My rear right side passanger door locking mechanism is not working properly. The door will lock when the lock switch is pressed either on the security remote, or the car's door locking button. HOWEVER, when you try to unlock the vehicle (using the remote or the door unlock button), that door for some reason will NOT unlock. My mechanic said that the motor inside the door is no good, is he right? Is there any way to fix this problem without changing the motor?

Thanks...Nick C.

I got the same story on the right rear door lock on my '98 XC. Just another trip to the dealer, another "We never saw that before," and another $300. Did the lining on your door interior delaminate as well? Come on you guys Volvo, do you really think it is normal for all these things to break on cars that are less than 4 years old? The Koreans stand up to problems for 10 years, the Japanese up to 5, but the Swedes run after 3. How long can they sell reliability when there are all these problems and Volvo will not do anything about them. Do they know something that we don't?

Neil, you have put it mildly. the car is the biggest (no pun intended, I have always driven smaller cars) piece of crap - reliability-wise that I have ever owned. They call it 'durability'; my argument is any car will last forever if you keep replacing parts. Door locks, engine mounts, transmission lock microswitches, A/C evaporators, broken stuts, door panels, 3 years of idiotic blinkers - I guess it was cheaper for Volvo to replace the sockets than to re-design. Nowm we do love them for comfort and performance, so we keep them. Or...we do not want to take a beating and sell one for 60% less than we had paid three years before. There is such a glut of S70 on the used car market, one can get it for really quite little. It's really a shame for these cars could be real winners.

Had the same problem on 98 V70. A tiny red plastic projection in the lock motor assembly that unlocks the door broke off, with the exact symptoms you describe. The entire unit has to be replaced, ~$85 for the part, but the installation wasn't difficult. I read where someone came up with a fix, but it was laborious getting the thing apart to work on.

On mine the left rear went at 80k. None others yet (108k), but I figure it is just a matter of time.

Fred

packard8@delanet.com

He's right and it's very common in '98 on up Volvos but especially S/V/C70s.

You need the complete door latch assembly as that's the only way it comes from Volvo. Chances are good that in time, you'll see others fail too. I've seen as many as 3 bad on one car at a time. Quality stuff?

I think you may be over-exagerating a bit. Just how many people have actually had this problem? I haven't. Nor have I seen many reports about it

DG

We do it often enough to stock several of each for all 4 doors, VERY common problem. We even joke about putting at least one in the spare tire compartment as a spare for next time, along with sway bar links, window switch assemblies and a bulb selection as well (that for sure should be there).

Non of those parts mentioned above was much of a problem until '98 but almost all models since share some of the same problems, '98 being the worst year for electrical problems so far...............

Does anybody have part numbers for these? I specifically need the latch mechanism for the left rear door.

Thanks,

Dave

It is, unfortunately, a very common problem. At 128k miles I have had to replace both front door locks. The drivers side went out two days ago. Several techinicians that I have talked to have told me that they see this almost on a weekly basis depending on the size of the dealership

DG wrote:

> I think you may be over-exagerating a bit. Just how many people have

> actually had this problem? I haven't. Nor have I seen many reports

> about it

Ours (1999 S70) failed while the car was still under warranty.

The button would go up and down when operated by the remote

or when pushed by hand, but the door did not actually lock.

The service manager seemed to know what the problem was immediately

so I assumed it was a well known problem.

Peter Schauss

1999 S70 GLT