Some issues

[Dippydog]

Firstly the one that could have ended a lot worse than it did. Step daughter parked her C70[2001]on slight incline applied handbrake got out and the car rolled back the drivers door still being open pushed her over and the front wheel trapped her ankle,passers by pushed the car forward a little to release her[fortunately nothing broken just swollen and sore] I went and took her car to her home while she went to hospital for a check up.The handbrake lever still seems to have the "drag" of the cables being intact but what are the chances of both sets of brake shoes failing so suddenly at the same time? If weather is favourable i'll be going later this week to have a decent look at what's wrong.
While driving her car I noticed the warning light to say the boot was open was flashing but I checked that and it's firmly shut,any common problems to look at to cure this? lastly[and I don't know if it's related to the boot light but the interior lights have ceased to work?
Any pointers on any of these issues gratefully received.

[capt jack]

Re that handbrake, our S70 has a similar tendency. The handbrake lever feels fine, and the car won't roll forward with the brake applied but the handbrake won't really stop the car from rolling backwards. It could be that a shoe has delaminated on one side on your C70, although when that happened to my S90 the handbrake lever went very loose.

More likely that it just needs adjustment, but definitely worth a look with the drum off because a delaminated shoe is a possibility.

Jack

[ITSv40]

First off, glad your Step-daughter is not seriously hurt.

Regarding the handbrake: as Captjack says most likely adjustment/delaminated shoes. The adjusters in the drums can be found on the passenger side at about the 12o'clock position and the drivers side 11o'clock. That is where they are on my factory original car. See post 833 in the 'what did you do to your car today' thread.

The boot open light is most likely the electrical contact in the boot lock not knowing the boot is locked, thus triggering the light. The interior lights not working is most likely the electrical contacts in the drivers door lock - that is assuming the fuses are all good. No idea how to resolve as never had to investigate the issue.

[DaveNP]

Hope your daughter is recovering well and not put off the C70, bad enough when the brakes don't hold the car while you're sitting in it, let alone being run over by it.
I'd strongly expect it's an adjustment issue but it would be worth taking the disc/drum off to be sure it's not a delamination (and clean out any dust), the shoes will most likely be the 22 year old originals as they don't do any active braking to get worn out. My observation when I did my rear brakes was that the shoes and their actuating lever are not solidly fixed to the backplate but float slightly, this means as the car tries to roll forwards the shoes and lever rotate a little and pull the cable tighter, great if you're on the flat or facing downhill, but when the car tries to roll backwards the rotation slackens the cable and the brakes don't grip with the unfortunate consequences. It may well have been that one side was not doing anything to stop the car rolling backwards for a while and the other side has just got bad enough to become ineffective too, as I recall mine had got through an MOT for effectiveness forwards not long before it stopped being effective backwards.
When you adjust them make sure the handbrake lever adjustment is fully slackened off as the slightest tension on the cable seemed to mess up the adjustment at the drum when I did mine.

[Luxobarge]

^^^WHS^^^

Totally agree. You'd be wise to do a full dismantle and service of the handbrakes, but in addition it's true that these are not great handbrakes even when new, and even worse at holding the car going backwards.

I assume this car is a manual? If auto, then ALWAYS leave in "P" to avoid this happening, and if a manual in future if parked on an upward slope I'd personally get into the habit of leaving the car in first gear.

Hope she gets better soon

[Dippydog]

Thanks for good wishes,she's doing fine just swollen and a little stiff.Yes the car is a manual and in fact she did mention when I picked her up from hospital that she was going to get into the habit of parking it in gear as well as with the handbrake in future.If it's not raining tomorrow I'm going up to have a look so it can be repaired while her ankle prevents her from driving.

[Simmy]

if you end up replacing the hand brake shoes make sure to get genuine volvo ones as aftermarket ones often dont work well . i wish your daughter a speedy recovery.

[xco]

Originally Posted by Dippydog

Firstly the one that could have ended a lot worse than it did. Step daughter parked her C70[2001]on slight incline applied handbrake got out and the car rolled back the drivers door still being open pushed her over and the front wheel trapped her ankle,passers by pushed the car forward a little to release her[fortunately nothing broken just swollen and sore] I went and took her car to her home while she went to hospital for a check up.The handbrake lever still seems to have the "drag" of the cables being intact but what are the chances of both sets of brake shoes failing so suddenly at the same time? If weather is favourable i'll be going later this week to have a decent look at what's wrong.
While driving her car I noticed the warning light to say the boot was open was flashing but I checked that and it's firmly shut,any common problems to look at to cure this? lastly[and I don't know if it's related to the boot light but the interior lights have ceased to work?
Any pointers on any of these issues gratefully received.

Hiya ...Does your daughter's car have gear-tronic or manual?If gear-tronic is it possible it's been driven away with hand brake still on (I'm only suggesting this because quite a few times I have driven my Xc90 away with the hand brake still on because it is not a lift lever central but a pull lever under the spot light buttons.
Other possibility is stretched cable in which case does the car have in line cable tensioner fitted?
When you apply handbrake is there more than 4 clicks to the ratchet?
If so needs adjustment or shoes replaced

Hope this helps so easy to forget most simple solutions when looking under stress.
Hope your daughter better soon must have been a fright that.

Sorry can't help re boot open warning or interior lights ....fuse issue maybe( interior lights)

[Luxobarge]

Originally Posted by xco

Hiya ...Does your daughter's car have gear-tronic or manual?

Gear-tronic isn't available on the cars covered by this section (including the OP's car), that was an option on the later models.

Also, in his post above he confirms it's a manual.

[xco]

Thank you and I stand corrected....I must read posts deeper..I only read first post and was responding to that..I was just offering up some possibilities.