V70: Electrical electronic parking brake not releasing

[volunteer 11]

my 2008 V70 D5 parking brake problem
started car this morning reading said
1 Parking Brake service required
2 park assist service required
red P flashing on panel.

rear brake does not releasetried a few times still same result.
called my local indy garage in next village
he came out and plugged machine into car.
tried various but no solution.
said not connecting propperly with car
could be ecu or possibly a fuse but he wasnt able to check fuses.
suggested I get rac to transport it to nearest volvo garage 12 miles away.

any suggestions for releasing parking brake would be appreciated.

[FreshAir]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhiaiuSS304

[Tannaton]

Good video, other than disconnecting the battery for 10 minutes does nothing on a Volvo, I would skip that step.

You can tell if you're using the battery method if you have released the brake as you will be able to turn the brake disc. I wouldn't reconnect the calipers until you've got it to a garage!

If a motor has stuck an won't release, you can remove the motor (2x hex bolts) and wind the caliper back manually (hex drive socket required) as in this vid (same process to change pads).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCp9LZ_sOeo

Another way of doing it :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y54DKRHlAo

PS - Any mechanic worth consulting on this would have known what to do... Most indie garages will have comprehensive diagnostic equipment with sufficient Volvo compatibility to read codes.

[volunteer 11]

thanks for replies .
car is parked outside and we have had torrential rain ever since my original post.
still raining hard so will try items in videos ASAP.

Everything else on vehicle working apart from parking brake and park assist.

The PA stopped working a few years ago and was diagnosed as a sensor failure rthat had blown fuse, the sensor and fuse were replaces and has worked ok ever since.

Could it be a fuse causing the parking brake motors to fail to work?

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by volunteer 11

thanks for replies .
car is parked outside and we have had torrential rain ever since my original post.
still raining hard so will try items in videos ASAP.

Everything else on vehicle working apart from parking brake and park assist.

The PA stopped working a few years ago and was diagnosed as a sensor failure rthat had blown fuse, the sensor and fuse were replaces and has worked ok ever since.

Could it be a fuse causing the parking brake motors to fail to work?

I'm not sure if it could be a fuse, it's easy to check the fuses. But if a fuse has blown - that's another symptom and not the problem... But getting it plugged in to Volvo or Volvo compatible kit will tell you in 2 minutes exactly what the problem is, removing the need for poke and hope diagnosis...

[Clan]

Originally Posted by volunteer 11

my 2008 V70 D5 parking brake problem
started car this morning reading said
1 Parking Brake service required
2 park assist service required
red P flashing on panel.

rear brake does not releasetried a few times still same result.
called my local indy garage in next village
he came out and plugged machine into car.
tried various but no solution.
said not connecting propperly with car
could be ecu or possibly a fuse but he wasnt able to check fuses.
suggested I get rac to transport it to nearest volvo garage 12 miles away.

any suggestions for releasing parking brake would be appreciated.

There were a few parking brake control units failing in the first year of production... yours has done well if this is the case.

[volunteer 11]

rac man been this morning.
his unit wouldnt connect to parking brake but everything else would.
he removed rear wheel disconnected power to motor .
Inserted his power probe and the motor worked straight away. he used the probe to turn the piston fully off.
Did the same at the other rear side.
Again motor worked straight away when connected to his probe.
said he thought it must be ecu unit.
able to drive car to volvo garage monday morning.
At least now I can move the Volvo v70 geartronic D5 I can get my 1970 Jaguar 420G out of the garage.
Will see what tomorrow brings
Thanks for info guys .. found it very informative and useful.

[volunteer 11]

monday morning drove v70 d5 to local Volvo agent.
told them problem that I knew of, asked them to give car a thorough check and let me know the results.son in law followed to take me home .
They called me next day with a long list of items they had found.
The cost of doing all necessary work was more than car worth, did I want them to continue.
My wife said ask them if they have anything interesting in showroom.
They had a XC70D3 AWD SE LUX GEARTRONIC (DIESEL) AUTOMATIC with 20,000 miles on clock just arived and they had not had time to put it on web site yet.
I asked price and went down to try it
made a deal with my v70 as part x and brought it home on Monday 10th Oct.

running well so far so good

Thanks for your help guys was very useful.

[passenger]

Well that escalade quickly 😁

[Tedduf]

Congrats on the new purchase!
For anyone else who might read this thread, I've had the same problem 2 months ago: parking brake wouldn't release and park assist didn't work. Turns out it was the parking brake module that was the issue, and caused the park assist to work for only a few seconds when I turned on the engine (both modules are part of the same loop going back to the ECU, if I understood correctly). I found a second hand module for sale on ebay (cost me 110€), no need to reprogram it as the donor car was of the same model, engine and year (XC70 D5 MY2008). It took me less than an hour to swap them (you have to remove a few interior panels in the trunk to access the module). No special tools needed, quite an easy job (even for someone like me with limited skills). Hope this helps!