2002 Volvo S60: wrong fuel gauge reading

Filed Jul 10, 2012 · Acceleration, Electrical · 147,021 miles · ME

Purchased used s60 in november 2011 with 137,000 miles. A few weeks later various problems manifested: scrambled letters in dashboard message, driver door locks intermittently worked, radio self tuned to different station, speedometer giving false readings or stuck at current speed or reading zero, fuel gauge malfunction, all instruments on panel flickered, all instruments went "dark" while driving. At first restarting car would clear problem. Then frequency between failures increased. Just before complete failure - car needed to be "cold" for instruments to work - with instruments failing once engine warmed. Finally in february 2012 at about 147,021 miles the panel completely failed while driving - giving driver no readings (speed, fuel, temp, mileage, or warning indicators) and would not reset. Internet forums of volvo owners suggested it was a driver information module failure. Owners forums pinpointed 3 probable causes of a dim failure - 1. Loose connection of the motorola microchip, 2. Loose capacitor/resistor 3. Lack of protection from heat/heat transfer to individual prongs in microchip or between capacitor/resistor and the circuit board. Some electrically savvy owners fixed by reflowing/resoldering/heat protecting said components. Our local volvo dealer confirmed dim failure and quoted aprox. $1500 for a new instrument cluster and 3 hrs. Labor. We chose to send dim/instrument cluster out for a refurbishment to baa remanufacturing inc. On reinstallation warning message read "sra/airbag-service urgent". Asked dealer to clear dim code first, then from SRS module per baa-reman instructions. Dealer job description/receipt stated they cleared codes dim 0001, 0003, 0005, 0006, e003, SRS 00d4, e003. No problems with locks/radio/instrument cluster since remanufacture in the last 10,000 miles/5 months. Volvo's original dim circuit board poorly designed/assembled.

Filed Jul 1, 2012 · Electrical · 80,000 miles · TX

Electrical panel fails (gas gauge says empty), passenger and rear door locks, fuel door, and trunk opening also fails. Incredibly dangerous as cannot open the doors unless pulling the door lock up manually from inside the car so therefore can't get to children in the backseat without crawling through the front seat and manually unlocking their door. Have no idea how much gas is in the car because gas gauge fails and cannot get fuel door to open consitently making it difficult to refuel. Car alarm went off in the middle of the night and could not open the car doors to turn it off because of electrical failure and therefore battery drained. It is really dangerous to not be able to lock and unlock the car doors. A child could get trapped in the vehicle or someone could get into the car for fear of locking doors and not being able to get them unlocked. This problem is all over the internet -rear electrical module failure and volvo needs to address as is a safety hazard.

Filed Nov 4, 2011 · Electrical · 145,821 miles · MD

Instrument cluster (known as driver information module) completely died while driving. Checked volvo forums online and see that this is a common problem. Replacement is the only option. $1500. Many people are driving without knowing their speed or fuel level. Me included. Can't afford $1500 repair bill. This should be a recall item.

Filed Sep 6, 2011 · Electrical · 152,000 miles · AL

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 volvo s60. The contact stated that whenever the vehicle was started, a random gauge would fail on the instrument panel, including the fuel gauge, speedometer and odometer. The vehicle was not inspected or repaired. The VIN was not available. The current mileage was 152,000.

Filed Feb 7, 2011 · Electrical · 115,000 miles · CO

On a 2002 volvo s60, the driver's information module intermittently blanks out rendering the vehicle with no speedometer and fuel gauge. The speedometer (and whole module) might not work for days.