2015 S60 Displays Overheating, But Not Always

[parisi22]

Hi everyone. I am new here and hope someone has ideas. I have a 2015 S60. I brought it to the shop for a regular repair and told them that the "low coolant" message came on once, but disappeared.

They said I had a leaking hose and replaced it. I drove it home with no issues. About 5 days later, I was about 2 minutes from my house when the "engine running too hot" message came on. I turned around immediately. I had the car towed to the shop.

They said the water pump and termostat needing replacing. I did this. I drove it home (about 20 minute drive), with no issues. Later that day, I drove maybe 1 KM and the "engine running too hot" message came on. I returned home and had the car towed to the shop. When I returned home, I noticed a stream of coolant in my driveway and under my car in the garage. Not a lot, but some.

They said they found a hose that was not attached right. They fixed it. The mechanic drove my car 30 or so kilometers yesterday with no issues. Today, he started it, took it out and within minutes it said "engine running too hot." He doesn't think it's actually overheating b/c it's happening too fast.

I haven't seen signs of head gasket issue - no white smoke, engine performs very well.

Any ideas of what is going on?

Thank you.

[scissors]

If it's the 4-cylinder VEA engine then it seems the coolant system needs to be filled with a vacuum pump to avoid air in the system. Not sure if your garage has done this or even it is related to your issue. Just something to consider.

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by parisi22

Hi everyone. I am new here and hope someone has ideas. I have a 2015 S60. I brought it to the shop for a regular repair and told them that the "low coolant" message came on once, but disappeared.

They said I had a leaking hose and replaced it. I drove it home with no issues. About 5 days later, I was about 2 minutes from my house when the "engine running too hot" message came on. I turned around immediately. I had the car towed to the shop.

They said the water pump and termostat needing replacing. I did this. I drove it home (about 20 minute drive), with no issues. Later that day, I drove maybe 1 KM and the "engine running too hot" message came on. I returned home and had the car towed to the shop. When I returned home, I noticed a stream of coolant in my driveway and under my car in the garage. Not a lot, but some.

They said they found a hose that was not attached right. They fixed it. The mechanic drove my car 30 or so kilometers yesterday with no issues. Today, he started it, took it out and within minutes it said "engine running too hot." He doesn't think it's actually overheating b/c it's happening too fast.

I haven't seen signs of head gasket issue - no white smoke, engine performs very well.

Any ideas of what is going on?

Thank you.

Could be air in the system as the above poster mentioned.

Was it an aftermarket water pump/thermostat they fitted? The one they took off could have been better than the one they replaced it with.

I'd start with purging the system of any air first. If that doesn't help, I'd be suspicious of the water pump/thermostat they fitted. You don't want cheap/junk parts cooling the engine. It needs to be genuine Volvo, or as a minimum, quality aftermarket from a reputable brand. There's a lot of junk parts nowadays that simply don't work.

[parisi22]

Thank you. Here is an update. It's gets stranger. So, they determined the auxillary battery needed replacing. We've know this for a while. I thought it simply controlled the on/off stop feature. They said it controls other things as well and could be confusing cooling system. They called me to say they replaced the battery and test drove it several times with no problems. I went to pick up the car.

- I get in and "open hood" message on. Very odd. It wasn't open. I opened it and closed it and messaged went away.
- 15 yards from the shop, the "overheating" messge came on. It was right when I turned AC on.
-I had tech get in car. Message went away and immediately came on when he opened the door and "door open" message also came on.
- So, they now think a short that is causing these error messages.

I will also tell you that they admitted they put in after market water pump and were going to replace it with Volvo one but it's on back order. But, they are still convinced it's not overheating. Could the after market water pump be working but also causing weird messages in system?

This is all so frustrating.