Interior Smoke - Wahoo

Aight, never had this one before. Need some help.

Got in the wife's car (02S60T5M), put keys in ignition, alarm started to go off, rear passenger window went down, smoke poured out from under the steering wheel.

Now I got no windows, no power locks, no truck release, no dash lights. Didn't try to start the car (kinda scared) and the alarm is toasted (remote does not work).

Anyways, any ideas before I ship her off to get looked at?

Chino

Did it smell like burnt wires???

Yes, definietely had the typical electrical fire smell.

well, there is obviously a short somewhere, fortunately for you a fuse has blown and the car hasn't burned up. do not replace the fuse until the problem is fixed! if you don't have the electrical know how to fix this, i definitely recommend having it towed to a trained volvo mechanic, dealer, independent volvo specialist or whatever. the problem you are dealing with, and being a volvo certified tech for 5 years, i have never seen as you describe it, may cost you the whole car in fire damage if it isn't attended to right away by a specialist.

normally i am all about working on your own cars in the driveway but the amount of money it takes to have it towed and fixed properly is small compared to what you loose having the car burn up in the driveway.

Apparently the CEM module is shot. No idea what that is but I am reading up on it.

Any ideas what would cause this to go bad?

Chino

Chino said:

Apparently the CEM module is shot. No idea what that is but I am reading up on it.

Any ideas what would cause this to go bad?

Chino

Click to expand...

sorry for the late response, that would have been my suspicion but i wasn't going to say anything yet. they don't go bad very often but they do go bad. i can visualize one doing what you are describing. a shorted distribution shunt is usually the culprit, if it goes too long it will kill the CEM itself. you can replace a CEM on your own, however a new unit requires new software to be loaded on it to function. you can't use a junkyard unit because the embedded parameters won't match your car and it won't start.

if you replace it with a new one, the car still isn't going to start until the s/w gets loaded. your best bet to save a little bit of money is to buy a new CEM at a lower cost than what the dealership charges, then take the new CEM to a dealer or independent shop with software access from volvo and have them install it.

Will that fix everything? Or am I left to wonder about what caused it to go bad originally?

I'm not up on all this electronic/computer sh**.

the short most likely occurred in or around the CEM, in order to ensure a correct repair, all of the wires should be checked around the CEM for shorts and melting... if any of that is present, the CEM and the wires will need repair.