98 V70 Driver's door won't open

[gdict]

Wait! Don't cut yet.

Give me a chance to describe what I did. Can't do it right now though. It's 6am and I am going to sleep after my 40th bday party. More later....

Cheers!

Greg

[gdict]

OK, it was total PITA, but I was able to get it open in a couple hours.

First, go buy the new lock. Study it. Study it some more. And then some more. You will see there is a pawl that engages the main pivoting locking bar that engages the piece on the B pillar. This little pawl had broken loose from it's pivot pin, so it could not be manipulated by the inner or outer opening mechanisms, but still did it's job keeping the door shut. Once you see how it engages, you will understand what needs to be done to manipulate it and open the door.

This is where the fun begins.

Open the window. Move the seat all the way down and back and tilt the backrest. Now you remove the inner doorpanel. You can't get it out completely, at least I didn't, but you can get the rear portion about 4" from the door, enough to get your hands in there. Now you use whatever picks, wire hangars, music wire, etc., to fashion a tool that will insert about an inch into the mechanism allowing to fish about and push the pawl upward, disengaging the lock. This is not as easy as it sounds, but it does work. There is a small hole to work through and after some rebending you will find the right shape for your tool. It also helps to this while leaning in the window from outside, manipulating your tool with your left hand and leaning against the door to reileve pressure on the pawl.

Once the door is open and you have breathed a sigh of relief, the rest of the job is easy by comparison. The trickiest part I found is putting the outer door handle back on and lining up the lock cylinder shaft.

This is not a job for the faint of heart. But you will save at least $500 labor doing it yourself.

Cheers!

Greg

[theblacklantern]

Wow, a couple hours? You're good! It took my wife and I a cumulative 8 hours to pop the door open! Some of that time went into removing the lock mechanism from my parts car and studying the crap out of it. This is probably the biggest PITA I have ever had with any vehicle and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I'm going to open up the broken lock and take some pictures for educational purposes and post them when I get a chance. Hopefully that will help some poor saps like us to not wast their whole day in the future.
All that said, your description of the process is spot on and exactly what I found myself doing as well. I was so foccussed on getting the door open that I never checked back to see if you replied. Glad I didn't fire up the sawzall after all! (don't think it would have been successful any way)
The term pawl is interesting and I'm glad there is a better name than "that little @#%&*!piece of broken metal"!
I still love my Volvo and would rather waste my day working on it than any other hunk of junk.
Thanks for the feed back and lets hear it for this forum!

Jesse

[gdict]

I'm glad you got in without cutting. I don't think that would have ended well for either of us....

The term "pawl" is firearms term and it may or may not be correct. A pawl is the part the locks the cylinder in place/alignment on a revolver at the moment of firing. It just seemed appropriate. Maybe "sear" makes more sense.

Sounds like yours broke in the same place as mine. My dealer told me he sold something like 20 in the last year, so we are not alone!!!

Cheers!

Greg

[kringer2]

I hate reviving an old post, but I will.

This just happened to me and it was one of the biggest PITA I've had the pleasure of dealing with. I had to drill my out from the inside of the door.

[1999_c70]

PITA...

Had a sticky drivers door on my C70. Gave it a little extra oomph slamming it shut... Now I'm locked out.
For the past few days I am a slithering contortionist crawling in from passenger side.

Both inside and outside handles appear to have linkage but the latch will not release.
Looking at the passenger door there appears to be a plastic piece that is spring loaded that rolls over the latch.

My guess is this piece was in the way causing the door not to shut properly. My high velocity slam more than likely broke, jammed or pushed this piece out of allignment.

I can take the top down and have plenty of room... I can pry open the door panel but I can't get anywhere near the latch.
Looking at the other door the latch is actually recessed back behind sheet metal and the back passenger panel. This panel also appears to attach to sheet metal. I don't belive pulling any of the cables will release the latch cause the handles are already connected with tension and they aren't doing the trick.

As this beast is near end of life... I may just have to leave the top down and hop in and out.... Unless you guys have a better fix.

[Hank]

I just fixed my 99 S70 over the weekend. Thanks for all the advise. Two comments that might help others. After moving the seat all the way back, flip the back of the seat control over the front of it so it is out of the way. then don't be afraid to tug and work the inside panel. It can be removed all the way and there is little chance of any real damage to it. Second, Assuming you have the new part, take a hammer and a chisel or screwdriver to the old mechanism and break as much of the plastic pieces away as possible. If you have the window down, be careful not to smash the window. With the plastic pieces gone, it is much easier to slip a piece of wire coat hanger or something into a slot that allows you to move the "pawl" out of the way. Took me hours before I got "annoyed" and got the hammer, probably 20-30 minutes after to get the door open.

[manxann]

Variation on the previous! Tried above method, no luck. Drilled a 15MM hole at the back end of the door, below the SIPS bar. Still no luck. Removed inner door seal and can see the inner end of the pillar latch. A suitably shaped thin 6mm strip of metal inserted above the catch and front side of the rotary latch (Practice with passenger door) A considerable number of attempts later lifted the pawl and the door opened!! As above, about 8 hours fiddling in total!

Dismantled lock ( 1 TX screw , drill centre of rocker bar and remove, grind off smallest rivet head and separate plastic from metal.) The offending item was an alloy part held to the steel latch by a cast alloy pin which had snapped off. Drilled the alloy part to match the steel and riveted together. Reassembled with a spot of weld to hold the rivets drilled out. Worked OK.

[rmmagow]

What part would one buy to preemptively fix this issue. Door is fine now and I would like it to stay that way. Seems like it's doomed to fail at some point. I would want to replace whatever it is with new.

[myxyzemail]

OK, it was total PITA, but I was able to get it open in a couple hours.

First, go buy the new lock. Study it. Study it some more. And then some more. You will see there is a pawl that engages the main pivoting locking bar that engages the piece on the B pillar. This little pawl had broken loose from it's pivot pin, so it could not be manipulated by the inner or outer opening mechanisms, but still did it's job keeping the door shut. Once you see how it engages, you will understand what needs to be done to manipulate it and open the door.

This is where the fun begins.

Open the window. Move the seat all the way down and back and tilt the backrest. Now you remove the inner doorpanel. You can't get it out completely, at least I didn't, but you can get the rear portion about 4" from the door, enough to get your hands in there. Now you use whatever picks, wire hangars, music wire, etc., to fashion a tool that will insert about an inch into the mechanism allowing to fish about and push the pawl upward, disengaging the lock. This is not as easy as it sounds, but it does work. There is a small hole to work through and after some rebending you will find the right shape for your tool. It also helps to this while leaning in the window from outside, manipulating your tool with your left hand and leaning against the door to reileve pressure on the pawl.

Once the door is open and you have breathed a sigh of relief, the rest of the job is easy by comparison. The trickiest part I found is putting the outer door handle back on and lining up the lock cylinder shaft.

This is not a job for the faint of heart. But you will save at least $500 labor doing it yourself.

Cheers!

Greg

So glad I found Greg's post. His common sense approach...buy the replacement lock and study it...was the key for me being able to solve this problem. I never could have gotten the door open without doing this. I will provide some additional details below with pictures which will hopefully make this fix simpler and quicker for you. Here goes:

1) Buy the replacement door lock. You can find a used one on the web for $50.00 or less.
2) As Greg said, study the lock, study it some more, and then a bit more.
3) Make a tool that will enable you to "pick" the lock (i.e., to move the prawl to release the door latch). Making the tool the right size and knowing where to insert it into the lock is the hardest part.
4) Below are pictures of the tool I made and where you need to insert the tool. I made it from a close hangar.
5) Wiggle the tool to get it into the lock mechanism. You'll know you have gotten the tool where it needs to get when you turn the tool and hear the latch mechanism clicking/moving. I also made a mark on the tool to know when the tool was inserted as far as it needed to go. I knew where to make the mark by practicing on the replacement lock.
6) As Greg said, roll the window down and work on opening the door from the outside while leaning up against the door.
7) Turn the tool counterclockwise, repeat, COUNTERCLOCKWISE. It may take you a long while....or not...to hit the prawl. When you do, the door will just pop open. I had almost given up after an hour or so with the tool as shown below. I took a break, went in the house, came back out, turned the tool once, and the door opened like with a key! So, be patient. Again, the hardest part is making the tool the right size and knowing where to insert it. You have that info from my pictures below and from your practicing.

A few other things. You can certainly remove the door panel enough from the inside to get access to the lock mechanism. Simply remove a screw behind a cover in the inside door handle and pop the plastic border off the inside door latch release. Then just use a screwdriver to pry around the edges of the door on the side nearest the door latch. Once you get it separated enough to where you can access the latch mechanism, take a paper towel roll (or a travel mug like me!) and insert it between the door panel and the door. This will keep you from having to continually push the door panel out of the way (or skinning up your arm with the door panel constantly pressing against it). Please note that you will need to remove the black plastic cable guide clip from the lock mechanism to be able to insert the tool into the correct place. With a screw driver you can snap it loose and then move it and the cable from the door handle out of the way. Once you get the door open you will need to remove 4 bolts total...2 for the latch, 2 for the door handle...to finally get the latch mechanism free. You'll also need to remove the electrical clips. For those, push in on the clip and the wire connector will easily release (no need to pop the clips off with a screwdriver).

Anyhow, most anyone can do this fix and you will save yourself hundreds of dollars (or pounds or kroners). If you do it yourself suggest you get a used lock. Just make sure during your practicing that the replacement lock will release after the latch is closed. Auto repair shops will want to use a new one which will cost ~ $175. Labor on top of that can easily make a repair bill $500 or more. I fixed mine for less than $50.00 and got some good satisfaction from it too (always wanted to know how to pick a lock).

Good luck!

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