What's up with my door latch? (1998 S70)

[David (archive)]

I have a 1998 S70 w/ 74K miles on it that I love but gives me fits every now and then.

The door latch on the passenger side suddenly stopped working last night - you can open it from the outside but not the inside. Is this a common situation for 850's and early s70's??

Thanks for any and all tips and advice.

David
Alabama

 

[Rob Guenther]

Make sure you check the position of the child lock switch... On the older Volvo's there isn't much of a possibility of catching it on clothing and switching it over, but I haven't really looked at how they do it on the newer ones, so I figure it's worth a look, as it would cause the exact situation you have described... If it's an electrrical switch doing the job then it could have failed.

 

[Bev A. Kupf]

Make sure you check the position of the child lock switch...

On the 850s, S70s (and every other Volvo I've owned), only the REAR doors have had child safety lock switches. Not the passenger side door.

Well, I don't know. By a sample size of two - it hasn't happened on our cars.

 

[Jim Carriere]

I have a 1998 S70 w/ 74K miles on it that I love but gives me fits every now and then.

The door latch on the passenger side suddenly stopped working last night - you can open it from the outside but not the inside. Is this a common situation for 850's and early s70's??

Thanks for any and all tips and advice.

Try taking the interior panel off to take a look. You'll need a torx screwdriver, T25 I think, and a very wide flat screwdriver or something similar to pry the panel off the plastic clips that hold it on. (You can find those at the auto parts store.)

The inside handle pulls on a cable (like the brake cable on a bike), and that cable is attached to a combined latch/lock/power lock unit. That part costs about $200 (not counting labor) so hopefully your problem is only that the cable popped off of the door handle and you can just put it back on.

It should take you less than one hour.

 

[Rob Guenther]

He didn't mention front or back door tho...

On the 850s, S70s (and every other Volvo I've owned), only the REAR doors have had child safety lock switches. Not the passenger side door.

Well, I don't know. By a sample size of two - it hasn't happened on our cars.

 

[David (archive)]

Hi, me again. Thanks for the replies. Been travelling for work so I haven't been able to follow up. Here's more information:

- It's most definitely NOT the child safety lock.
- The cable is not broken because the door open handle won't budge.

As always, thanks for all pertinant information.

David
Alabama
98 S70 75K

 

[Jim Carriere]

Hi, me again. Thanks for the replies. Been travelling for work so I haven't been able to follow up. Here's more information:

- It's most definitely NOT the child safety lock.
- The cable is not broken because the door open handle won't budge.

It actually might be related to the cable. I've installed two of these (one each front door), and when I didn't have one set up just right, the door handle wouldn't move properly either.

Take the inside panel off the door and look at it again. Hopefully something simple came loose and you can fix that by hand instead of buying the new part.

If you do have to buy the new part, I would be cautious of a used replacement in this case, since that seems to be a weakpoint of the car.