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Wouldn’t start, now propulsion system service required

25K views 45 replies 12 participants last post by  SeattleCat  
#1 ·
Took my XC40 to the gym this morning, left it out in the driveway until midday. Went out to leave and it wouldn’t start. At all. Kept getting this message:
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Nothing helped, it just looped between this and “pull shifter to drive” or something like that. Ran my errands with the other car can came back three hours later. Took five minutes of the same message, but eventually it could be driven. But now with this message:
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Have an appointment next week for the recall, will be curious to see what this problem is…..
 
#2 ·
Ugh :(

Sorry to hear this.

Starting to feel like there is a new round of problems with 2.1 …. I am betting the ac changes have caused problems. Wishing I had not upgraded but I did bathe the car last night so hopefully the bubble bath will keep me running.

Good luck with the service. Let us all know what happened
 
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#3 ·
Ugh :(

Sorry to hear this.

Starting to feel like there is a new round of problems with 2.1 …. I am betting the ac changes have caused problems. Wishing I had not upgraded but I did bathe the car last night so hopefully the bubble bath will keep me running.

Good luck with the service. Let us all know what happened
i hope this has nothing to do with 2.1

i think we have seen many other problems with the same error message prior to 2.1
 
#11 ·
Back again,
I do not want to start new topic but I had the same message 17 days ago. Car drove fine, no problem with the "announcement" popping in the begging. That happened right after a road trip - fast charging - and than car was left overnight at 38%. In the morning a had that message - Propulsion system urgent service required. Call the dealer and Volvo support. Volvo says do what dealer say (no surprise here) and Volvo has no ability to see or diagnose the car remotely or even to see if there is something wrong. I asked them as I was curious. The service advisor said if the car runs fine and doing everything, and has only that message to set up appointment and keep driving it. I did so. Week later after switching the profiles from my wife to me I got three messages like service urgent, reduced power and so on. Car went in turtle mode. Call Volvo support to send a tow truck and my service advisor at the dealership to let him know what happened. 1,5 hour later tow truck arrived and dropped the car at the dealer. I did not go with the truck. Service was very good. Next day in the morning they look at the car (that was Saturday) cleared all the errors installed the software that was available. They test drove the car and everything was looking good. However they refused to release the car until Volvo engineers in Sweden looked at the car file and OK the release. I got a loaner right way - brand new Subaru Outback Wilderness. Nice off-road Subaru but gas powered (not that gas thirsty as my XC90).
Monday - Volvo Technicians looked at the file and refused to release the car. Instead they requested another test to be made on the high voltage battery. They had to drive the car and look at the voltage and HV battery cells. That way it was discovered that there is voltage unbalance between the cells. Next week we should know what should be done. I cannot speculate at that point, just very curious what the outcome is going to be.
I should mention that Volvo provided great service through Volvo on call in the car and they did everything they could. Volvo of Vancouver are great folks as well no complains there. They were always nice and helpful and doing everything right. Will keep you updated.
 
#12 ·
Back again,
I got three messages like service urgent, reduced power and so on. Car went in turtle mode.

Volvo Technicians looked at the file and refused to release the car. Instead they requested another test to be made on the high voltage battery. They had to drive the car and look at the voltage and HV battery cells. That way it was discovered that there is voltage unbalance between the cells. Next week we should know what should be done. I cannot speculate at that point, just very curious what the outcome is going to be.
This is almost exactly the same as what happened to me (with the same propulsion alerts/propulsion system critical), except I also noticed 2 sudden drops in battery percentage when the errors occurred. Just driving along at 80% capacity, then a sudden drop to 65%, then another drop to 57% within 10-15 seconds. Like the battery was dropping cells/capacity.

My car was towed to the dealership a month ago and they still haven't identified the actual issue but suspect it's the main high voltage battery. I guess one upside of this is when they fix my car (whenever that will be), is that when I get it back I'll still have a brand new car. I didn't even put 50km on it before it died.
 
#16 ·
The message persisted all day Saturday through errands and a trip to the opposite side of the metro and back. Well after a charge from 50-90% overnight, the propulsion system message has disappeared entirely today. Doesn’t even show up in car status anymore. Hopefully there will be some log in the system on Friday…..
 
#17 ·
That is typical voltage unbalance. Once it was charged to 90%it balanced itself as the balancing apparently is happening at high SOC. I am pretty sure you will be fine and my problem is similar to yours it is just the magnitude. My SOC indicator did not fluctuate at all which was a good sign. One of the finds that kinda disturbs me is the numerous errors they red on the car. Sometimes that is normal - for example low 12V battery will cause some modules to turn off and shows codes for all of them. Once they erased everything nothing came back.
The battery management is build to cut off battery cells if there are discrepancies aka unbalanced cells that are too low and than it goes to turtle mode. It doesn`t mean the battery is dying or there is bad cell. Just have to go through few cycles to be balanced again. Learned that this is ongoing issue among the industry, and it is not just Volvo. There is no perfect balanced battery pack anywhere, it is
just the level that will trigger a warning.
Anyway, for now I have to wait for Volvo to come back to the dealership technicians with some advice. Hopefully next week. The weather on the north west coast is supper rainy and not suitable for trips. I hope I will get the car before the summer break starts.
Good luck to us all.
 
#22 ·
Update on the car:
There is cell in the HV battery that doesn`t want to balance. It is unclear if that is failed cell or balancing components. The individual cell or module could be replaced which means the battery is repairable. The dealership is not trained to work on high voltage battery and Volvo is sending new one. Perhaps two to three weeks. No ETA. Anyone here with replaced high voltage battery - how long does it takes?
 
#28 ·
The service guy thinks the software resolved the issue itself … does he think we have a sapient ai in our cars….

I am wondering if he was bsing, ignorant or just misspoke. Maybe he meant to say the problem will resolve / go away on their own. Which does sound similar to the software will resolve it with some rather fundamental differences.
 
#31 ·
Is this the wiring harness water ingress accelerator pedal issue? No word of it yet in Australia. Fingers crossed it doesn't affect us but who knows! I need to contact the dealer as my rear brake pads stuck again today and did the thump-thump-thump noise. I'm not taking it in unless they say they have the reformulated pads in stock...and should say rotors too.
 
#40 ·
Just happen yesterday 2min. after the sales call me for services and I say no need yet, right after hang up the phone in 2min. later. I do need service immediately, did the service center remotely control my car and want me to stop by for service ?

This is fxxking pain in the xxx when you are in the middle of no where, car was towed and totally destroy my all day things supposedly needs to be done. Very disappointed for Volvo !
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#41 ·
Just happen yesterday 2min. after the sales call me for services and I say no need yet, right after hang up the phone in 2min. later. I do need service immediately, did the service center remotely control my car and want me to stop by for service ?

This is fxxking pain in the xxx when you are in the middle of no where, car was towed and totally destroy my all day things supposedly needs to be done. Very disappointed for Volvo !
View attachment 3940
god willing it’s a coincidence because that would be beyond the pale…
 
#46 ·
I wonder if the prep for charging to over 90 is actually balancing of cells on the way to the charger.

Some folks say to charge to 100 once every 3 months and drive immediately to get it to 90 or lower.

No idea if this should actually needed.