Tailgate won't open

[sierraman]

Hi,

Many Thanks guys for the links and advice.

I now feel happier (more able) to sort this out now. Other than my health issue, It just didn't feel right potentially damaging panels/sills on my much loved car.

So I am now going to follow the excellent method suggested by Stuart Bowes which if done correctly will result in minimum damage, allowing me to open the tailgate and deal with the problem (I only wish i had thought of it myself)

Cheers Guys, Thank you

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by sierraman

Hi

Yes it's a 23 year old car but the boot hasn't had daily use and this car really should have had an internal tailgate release or a key operated lock for faults like this.

It's not actually an easy repair if you can't open the tailgate either and it's normally an older person who has one of these cars who like myself struggle on their knees in a confined boot space. It appears that it is near on impossible to remove the back panel (or pull it out at the top) enough to access the lock, without breaking the back panel.

Never mind its 23 years old, it's an estate car and the boot is the main selling point of the car and being able to get into the boot is a must. I also never slam the doors and i always carefully close the tailgate so this is penny pinching by volvo as far as i am concerned

Anyway I have a brand new internal lock and I am currently on the look out for an internal tailgate door panel and the handle mech too (as i have been told by another V70 owner that it could be that as well (spring in the handle that pushes the bar down onto the internal lock to open it)

Other than that a garage wanted to use an angle grinder to cut along the plastic trim under the tailgate and cut through the metal loop that the lock hooks on to and the other garage i use didn't want to know.

I also couldn't find any video showing how to access the lock from inside the boot with a locked tailgate. All off the video's show an open tailgate which I can deal with happily, So that is why i put this on here really.

If anybody knows of a video that shows how to get the tailgate open with minimal damage, please let me know.

Originally Posted by sierraman

Hi

I have just watched the XC90 video and yes it is easy to access the lock so If i had an XC 90 i wouldn't have asked for advice on here.

The P2 V70 has no internal handle or little light on the rear panel to remove It is a one piece panel which has 7 or 8 bolts attaching it to the tailgate and these bolts are hidden when the tailgate is shut. So if you pull the panel away from the rear glass at the top & try to stick my hand inside to access the lock, it looks like it will break of the internal clips and is high likely to crack/break the back panel too.

I could be wrong but that is how it looks to me.

So am I the only person who has the lock fail on their V70 when the tailgate is shut? All the videos show how to remove the trim to access the internal lock with the tailgates open which doesn't really help

Thanks

I thought the XC90 had a similar setup to the V70 of that era, but obviously not. Its not a great design, but its one of those situations where it is what it is. If the boot was in daily use, it probably wouldn't have lasted as long as it did, but nevertheless, I don't think it did too bad for its age personally. Just a pity access isn't easier, but that leads me onto a little story...

Coincidentally, I've just had a similar issue on a newer Volvo V70 (2008). There's no access to remove the screws that hold the rear trim panel in place, as when the boot is closed, it covers them (similar to yours). There's no key hole either, but there's a button on the key to open the boot automatically. That's no good if the lock is jammed though...

However, there's a handle on the inside that serves no purpose other than being a place to grip if you needed extra leverage to close the boot lid, or push it from the inside. Luckily, the screws can be removed from that handle and that allows very limited access to open a jammed boot lock with some kind of contraption like a long piece of welding wire. Its still a right fiddly job though. Not much has improved, even on the newer models.

I think Stuart's suggestion of drilling an access hole and filling it with a grommet is probably the easiest. The garage using an angle grinder sounded like a butcher's job, so I don't blame you not going down that route. 'Props' to Stuart for the recommendation... It seems a good one. I imagine you could get some suitably size grommets to cover the drill hole from Amazon or possibly a local car parts store.

I can't begin to imagine the pain crawling around inside a boot with a hernia would be. Its hard enough for someone with good knees and with no hernia!!! At least you're one step closer to fixing it properly.

Take it easy. Don't lift or stretch too much.

[stuart bowes]

Just to clarify I did mean drilling the plastic panel from inside not the outer skin

That might be obvious lol I just wanted to make sure we're all on the same page

An angle grinder would be massive overkill

[JohnHenley]

My tailgate lock had never work since I bought the car in 2007 (V70 2001 2.4T).
I could open and close using the hand latch, but never lock it. One day a few months ago I went to open the tail gate and it was locked. I went thru the whole rigmarole of opening it by squeezing into the rear compartment and pulling the tailgate trim out and sticking my arm inside and fidlling about until it opened. I dismantled the interior and checked all the wiring. No cracked or broken wires anywhere. Checked the fuses, no problems there.

Previously I had had an auto gearbox failure, with it sticking in limp made (3rd gear), so took the car to my local garage for them to look at it. Walked home aout a mile or so to hear the phone ringing. It was the garage, they had fixed the problem. It was a micro relay on the Central Electronic Module that had failed, causing a communication problem between Engine control module and the gearbox control module. The point is they had a relay tester and I thought it would be a good idea if I got one and checked out the other relays on the car.

I bought this one;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394436515...BlBMULaAyoaUZA

I checked the rear fuse and relay panel and discovered four of the micro relays had failed. One of the ralays controls opening the tailgate and another, the tailgate locking. Replaced them with new ones and tailgte locking fixed.

These were the relays I used;

https://www.switchelectronics.co.uk/...e%20changeover

Hope this helps.