V50 - Just a few issues

[Ben5029]

Hi All,

New to the forum and also new to Volvo ownership having just purchased a 2006 Volvo V50 2.0 petrol Sport as a winter car / general workhorse e.g. taking dogs out etc. I’m normally very much into my German car brands (gets ready for abuse) but I’ve always liked Volvo’s so it’s nice to join the club at last

I’m getting a few issues with the car that I’m hoping you knowledgeable experts will be able to shed some light on for me please

1) I’m getting a ‘drivers door open’ warning message (despite the door being fully shut) for the first few minutes of the journey and then it seems to settle down. Having a look round the forum this seems to be an issue on other models but has anyone had this with their V50 and is it the same fixes?

2) Alarm going off randomly - there’s no pattern to when it does it, it will just lock and then go off, sometimes minutes later or other times hours later. I’ve tried using ‘reduced guard’ but it’s still had an occasional blip and set the alarm off. I’ve so far not received any alarm service or error messages relating to the alarm. Had a research and I’m guessing this is the alarm siren unit on is way out but just wanted to check if anyone had any other thoughts in case my faults are linked?

3) glovebox is locked - no matter which way I turn the key and try and open it the glovebox refuses to open for me. Any ideas on how to get it to work please?

Finally is there an easy way to determine part numbers for parts eg siren unit that will fit your car without taking the car apart or is it just a case of breaking the tools out?

Thank you in advance for any help with the above queries and looking forward to being part of the club.

Thanks,

Ben

[coljol]

Hi Ben, just a thought, your alarm problem could be related to your open door message, alarm may think the door is open when it is not. good luck

[Bigchewie]

re your alarm your not leaving a phone in it are you, my partner left her iphone in the car and that set the alarm off one night, li had read about it randomly on here (i think) a few days before it happened or i wouldnt have guessed that was the issue. but as mentioned likely tied into the door open message

[Ben5029]

Originally Posted by coljol

Hi Ben, just a thought, your alarm problem could be related to your open door message, alarm may think the door is open when it is not. good luck

Hi Coljol,

Thanks for the response. I did wonder if that was the case which is why I've posted up before rushing to change anything to do with the alarm. Touchwood the door open message hasn't appeared for 48 hours now so I'm hoping it may have resolved itself (sure that's wishful thinking though).

[Ben5029]

Originally Posted by Bigchewie

re your alarm your not leaving a phone in it are you, my partner left her iphone in the car and that set the alarm off one night, li had read about it randomly on here (i think) a few days before it happened or i wouldnt have guessed that was the issue. but as mentioned likely tied into the door open message

Hi Bigchewie, thanks for your reply. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be anything that simple as I don't leave anything like that in there overnight. I had been putting my phone in the centre bit by the handbrake when using the car and wondered if that might interfere with the sensor. I've now stopped leaving the phone there and thought it was making a difference to the alarm but today it's played up again.

[LizardOfBodom]

RE alarm - you may be right about siren unit going out. There is an internal battery in it that et the end of life triggers such issues like siren going off etc. That battery is officially irreplaceable as only remedy is to order new part from Volvo, but folks on US forum figured out how to replace the internals. Some skills required though, but your issue sounds like a textbook example of battery failing.

cant help with other questions, no clue.

[Ben5029]

Originally Posted by LizardOfBodom

RE alarm - you may be right about siren unit going out. There is an internal battery in it that et the end of life triggers such issues like siren going off etc. That battery is officially irreplaceable as only remedy is to order new part from Volvo, but folks on US forum figured out how to replace the internals. Some skills required though, but your issue sounds like a textbook example of battery failing.

cant help with other questions, no clue.

Cheers for the reply mate, by the sounds of it battery replacement is a bit out of my skill set haha! Replacement wise do you happen to know please if we can use a part from a newer car or does it have to be one with same part number (eg one from a 2006 car)?

[Ben5029]

Brief update - after thinking things were settling down it’s spent the last 48 hours throwing up the door open error code and triggering the alarm (even with reduced guard). I’ve just scanned it with an OBD reader and it’s thrown up no error codes annoyingly.

The investigation continues.....

[LizardOfBodom]

Originally Posted by Ben5029

...Replacement wise do you happen to know please if we can use a part from a newer car or does it have to be one with same part number (eg one from a 2006 car)?

HI
Well good news is that looking at Vida it seem that same siren unit was used in whole P1 platform for all years so 2004-2011 V/S cars, C30 and C70.
Bad news is there were like 4 different versions of it - with and without level sensor and some chassis restricted. Where the chassis restriction is hopefully just a newer part and may work in any car, the level/no level sensor may be a problem.
Not sure though, just guessing. best is to get p/n from yours and find identical one, or let us know what you have and Vida may answer if its with or without level sensor.

[maartenr]

I would first focus on the door open message, as to me, it sounds logical that the alarm goes of if the car thinks the door is opened without the alarm shut off. I remember seeing a way in Vida to read alarm cause. did you try that?