Body / Interior
Rusty Door Stops
These Volvo station wagons are great for kids. So finally I gave my 7 year old the right to operate his own rear door windows. Well, he left the window just about 1/8 to 1/4 from absolutely closed. This actually appears closed because the glass has already entered the rubber seal.
However, this little crack didn't force the window to push tightly against the rubber belt (the rubber piece at the bottom of the window that keeps water out of your door) and afterwhile, the belt won't seal tightly against the window even if fully closed. In particular, the front of the belt (closest the front passenger door) allowed some water to enter (not good in my rainy Seattle suburb). The water travels down the window guides inside the door and drips right onto the rear door stop.
This rusts the rollers pretty quickly and you have a very squeaky door and eventually will start grinding as it stops rolling.
New rear door stop (PN 21217752) appears to be a redesigned part that is mostly plastic so it would likely solve the rusting problems. Install a new window belt and you are all set to go. I did cover the metal round opening that faces up on a new door stop with electrical tape just in case water drips onto it from the window guide.
To take the interior of the door off, you need to
Use a screw driver with very thin tip (like those electronics ones) to pop off the plastic tab inside the handle just behind the window switch. Remove the torx screw.
There are 6 or 8 (can't remember) plastic fasteners with a center push pin around the outer edge of the interior panel. Get something with a flat roundish tip (like a torx screw driver) and push the center pin inward, the fastener removes easily after that (use a thin flat head screw driver to pry it loose at the edge)
Now just lift the interior panel and work it past the door lock (helps if down)
Have a look at the cable attached to the interior door opening handle. The back of the plastic box where the cable attaches to the door lock is where we disconnect this. Look for the little plastic clips holding it in. Push those clips open a little and the back should just pop out.
The window switch is held in by 4 plastic clips on the mounting frame. Use a flat head screw driver to pop each clip loose and it comes out easily. Don't take it apart where the wire connector connects to the switch.
Now the panel just comes off.
Next you have to cut open a foam panel to get to the inside. See the link below for pictures and directions on that.
Now you are all set to take out the door stop. 1 Torx screw holds the door stop against the pillar frame. 2 hex nuts hold it against the door. Take these off and you can get the door stop out from inside the foam opening you just made.
Reverse directions for assembly. Pull the center pins out when inserting the plastic fasteners. After the fasteners are in, push the pin in flush.
http://www.volvoxc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7610&highlight=door+stop
After all is said and done, I still see water on the door stop whenever I wash the car or when it rains. I can see it on my other side rear passenger door stop too. I guess it might be impossible to avoid keeping any water out of the window guides inside these doors which is the reason Volvo redesigned the door stop to mostly plastic as well as having a drain on the bottom of the doors themselves :)
Cracked Side Mirrors
Here is the direction to replace cracked side mirrors. I had additional 2 electrode to connect for the heated mirror.
Fuel Door Hinge
Fuel door hinge is plastic and is spring loaded to flip the for open and close. The plastic parts that hold the spring breaks and need to be replaced. Here are the directions
http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=64733#64733
One difficulty I had is pushing the 4 new pins to lock in the new hinge. My hinge was a aftermarket part (Dorman) and was molded to hinge. I had to break off the pins, widen the entry hole a little bit, flip the pin over (the end that broke off isn't so clean) and then hold the pin tight with plier to push it in. This was the longest part of the whole job! Be in a well lit place with clean floor. You will probably drop the pins a couple of times and need to find it again. The middle 2 pins are the hardest because of limited space. I had to use a needle nose plier to hold them and push it in. It is hard to get good leverage with a needle nose plier. One idea to make it easier (although I didn't do it) is to break off the 4 pins before installing the hinge and just work on a bench to start the 4 pins into the holes prior to installing it on the car.
Here are some pics of the hinge and the 4 pins. The 2 outer pins on my Dorman part is longer. This picture probably shows a part that has the pins preset into the holes.
Door Switch Lock/Unlock Problem
My driver door's lock switch would lock all doors but doesn't unlock them. The key fob lock and unlock works fine as well as using the key hole to lock and unlock all doors.
There are relays in the rear cabin that sometimes fail. I checked mine and swapped them with other identical relays without fixing it. Therefore, my problem was not here.
My problem turns out to be the right rear door lock. This lock has a lock/unlock sensor inside. Before the driver door switch unlocks all door. It checks all 5 door (4 side + 1 trunk on the wagon) door locks for lock status. If any of of lock sensors have failure. The driver door switch will not unlock the doors.
I connected VIDA/DiCE diagnostic tool to monitor the door lock sensors to confirm the right rear door lock sensor is stuck in unlock status. Replaced the right rear door lock and everything works perfect :)
My original right rear door lock part number is 8650557 which is superseded by part number 30784949. Volvo has several different parts for this depending on the car features. I believe most of the US cars are dual stage door lock without deadlock and without powered child lock (but has manual child lock)
Removing and installation was is trickier than it looks. Volvo's directions are here but not very detailed
http://www.volvoxc.com/resources/how-to/pdf/replacing-rear-side-door-lock.pdf
Tips and Pictures
The lock knob and the attached metal linkage can be disconnected from the lock itself before taking the lock out. This would make the removal easier. See the yellow plastic piece in this picture of the lock and look at your new lock to see how to disconnect it.
The outside door handle has a metal rod that is connected to the lock. This is very difficult to see while inside the door frame. Here is a picture from inside the door frame for a better view. Just use a screw driver to pop it out of the clip. The threaded end on my rod had 2 shiny marks where it joined with the clip, try to put it back in the same way on the new lock.
The lock is positioned behind a plastic guidethat the window rides on when it goes up and down. This guide is held at the bottom by a torx screw and at the top by a push button type snap. I removed both to get the lock out. But the push button snap probably doesn't have to be removed. Might be able to get the lock out just removing the torx screw and pushing the plastic guide out of the way.
Loose Driver Door Panel
If you are like me and give that panel a good shove to push open the door, the panel will become unglued and loose over time.
Follow the directions here to move the door panel and use some Gorilla glue and clamps to glue it back. Make sure you use some flat pieces of wood with the clamps on the interior panel side to not leave an impression.
Drive Door Panel Removal Direction
To remove the little push tabs around the side and bottom of the panel, just push the center inward until it stops (goes in about 1/8-3/16 inch) and then pry it loose with a flat head screw driver.
To pry the door handle face plate loose, you need a little muscle with a screw driver.
To disconnect the 3 connectors to the master door+window switch, you need to hunt for the little tabs for disconnect. Usually they are on the side that faces the panel so feel for it.