Name this part

Post by **ddpphx** » 26 Sep 2009, 16:27

Hi All,

98 S70 T5

In an effort to get to my heater core, I pulled back the passenger's side carpet and the plastic shielding in back of it, and this little creature popped out. What is it?

Please see the pictures -- it resembles a miniature roll of film.

Thanks!

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 26 Sep 2009, 17:05

I have never seen such a part. Be very afraid if you start seeing a car like this in your neighborhood.

: Soviet era Lada; 800px-Lada_2101_karaganda.JPG (130.82 KiB) Viewed 3199 times

...Lee

Post by **ddpphx** » 26 Sep 2009, 18:18

God, I'm slow sometimes.

I get it now -- the comment gave it away -- my recognition of cars certainly didn't. I'm going to put this little device in my bedroom and entertain them.

And I was just doing some web surfing on the Cold War, too (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov to introduce yourself to my new hero).

BlackIce850 · Post by **BlackIce850** » 26 Sep 2009, 18:48

I could be wrong but it resembles the mechanism that enables the "push" operated ashtray. It only looks familiar "cause i broke mine trying to take the entire tray out instead of the insert just to empty it.....yes this is my first volvo...lol

Post by **ddpphx** » 26 Sep 2009, 23:19

Thank you BlackIce! I would have never figured that out.

Correct, this thing aids in the push-to-open feature of the ashtray. It's a plastic spool with a wide band of copper (?) wrapped around it that works as a coil. When the ashtray is pushed, this thing works in conjunction with a number of components to open the ashtray in the opposite direction from which it was pushed.

It took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to get this thing installed-- this ashtray is quite a little engineering marvel. Hopefully I'll save somebody time and frustration - but if you like puzzles, you may wish to figure this out on your own.

The design is such that the spool sits in a couple of grooves in the back of the ashtray sub-carriage (see Figure A). The copper coil must reach over the top of the mobile sub-carriage to a silver peg that will be lodged in the hole adjacent the light window of the housing (see Figure B). The spool moves with the sub-carriage as it opens and closes, while the peg stays affixed the to the immobile housing.

The trick seems to be to remove the silver peg before you do anything else - set aside, but within reach. The spool should also be free from the unit at this point and the sub-carriage should be in the 'closed' position. Unwind a good length of the copper coil and put it through the opening in the rear of the housing and onto the top of the sub-carriage. Push until you ensure that it stays atop the sub-carriage and continue pushing until you can pull it out at the front of the unit. You may have to shift the sub-carriage to the 'open' position during this process, but I forget.

Secure the protruding coil with one hand and install the spool with the other. Then place the peg into the hole in the coil and slip the peg into the hole in the housing.

Thanks again BlackIce -- Lee had me worried that my car was bugged!

BlackIce850 · Post by **BlackIce850** » 27 Sep 2009, 21:26

Glad to have been of some help... and you are right if anyone else encounters this seemingly simple project you definitely will have saved them sometime, I tinkered with mine for about 45 minutes before i realized i had done to much damage to the housing to fix so i did the next best thing, I spent about 2 bucks at the local pull-a-part and replaced the entire housing and ashtray!!!!

Post by **marginal** » 18 Oct 2009, 19:47

BlackIce850 wrote:I could be wrong but it resembles the mechanism that enables the "push" operated ashtray. It only looks familiar "cause i broke mine trying to take the entire tray out instead of the insert just to empty it.....yes this is my first volvo...lol

Well, unfortunately you're not wrong

.
Before yesterday I did the same thing, I broke my ashtray and now I am looking for a drawing or something like that to help me reassemble the ashtray

...

C@lvin · Post by **C@lvin** » 18 Oct 2009, 21:20

I had to laugh. I didn't get around to reinstalling the ash tray after finishing a project a few months ago. I just tossed it in the back seat.

My 13 year old son decided he needed to figure out how it worked so he took it apart. I told him since he now knew how it worked that he had to put it back together. He puzzled over it a little bit but finally figured it out.

Just imagine....some engineer got paid big bucks to design that mechanism. It really is pretty clever.

Post by **marginal** » 18 Oct 2009, 21:25

Well, clever it is, but fragile too.

Post by **marginal** » 18 Oct 2009, 22:29

Question.
How do you get the whole assembly out?
I still cant't succeed and am afraid to brake it

...