Here are some notes for people wanting to change the ignition lock assembly on their V70/S70 [and similar]. Overall, it was much easier than I had been expecting- once I used an angle grinder instead of a drill!

1. I successfully prolonged the life of the lock by over a year using the cleaner/lubricant technique described elsewhere on this forum. Finally, I was cleaning it every couple of weeks and then every day. Five years with a large number of heavy keys hanging from the ring did the damage whereas my 11 year old 850 has never had a problem [no heavy keys on that one].

2. Fortunately I had ordered a keyed-alike replacement which came very quickly from Sweden to Australia [one week- they give them high priority]. It is worth waiting for a key-alike lock rather than ending up with an extra key.

3. There are a number of postings about the subject- it is worth browsing them.

4. Firstly I removed the plastic housing, the two indicator stalks and the various plugs [including the air bag plug]. I drilled holes in the tops of the snapped-off-screws using a small tool [similar to a a Dremel]. I found there was insufficient room for even a small conventional battery operated drill due to the overhang from the dashboard.

5. I found that the bolts were extremely tight [due to the Loctite on the threads]. I snapped off an Ezi-Out in one of the screws & decided that there must be an easier way.

6. The easier way worked very well. I used a small angle grinder and simply cut the bolts along the joining line between the two halves of the cylinder lock. The alloy is soft for a grinder. I only had a small clearance from the back of the steering wheel to the dashboard, so a steady hand was required. It took only 8 minutes to cut both sides and separate the two halves of the lock. Much easier than drilling and the mess was not too hard to clean up.

7. Using the small grinder reduced the total job to one hour. I had spent over an hour drilling, so that approach was clearly going to take longer and cost more in cobalt drill bits and broken Ezi-Outs.

Yes, I'd do it again because the quote was for hundreds of dollars at the Dealer & the grinder made it very easy.

Regards,
Dave