How to open the 240 sedan trunk if locked and no key

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I think this method will work on all years of 240 Volvo sedans. It is based on the method used to open my 1987 244. If your trunk is full of luggage or boxes, you will not be able to access the lock.

My trunk would not open and I did not seem to have any key that would fit the trunk. I may never have had a key to the trunk in 20 some years of owning. I just used the central locking. For some reason the trunk was now locked and central locking would not open it. These sedans have the key lock mounted in a swinging push plate that opens the trunk if it is not locked. My push plate did nothing to open the trunk.

I could not tell if the trunk locking solenoid was working and had no one to listen while I operated the central lock. Some internet searching suggested the lock could be removed from the inside through the ski carry hole. The method was not well explained. I hope to add the details here for others to use.

You may be able to access the lock without removing the seats by only using the ski carry hole. I had too many things in the trunk and could not see well into the trunk, so I removed the seat. It is not too hard and you can clean the gunk and loose change under the seat.

1. First remove the lower back seat. Push back at the front, bottom edges about 1/4 of the seat width from the doors and lift up, There is another latch at the center rear of the bottom seat. Push the seat back and pull up.

2. Next remove the rear seat back. Push up on the seat back to release 2 clips about 1/4 of the seat width from each door.

3. With the seats removed, you can easily remove the 4 clips holding the hardboard behind the seat frame. Mine had expanding spring clips that I squeezed together and pushed out into the trunk. Then the hardboard can be lifted up and tilted back into the trunk.

4. The steel body behind the seat has the center hole cut out and larger openings on each side. The larger openings are maybe 12-14 inches at the widest.

5. The latch pin is bolted in the trunk sill with two 10 mm screws. These screws are accessible through the center opening of the seat back using about 40 inches of ratchet extensions and a 10 mm socket. The screw heads face the front for easy access. I added tape around each extension joint so there was no chance of the extension falling off and creating another retrieval job.

6. Once the two screws were removed the truck easily opened about 1/2 inch. Then it caught on something. I boldly used a pry bar to pry up on the truck lid at the latch area. Just a slight push and the truck was open. I found the obstruction was the latch pin holder did not clear the plastic sill on the truck. The plastic broke in this area to allow the latch pin to raise. Sacrifices must be made if you want the trunk opened.

7. With the truck open, I could inspect the lock mechanism for failure. There was no rust and no broken parts. The central locking solenoid still worked multiple times. It appeared the push plate was not engaging the latch mechanism to open the latch. The solenoid seemed to be out of synchronization with the locking mechanism. I pushed the linkage into place where pushing the plate opened the latch. Now, the push plate opened the truck latch and the central locking mechanism worked.

You do not need the trunk key if you only lock the trunk using central locking system.

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