1998 V70XC Door Check Repair (with photos)

[850 LPT]

Shortly after I got my V70 last summer the driver side front door check failed. It had been repaired before, but the work didn't last. It took me a little while, but last weekend all stars were aligned just right, and I went to work.
Thanks to this site, I had great infos on how to take the door panel off, and also on how to take the door itself off on just the pins (this was super easy!)
A while ago, I bought a flux core MIG welder, which came in handy for this job. The bracket on the A-pillar needed to be re-welded, and the door needed a patch panel welded on.

Door taken off, Old Repair on A-pillar

At one point, the bad door check bracket must have been neglegted for quite some time, because the upper mounting point in the door was literally ripped out. A flat bar was used to mount a new door check:

Old Door Repair with Flat Bar

Door Opening covered

Next was cleaning off all the old welds. I did this mostly with my Harbour Freight version of a Dremel tool and grinding discs, which worked well. Also, to prep for welding, I needed to pull the bracket back close to the pillar. For this I stuck a threaded rod which I had laying around thru the hinge holes, and twisted a wire thru the nut in the bracket and the rod and then put tension on it:

A-Pillar cleaned

After this I prepped the door for the patch panel. I fabricated a piece out of 19 gauge that I had and drilled a few holes for spot welding:

Door ready for welding

Because there is so much force on that little bracket on the A-pillar from the door check spring, I was trying to come up with an idea to reinforce that area. There is enough room to weld small gussets on top and bottom of that bracket, and that's what I decided to do. This creates much more welding area, and it catches some of the force better:

Welded Bracket with Gussets

I know my welds aren't very pretty looking, but I know they penetrated enough. I'm new to flux core welding, having welded only with shielding gas before. And it works quite different. But I was also very paranoid about not generating too much heat or the hot wire maybe poking through, because I was so worried about something on the other side catching fire.

Here is the finished door:

Door primed and painted

And here is the finished bracket:

Bracket primed and painted

Another view with the new strap and hardware assembled:

Finished

This will hopefully last for the life of the car

[Ozark Lee]

Well Done!

I really like the addition of the gussets on the A pillar side, I think that addresses the major flaw in the original design.

...Lee

[cn90]

Nice job,

A note for others: when opening the car door:

1. Make sure the wind does not blow too strong, it can snap the door brake.

2. On an incline driveway, if you park the car nose down, hold the door when you enter/exit the car!

[850 LPT]

Well Done!

I really like the addition of the gussets on the A pillar side, I think that addresses the major flaw in the original design.

...Lee

Thanks, Lee

I think the actual design flaw is on the other side of the sheet metal on the A-pillar. The fact that Volvo engineers decided to stick a bracket thru an opening and weld it from the back side was not that great IMO. Because now you have tensile force on those welds at all times when the door is closed, and when the door is opened and closed.
I can't think of any other car manufacturer that did it this way, nor do other fail like this.

I also forgot to mention for those who think of doing this repair themselves in the future, always disconnect the battery before welding on the car.

Dirk

[cn90]

Also, if you weld the car, most gurus say remove the computers (ECU, TCU etc.).

[obayha]

. On an incline driveway, if you park the car nose down, hold the door when you enter/exit the car!

After fixing this one time, I am now teaching others in the family about not letting the door just swing open, The 7 year old grandson has picked up on it better than the adults.

Good job on the fix.

[matthew1]

Dirk, wonderful writeup. Entered into the MVS Repair Database. Your account is now MVS Contributor status.

[850 LPT]

Thank you, Matt

[RWan2128700]

Dirk, your work was perfect!

My s70 front door has had the same problem. My mechanic had told me the same thing that I have need a welding on my door hinge mounting area. It is a common issue on volvo. Siena hinges have the problem too.