little over Rs 8000 a month. The big items in here are – all four brakes, tyres, battery, drivers side ORVM, transmission oil, polestar upgrade and replacement of the alternator.

Thanks for providing the exact numbers. That right there is the reason why I am scared of getting into the luxury segment, both in new and used form.

A newly bought and well cared Volvo incurred almost a lakh per year in maintenance. Since maintenance increases with time and the initial 3-4 years would have cost less, it might extrapolate to 2 lakh per year between 5th to the 10th year. Now, this hypothesis might be wrong - I wish it is - but it says that a luxury car can cost almost 15 times to what my 3rd generation Honda city is costing in the same period.

[shankarbn]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

One issue that has defied a solution is the tiny dirt marks or wear out marks appearing on the drivers seat. Volvo and 3M both have tried their hand at removing these (photo below) but with limited success. I am unsure what will work – soapy water and a toothbrush? Use a different dry cleaner for my pants? Find a cure for my obsessive behaviour.

Attachment 2171930
The seat marks that beat me. :-(

Colin or similar glass cleaning spray works wonders for leather/faux leather. Unusual, but works way better than any other leather conditioning product I have ever used. Fabric seats need a lot of elbow grease and equal amounts of surf excel.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Your ownership thread is very informative and interesting to read. This is a relatively rare car and I do not think there will be any other source with so much information on this car than your thread here! Thank you for taking the efforts to keep updating this thread. It is amazing how well you have taken care of this car and how well maintained the car is. She still looks like new.

Thank you Dr. AD. The aim is to be usefully informative to other XC60 owners/potential owners.

So nice to read this. I share this same emotion and my cars talk to me :-) It is great to see your passion towards your cars.

My wife talks to her plants, I talk to my cars. All in the family.

Originally Posted by psispace

Your brown mare seems to be getting healthier as she ages. No doubt she is pampered well.

Pampered like a spoilt child is the right phrase.

The wear on those seats are as expected in our climate. In fact its worse in Kerala. Its' the lighter shade on your seats that makes it more visible.

Waahhh!!!!:-(

Originally Posted by viXit

Your seats can be cleaned very easily with the right chemical formula. Here is a Flipkart Link or the product.

Many thanks for your input and the trouble you took over sharing links & photos.

Has your left front fender/wheel arch been repainted? The orange peel looks excessive over there. Or is that due to the thick PPF? I've experienced 3M services and have PPF on my car. But their quality has been deteriorating slowly. I think you should try someone else.

No I did not get it repainted. Apparently the 3M PPF does not sit well on repainted surfaces. So we removed the PPF of that side and fitted a fresh one. The PPF was installed at the start of the car's life and has continued since. I think it works better with dark shades.

Originally Posted by GRV

I have S90 (12,000 Kms). Recently, I have also experienced ride quality deteriorating on humps or even uneven roads....

If you need any assistance with the Swede Auto's service centre you are welcome to send me a private message

Originally Posted by shobhit.shri

Thanks for providing the exact numbers. That right there is the reason why I am scared of getting into the luxury segment, both in new and used form.

The per service cost in the next 5 to 6 years of the car's life would be around Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 per service as this is the stage where planned and unplanned replacement of parts start to happen. Yes these cars do get expensive after a point. Not as expensive as a Mercedes but it is a cost one must be ready for emotionally and financially.

Originally Posted by shankarbn

Colin or similar glass cleaning spray works wonders for leather/faux leather. Unusual, but works way better than any other leather conditioning product I have ever used. Fabric seats need a lot of elbow grease and equal amounts of surf excel.

Thanks for this tip.