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Door lock problems

Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's P80 platform cars -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.

1992 - 1997 850, including 850 R, 850 T-5R, 850 T-5, 850 GLT
1997 - 2000 S70, S70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70, V70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70-XC
1997 - 2004 C70

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jfairlane
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Joined: 12 July 2014
Year and Model: V70 1998
Location: Delaware

Re: Door lock problems

Post by jfairlane »

Hi!

Yes... the resistor trick works... but it's a real pain in the butt to get the motor tabs apart to take apart the motor. I ended up slamming the motor shaft against a hard surface until I could get it loose enough to pry under the tabs. Swedes should NOT build cars... and I'm a Swede.

The next problem is soldering a link across the resistor sides to bridge them. I used copper braid. For the next one I'll use copper foil. I had to file the braid because the armature hit it. All in all 4 hours to do one door. If you need advice, please ask. I plan to do three more doors.

BTW... Elmers super glue with the brush glued the case back together after prying it apart. The glue stuck like welding. = )

James

cn90
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Post by cn90 »

erikv11 wrote:I am working on a 98 V70 where both rear doors will only lock when using the button or the key.

I inspected the actuator mechanisms and found a surprise: In both cases, the motors are working just fine. Instead, the little red pin that the mechanism pushes against to open the door, is missing (presumably broken off?) on both of them. I repaired one of them by just swapping the good motor over to an assembly with a bad motor I had in the garage. That side is working now, which confirms that the motor has no issues and the problem was just the broken plastic...
Does anyone have a photo of the "little red pin" that erikv11 referred to?
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erikv11
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Post by erikv11 »

So I do not have actual pics of the pin, I didn't take any previously when I figured it out and right now all the actuators I have in the garage have the pin broken off. But I took some pics to try to describe clearly how to figure out if the pin is broken, and where the pin is located. Keep in mind the L and R actuators are mirror images, and front and rear are slightly different (I think?):
1 unlocked.jpg
1 unlocked.jpg (119.23 KiB) Viewed 5238 times
2 rotate to lock.jpg
2 rotate to lock.jpg (116.34 KiB) Viewed 5238 times
3 locked.jpg
3 locked.jpg (184 KiB) Viewed 5238 times
4 rotate to unlock.jpg
4 rotate to unlock.jpg (136.47 KiB) Viewed 5238 times
5 where is the red pin.jpg
5 where is the red pin.jpg (121.58 KiB) Viewed 5238 times
6 red pin locatin 1.jpg
7 red pin location 2.jpg
7 red pin location 2.jpg (84.7 KiB) Viewed 5238 times
Once somebody takes a peek inside a non-broken actuator, maybe we can complete the collection of pics with one of the pin!
'95 854 T-5R, Motronic 4.4, 185k
'98 V70, T5 tune-injectors-turbo, LPT engine, 304k, daily driver
'06 S60 R, 197k
'07 XC70, black, 205k
'07 XC70, willow green, 212k
'99 Camry V6 :shock: 153k
gone: '96 NA 850 210k, '98 NA V70 182k, '98 S70 NA 225k, '96 855 NA 169k

cn90
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Post by cn90 »

Thanks erik!

I wonder if the "red pin" problem is repairable?
Where do we get parts to fix this?

On a related note, I found a nice video showing how to test the actuator with 12V battery as the source of power.
I note that the youtube guy switched the polarity of the wires to move the lever either up or down.



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rspi
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Post by rspi »

The problem is that is may work once or twice. When they are hot, from sitting in the sun or something, then they fail.

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erikv11
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Post by erikv11 »

Yeah, we know about the issues with the electric motors. The question is, have you run into many broken pins?

So far it is 3/3 with broken pins for me, only of those one also had a failing motor. Well plus there is one dead actuator in my S70, don't yet know if it is the pin or the motor.
'95 854 T-5R, Motronic 4.4, 185k
'98 V70, T5 tune-injectors-turbo, LPT engine, 304k, daily driver
'06 S60 R, 197k
'07 XC70, black, 205k
'07 XC70, willow green, 212k
'99 Camry V6 :shock: 153k
gone: '96 NA 850 210k, '98 NA V70 182k, '98 S70 NA 225k, '96 855 NA 169k

cn90
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Post by cn90 »

So erikv11 was correct, I took my RF actuator out, removed the PTC resistor and bridged with copper wire.
Re-assembled with 3M adhesive, same issue (lock knob going down to lock but not going up).
Turned out it was the Red Plastic thingy as erikv11 posted previously.

So:

1. Live with it (any passenger would have to wait for me to lean over to unlock the door).

2. New Actuator. Bad design from factory.

PS: I wasted time rebuilding the electric motor (replacing PTC with solid copper wire, BTW use the smallest screwdriver you can find to undo the 2 small tabs on the side), so for future reference:
- Once the door panel is OFF...reconnect only the white connector to the RF lock switch to test the motor
- Place your ear next to the actuator and operate Lock/Unlock button (on the door panel) to test the electric motor. If you hear the motor spinning in BOTH directions, but the lock know ONLY going down and not UP, then the problem is the Red Plastic thingy that erikv11 said above. In that case, new actuator is the way to go. If you are brave then remove the actuator and play with the Red Plastic thingy.
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sleddriver
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Post by sleddriver »

erikv11 wrote: 30 Mar 2014, 08:58 I am working on a 98 V70 where both rear doors will only lock when using the button or the key.

I inspected the actuator mechanisms and found a surprise: In both cases, the motors are working just fine. Instead, the little red pin that the mechanism pushes against to open the door, is missing (presumably broken off?) on both of them. I repaired one of them by just swapping the good motor over to an assembly with a bad motor I had in the garage. That side is working now, which confirms that the motor has no issues and the problem was just the broken plastic.

Anyway, since the first two I looked at had broken plastic but *not* motor issues, clearly this is another issue to look out for. Just wanted to post that up.
+1. Thanks for that erikv11!
Just installed a PnP lock mechanism in the pass. front door. It will easily lock the door, but not open. The motor is quite strong, it's 50°F outside, the lock doesn't work slowly either like the others I replaced a few years back.

Therefore, I suspect something is wrong with the plastic levers used to move the post up & down and release the internal cam so it can rotate and allow the door to open.
1998 V70 T5 226,808 miles. Original Owner.
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djekan
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Post by djekan »

Hi, I've replaced the two rear lock door motors, after replace the LH side all OK, after replace the RH side the problem pop up, now the two motors only lock the latch but doesn't unlock, I've remove the motor RH to test only the LH and doesn't open now, so I tested the motor directly to the battery and it work great, revert the test wires an works in both directions... I install it and just close doesn't open, any ideas?
Thank you.
Volvo V70 MK1 GLT - 2.0 Turbo - 1997
Volvo 850 GLT - 2.0 TURBO - 1994
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erikv11
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Post by erikv11 »

Read the posts right above yours that discuss this exact problem in great detail, starting with the post with all the pictures with orange writing on them. Lock-but-does-not-unlock is what happens when the pin is broken, check the pin visually.
'95 854 T-5R, Motronic 4.4, 185k
'98 V70, T5 tune-injectors-turbo, LPT engine, 304k, daily driver
'06 S60 R, 197k
'07 XC70, black, 205k
'07 XC70, willow green, 212k
'99 Camry V6 :shock: 153k
gone: '96 NA 850 210k, '98 NA V70 182k, '98 S70 NA 225k, '96 855 NA 169k

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