V70 stuck in park and won't turn on

Hi

I have had my V70 2002 for only one week. bought from very reputable
dealer with flawless service history. Drove it fine this morning then
parked in the driveway. Went to put the car away in the garage and it
will not start. All the dash lights go on (no battery problem) but will
not turn past the 1 position to ignition. Also the auto shift will not
budge out of park either. Have tried everything i can think of and my
husband too including trying the other keys, turning on and off,
locking and unlocking the car, depressing brake pedal etc but no luck.

the brake lights are working.

When you try to turn it on there is a slight clock/click noise coming
from the gearbox which you can also feel when you have your hand on the
shift lever

if you press brake pedal down in position 1 you can replicate the
noise. if you press the brake pedal down and then try to turn on there
is no noise at all, but still can't shift out of park or turn on.

really stuck - no way to move car from the driveway, it's 30th December
so no mechanics open, and our nearest Volvo dealer is an hour's drive
away over a mountain. Does anyone have any idea what could cause it???
Please help

Shel

 

I have had my V70 2002 for only one week. bought from very reputable

Dont you think you just have activated the steering wheel lock. If its
binding, pull steering wheel left / right while turning key.

Greetings Niels

 

We had this problem too with our 98 V70. It was a fault in the key
lock system and was fixed for not too much money. Niels advice worked
for a while but it eventually got worse and worse. Maybe the previous
owner had done this for a while now it is really in need of fixing.

 

HI and thanks for the reply. Fingers crossed it will not be too
difficult to fix. there is no problem with the steering lock though.
happy new year everyone!

 

Our s80 had a similar problem, but it turned out to be the key
cylinder. I didn't think the mechanic was right (CarMax) because
they'd just worked on the steering column. They ended up CUTTING the
cylinder off and putting a new one on. It did solve the problem, but
I'm still not convinced they didn't do something else (we had a CarMax
warranty that wasn't worth *hit and they never could fix anything
(always got sent to Volvo dealer instead) ... CarMax lied about certain
repairs (technician told different story than Service Mgr).

Somebody suggested we try locking and unlocking the vehicle with
different keys because of a theft protection mechanism.

Good luck.

Bill in Charlotte
www.rlstate.com - Charlotte MLS
www.CharlotteForeclosureExpert.com - Charlotte and adjacent county
foreclosures
www.704Realtor.com - Charlotte finest homes

 

Hi Bill
thanks for the reply. We are coming to the conclusion that it is
definitely something to do with the ignition lock. we found a post
from someone with an S60 in July who described our problem almost to
the word and the ignition lock mechanism had to be replaced (ironically
they also got stuck on a holiday close down period too!). We've tried
all three keys but to no avail. hopefully will not be too hard to fix
once it goes to Volvo tomorrow. I will post back the solution once it's
repaired.
Thanks, S.

 

If it is the lock cylinder mechanism that needs replaced, be prepared
for a wait (or hope you qualify for a loaner car). The dealer will have
to order the mechanism from Volvo. They are cut to order per your car's
key code at a vendor located in Germany (not kidding).

 

Yes, that was our experience, too. The wait was at least a week.

-Bill

 

Well it seems that in the Antipodes we can, unfortunately, beat that.
The word today from the Volvo technician is that our problem is indeed
that the ingition barrel/tumblers (whatever!) has failed. The
replacement, calibrated to our keys, will be 3-4 weeks ex the factory
in Sweden. Needless to say, a depressing beginning to our Volvo
ownership experience. Our forthcoming holiday has now been cancelled
and will be unable to be refunded. Despite this we are desperately
trying to be Pollyanna-ish about the whole thing and think
optimistically that this will be the only major problem we have with
the V70. But incredibly frustrating after only 45,000 kilometres to
have such an incredibly incapacitating failure of a part which then
takes so long to repair.

 

couldn't you use a lock from a wrecked car and put up with two different
keys for a few weeks?

--

 

Afraid that isn't an option. :-(

 

What were the vacation plans? Can you sell or trade out of them (i.e.
eBay)?

-Bill

 

Well it seems that in the Antipodes we can, unfortunately, beat that.

The faster option is accepting new keys, why bother with the old ones?
New keyset is often in stock at the dealer og delivered from day to day.

Niels

 

Why don't they give you one from a junker to use for 4 weeks.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions guys but unfortunately holiday is
non-refundable and non-transferrable, just one of those things. the
insurance people will not go for new keys/lock as opposed to new lock
coded to our existing keys, and the service people are not obliged to
provide us with a loan car - we didn't buy through them, and they
usually just do day to day stuff. Actually we do have an aging Land
Rover - so we aren't completely carless, just not in a position to
drive it 1000 km in the middle of summer over a few mountains.
frustrating but not much we can do. guess it's skiing in July
instead!!!

Thanks everyone who has offered suggestions and help.