general problems of the 2004 Volvo XC90 - part 1

Instrument panel shuts down while driving on street. I believe it is the central electronic module that fails. It has happened numerous times and it is unsafe to drive without a speedometer, tachometer, odometer fuel gauge, and temperature gauge. It has now stopped altogether. Gauges just sit there and bounce.

Unsure of what the issue is with the vehicle but smells like gas in my garage and I found a recall I was never notified about I moved from washington to las vegas and never received any info regarding the fuel pump recall as well as a noise that’s been going on for a year now when I drive at 60 miles an hour I’ve had it looked at and no one seems to know what that issue is.

Unknown. . But water accumulated under the passenger seat under the amp and electrical components after a storm or rainy day. And its a lot of water when I brake I can hear a water fall. . And water rushing and moving along the bottom. Of the car as I am steering im worried that the wiring and electrical will be damaged by water exposure the battery always dies wires soaked and sitting in water underneath passenger and never can completely get the moisture smell out of front seat area. . Mildew. . Why is this water leaking or not draining correctly ??.

On may 26, 2022, I was stuck in traffic for four hours, and the car's cem (central electronic module) overheated causing the dashboard to shut down three times, meaning I lost all instrument readings. After each time the dashboard shut down, I had to pull over and reset fuse #27 to have the dashboard come back online temporarily. Because the cem was already overheated due to its design flaw with improper ventilation, the dashboard would shut down again and again. A google search would show this is a very common issue for 2004 Volvo models and before. Driving without any instrument readings is totally unsafe. I strongly urge you to force Volvo to issue a recall for 2004 and before models and fix the cem overheating problem.

While driving on the highway "srs urgent" text came on, also hear clicking sounds under dash on driver side, then dashboard indicator lights completely disappear (speed, fuel, temperature, etc) . Extremely hot under driver side dash. Fortunately, still able to steer and brake. This has happened twice now. Mechanic believes most likely cem failure or dim failure. My vehicle also has a wet a-pillar fabric (Volvo forums indicate possible cause of failure). I removed drivers a-pillar and found a clogged drain tube from the sunroof. However, did not notice any obvious signs of water inside the vehicle, though it hasnt rained for over a month when this happened.

Is been stolen.

Similar to many others, while driving our 2004 Volvo Xc90, we hear a click, then the climate, radio and windshield wipers (if on) shut off and their display lights black out, then another click in a fraction of a second and they come back on. This was happening randomly, and nothing else was affected, until this weekend, while on a trip. We were driving on highways, outside temp in the 80's, no rain, average speed about 70mph. It happened a few times over about 45 minutes, then began happening every 5 miles or so. When I turned up the ac fan, within about a minute it clicked and we lost the usual things, but they did not come back on. Then we heard another click and lost all dashboard lighting and controls; we could not see the instrument panel, the climate control was blowing hot air and could not be shut off or turned down, and we had no idea what speed we were going as it was nighttime. Extremely frightening and dangerous. We made it to the first exit that had a gas station and stopped. The car was very hard to accelerate when we got off at the exit as well. I was able to open the windows but when I opened the moon roof, it stopped half way and then would not close or open. We were stranded for hours awaiting a family member to come get us and then hours longer waiting for the vehicle to be towed. Our mechanic researched this and encouraged me to report, as he said there seem to be hundreds of reports of similar things happening with this year, make and model vehicle.

Hi, when driving my car up any slight little hill, I have no power and it doesn't seem to want to drive. It's very frustrating!! I have read there are recalls in the fuel pumps and also other recalls with the model Volvo Xc90. I hope they can repair it and pay for it!!.

While I'm motion the srs airbag light came on transmission urgent light came on and abs light the battery keeps bubbling like its gonna blow up in my trunk I have to jump it off every morning I paid alot for this SUV can you please help me keep my only car in working order I have had all maintence done in past now the coolant system is leaking what is going on with this Volvo Xc90 t6 awd.

Tl-contact owns a 2004 Volvo Xc90 ---- contact called Volvo dealer in white plains NY. . . Contact stated airbag light came on while driving and was on for a month. . . . Vehicle stalled going 50mph . . . Power steering went out on main highway vehicle lost power and shut off. . . . Vehicle restarts and then shuts off again after going a couple miles. . . Spoke with mechanic at dealership who stated that airbags are recalled. . . . Mechanic by the name of anthony. . . . Told contact that airbag light being on was not a big deal. . . . That airbag was faulty so it would not deploy in accident. . . . . . . . 0 recalls associated with this VIN. . Cb.

My Volvo xc 90 cannot shift to park or reverse, it remained in drive or neutral position. Was unable to remove keys from ignition due to problem. It is a safety hazard that when I searched u-tube found there were numerous people that encountered the same problem. It just had a service 1 month ago.

When traveling at high rates of speed (on the highway) the car completely shuts off. The dashboard and all electrical shuts off, the hazards do not seem to work or the turn indicators, abs does not work so it is a very slow heavy stop. This happened to me in this car one other time in 2010, and there was an immediate computer module upgrade issued.

2004 Volvo Xc90 sudden engine stall with lose of headlights: I was traveling on the interstate at night with the cruise set at 75 mph when suddenly it was like someone turned the ignition key to off for about 3 seconds, and then turned the key back on without restarting the engine. With all the warning lamps illuminated, and the engine at a stall I pulled into the emergency lane, and stopped. I then shifted to park and attempted to start the vehicle, where it took several attempts to start. The headlights did not stop working while pulling over, and when I stopped I switched the lights off before I restarted the engine. The first thing at mind was a fuel pump that was starting to act up. After restarting I revved the engine up a few quick times (to clear the engines throat). I then got back on the interstate accelerating to 75 mph , but doing so manually this time(no cruise control). About 10 min had passed when suddenly the engine started losing power as I was having to press the accelerator harder to maintain speed. While still coasting at 65 mph or so I placed the transmission into neutral, and attempted to restart the engine, when I turned the key to the start position I lost all the lights, I quickly released the key to the on position, and the lights remained off. I quickly pulled to the emergency lane and used the force to avoid the guardrail and the ditch. All the warning light were illuminated, and the engine was at a stall. I then turned the ignition key off and then back on, and that restored the headlights. It took 5-8 attempts to restart the engine, and again I'm thinking fuel pump acting up. Each time I attempted to restart the engine it would spit and sputter like if the fuel pump were only delivering half the pressure needed for the fuel injectors. After the engine restarted I made it home, and the problem has not arisen since,.

The car is leaking a substantial amount of water my driver and passenger side floods with water. Now when I brake I can hear so much water moving back and forth. I have water damage on the roof of my car floor is damaged so badly. Just waiting on electric problems to arise. This has happened over 5 times. . . Sunroof does not open so security alert as well. The car has been stationary parked in the parking lot of our townhouse 0.

I had this problem a few times a year ago and now it has returned. I was driving my car at night in the rain on a two lane freeway when all of a sudden I lost the headlights, dash lights, speedometer, radio, power windows, electric transmission, and much more function of the car. The engine is still running but it seems to almost reset or something then start shutting stuff down. I see on your website someone put this in as a complaint also this is very dangerous you cant see at night the car is hard to drive its obviously this same problem with water getting into the ecm. I read through your information and it seems like Volvo knew something was up with ones produced before or after March. It seems like they have been well aware of the problem and still want to charge you $2000 to fix it! people shouldn't have to pay to fix a problem Volvo has been well aware of and has had a cheap and easy solution for years. I called my local Volvo dealers and not one of them had any information or knowledge of this problem. When Volvo has a service notice about this problem and has obviously spent a lot of time looking into it. The problem seems to be really bad when it rains or I use the wipers further leading me to see that it is the same thing in investigation pe-10-025. These are only the people who are complaining to you this seems to be a very common issue that Volvo is sweeping under the rug to make a buck. It's disgusting.

This report is about a hazardous situation with our 2004 Xc90. The engine shut down without warning on the i5 freeway! the car suddenly lost power and we had to coast to the side in the dark. We were lucky to not get hit! the display showed the following error code: ecm-981a. We are aware of the fact that this problem is not new to NHTSA and that you have received several reports on it already. It appears that the problem has to do with the cruise control, and ever since the incident we have been driving the car without engaging it without any problems. The mileage on the car is 138,000 miles. The problem occurred when engaging the cruise control on an uphill slope. We speculate that it might be caused by engaging the cruise control at the same instant as the car shifts down automatically. I talked to a Volvo service technician who aid that he had experienced the same problem with his own 2004 Xc90 but he was unable to find what had caused it.

While driving at any speed the vehicles electrical system completely shuts down with out warning as if the vehicle was off. The engine stays running with very minimal power. This happened to me at night while driving on the highway, it was raining and all the lights, wipers, every electrical part just shut off, I am lucky I did not crash. After researching I that a lot of owners have the same problems and that Volvo is aware of the dangerous problem but does nothing about it.

Tl-the contact owns a 2004 Xc90 Volvo. The contact stated that while driving at 35 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact was able to pull the vehicle over. The vehicle was able to restart however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic where it was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 180,000. Ed.

I switched from headlights on to daylight driving lights on. I received a "bulb failure" for the daylight driving lights. I switched back to headlights. I received a "bulb failure" for the hids. I have verified that the fuses are good, and that there are now no working headlights on the car. Had this happened at night it could have been bad, very bad. Thank god it happened during a sunny day and that the teen driver wasn't behind the wheel.

My 2004 Volvo Xc90 with a 2. 5t engine, 7 pass, intermittently and inadvertently stalls while driving it. It is scary beacuse all electrical goes off, instrument panel, radio, lights, etc, several warning messages appears, such abs, air bags failure, brake failure, engine failure, etc. It won't respond to acceleration and brakes are very hard to push, the engine does not stop. I have to stop, turn it off, wait few minutes, then start it, everything comes to normal again but with the check engine and the air bags message, then after some minutes of driving the same stalling and electrical issues happen again. This is serious because you are on freeway and you loose brakes and engine control, no information in instrument panel, etc. I found that the relays in the cem (control electronics module) are super hot possibly due to loose connections, in the video below you will see the problems and infrared pictures of the cem. Please help!!!!!! please help!!!!!! please help!!!!!! please help!!!!!! please see my youtube video and other videos with the same issue search for Xc90 issues, Xc90 stalling, Xc90 electrical problems, etc. . Read more...

Tl-the contact owns a 2004 Volvo Xc90. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 mph, the vehicle began to jerk and the dash board went black. The contact depressed the brake and the vehicle did respond, however, when the contact depressed the accelerator pedal to move over to the shoulder, the vehicle failed to respond. The contact coasted over to the shoulder, powered the vehicle off and back on. The vehicle was able to be driven, however, the contact stated that he had to pull over every 10 minutes. The contact also stated that on several occasions it took several attempts to start to vehicle. The contact stated that NHTSA action number: pe10025 (electrical system) mirrored the failure that he experienced. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but the failure was unable to be determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 104,000. Sw.

Car lost all power and message window read "reduced engine performance". We were traveling in the left lane and had to coast through traffic to the shoulder. There was absolutely no throttle response, so we shut the car off. Upon restarting it, the message disappeared and we were able to continue our trip. It happened again, and we reset it once again. We stopped at the first Volvo repair facility we found and had them scan all the computers using the Volvo diagnostic equipment. The code they retrieved was ecm-981a. They cleared our computer using the Volvo computer, but the problem returned on our return home. We were barely able to get out of the way of a semi barreling upon us! the problem still persists, and I finally went to my computer to find some information on my own. Apparently, this is not so uncommon a problem with these cars. There is already a recall on some of the 2003-2004 s60's and v70's. We have already spent close to $2,000. 00 trying to remedy this problem, but that becomes inconsequential if someone gets killed because the issue doesn't get resolved.

I have experienced the known issue with the central electronic module many times now. I have been driving at highway speeds and then experience the momentary jerking, loss of power, loss of instrument panel, and more. Sometimes I start my vehicle and it starts in limp home mode. Very frustrating and dangerous. This should be recalled and repaired by Volvo.

Tl-the contact owns a 2004 Volvo Xc90. The contact stated that while driving 65 mph, the engine feels like it gears down like someone applied the brakes without warning. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or repaired and the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. VIN was not provided. The failure mileage was 135,000. Ed.

Driving vehicle at 45mph and key switched out of the "run" position while being driven. Vehicle's engine completely shut off, rendering power brakes, power steering and airbags as not operational.

While going up a hill about 45 mile per hour the lights on my dash as well as the radio turned off. I pulled over turned the car off and back on all the lights returned however my gas gague no longer works as well as unlocking back doors and door to gas tank. There are many complaints about this part I dont see why there are no recalls this is very unsafe I couldve easily crashed due to loss of power breaks and the car not making it up the hill.

The contact owns a 2004 Volvo Xc90. While driving various speeds, the vehicle would stall and unknown warning indicators would illuminate. It took the contact numerous attempts to restart the vehicle. In addition, the contact stated that the windshield wipers activated independently. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 76,000.

While on the interstate at 60mph, experienced temporarily loss of power, the ip displays and an abnormal 'jerking' in the transmission/drivetrain. The srs airbag and brake failure error messages appeared in the ip error display. The wipers momentarily came on. Lights dimmed. Power failure was only for a split-second (at 60mph) before returning to normal. After normal power was restored, error messages continued to be shown in the ip error display. The brake failure message instructed me to pull over and bring the vehicle to a safe stop. Upon bringing the vehicle to a safe stop and turning off ignition, I heard excessive electrical clicking under the dash (like relays clicking). All ip displays were non-responsive (dark). I locked the car (alarm armed) and later returned with a tow-truck. Upon return to the car, I was unable to unlock it or disarm the alarm. Car was unresponsive. Alarm was armed (unable to be disarmed) and the engine bypass feature of the alarm prevented me from starting the car. Could only gain entry into the car from the driver's side door with physical key. Car was placed in neutral and loaded onto a flatbed truck for tow back to Volvo dealership. Temperature at time of failure was 110f.

While driving down the road around 50 mph the Xc90 skipped and temporarily turned off all elections. Thought it was a glitch so continued down the road more carefully. Then it happened again and the electronics never came back on. I couldn't make it up a small hill on the road to get safely home. My transmission wouldn't pull. The speed gauge and rpms were completely unworking. Windows would not roll down air had went out. Power steering temporarily went out. Made it home finally and nothing seems wrong now but there is obviously a problem that needs to be fixed. I could have easily been in a wreak or stranded on the side of the road with my babies. Volvo needs to take responsibility.

3 hours into a 3-1/2 hour weekend road trip there was a clunk in the engine compartment. Thinking I hit a pothole, I continued on cautiously. While continuing on these unfamiliar 2 lane windy roads going 43mph (the speed limit was 55) about 2 miles from where the clunk happened my entire dash cluster stopped working. All my dome lights and leg lights came on. The car clunked harder this time. I lost power to the engine, steering was like trying to turn a tank, and the brakes were very spongy. Still traveling on windy roads with large semi trucks behind me and cars passing by in the opposite lane I veered to the right to avoid being rear ended by a semi. Not being able to steer or stop as efficiently as before I coasted into a residents 2-3 man rock landscape traveling at about 5mph. I dented my front license plate and scratched the bumper. With my heart pounding, I turned the car off and got out to see the damage. I went to the residents home and told them my story. They were thankful my fiancã© and I were okay. Since I hit rock there was no damage done to their landscape. After 20 minutes I started the car. It was hesitant to start. The brake failure light was on for a few seconds then the srs service warning light came on and stayed on. For the remainder of the weekend trip the car would lurch like the tranny was slipping. Especially after taking off from a stop light. It still clunks once in awhile but we only drive it around town. It's currently at a certified Volvo specialist being serviced. This morning all lights stopped working and I couldn't get it out of the garage. The key stuck in the ignition. In conclusion, this mishap could have resulted in a serious injury or fatality. If every car of this make and model is doing this, they need to be recalled and repaired!.

The contact owns a 2004 Volvo Xc90. While driving approximately 70 mph, a loud abnormal noise emitted from the front of the vehicle. The vehicle lost electrical power briefly. The failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic. The technician diagnosed that there was an electrical module failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 150,000.

The contact owns a 2004 Volvo Xc90. The contact stated that the electrical system failed and the instrumental panel became dark as the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where a diagnostic was performed. The technician advised that the electronic control module failed due to water intrusion. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure and current mileage was 115,000.

While driving 70 mph on I-5 we heard a loud thump in the engine compartment and we suddenly went to about 25 mph all of our electronic systems shut down, there was an extremely loud grinding sound for approx. 2-3 seconds. Now I think my transmission is damaged and the electronics system shuts down pretty frequently. I am totally disappointed to read that this has happened to numerous other families. Thank god no one has died from this. . . . . This is very irresponsible and negligent from a reputable auto company. Is it going to take someone or family to get seriously injured or die before they acknowledge this very serious issue. Its time for someone to be accountable for this.

The contact owns a 2004 Volvo Xc90. The contact stated that while driving 70 mph, the vehicle momentarily lost power without warning. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the technician could not diagnose a failure however, the battery was replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 105,000 and the current mileage was 109,000.

Engine passenger side caught fire in the an electrical component, flames shooting out the wheel well. Other drivers flagged to pull over, turned off ignition key and removed to get out of vehicle. Engine would not turn off, called the fire department to extinguish the fire for fear of explosion. Fire department used an ax to stop the engine. Car was totaled. No one was injured.