V70 Body/Trim: Tailgate wont open

[gary9990]

hi winny, I think we have the same problem, or in my case 2 problems! the actuator bar in my case is not making contact with the spoon by quite a distance & I can't see a way of connecting them. I also do not seem to have power to the actuator. I have located the loom on the left hinge & it is covered with tape so I assume that this problem has occurred previously............I am about to strip the tape away & see what's going on. any advice on reconnecting the actuator rod would be apprieciated

[gary9990]

SORTED! 10 minutes after my last post I went to the & crawled into the back (again) the actuator arm was in it's correct place, ie in the spoon. I realised that the plastic piston was jamming from the solenoid & the actuator rod was disengaging from the spoon. a bit of wd40 on the piston & it is now ok. I probably should now strip down the solenoid & grease it but knowing my luck, I would not be able to put it back together

[Winny P]

Just went back and saw some pics and explanations earlier in the thread. I now get that the black fitting needs to guide the rod back onto the spoon when the solenoid engages. Need to test the with some voltage next as all but one cable tested with no shorts and looked fine when I opened them up

[gary9990]

tailgate stuck again with a bootful of stuff!. on inspection of the mechanism, I found that the plastic piston from the solenoid was sticking again. a squirt of wd40 released it, but I know it will keep recurring. I am very reluctantly going to take apart the locking mechanism & solenoid. really getting bored with this now!

[Backo]

This is how one becomes an expert!

[gary9990]

this is becoming a saga! tried to undo the 3 screws that hold on the lock & I have managed to round one of them off because I used the wrong size torx bit, when I manage to get the lock off, can anyone tell me where I have to place the cable tie to stop the actuator arm overshooting? I cannot find photos on any posts. please help!!!!

[peterjmatcham]

Hi. Pat. I have a V70 2001 (X reg) and have a stuck tail gate lock. can you pass me the dimensions and measurements for the HOLE cut to access the release mechanism. Strange how Volvo neglected to include a mechanical release for these models. Best regards.
Peter

[gary9990]

peter, the best way to deal with this is to pull away panel at the top where it meets the glass. I managed to pull it away about 3 or 4 inches & placed a piece of wood between to save crushing my hand! I reached down & found the spoon in about 30 seconds. if you look down the gap you should see a white triangular plastic thing, the spoon is in that area, it is a small plastic square, you need to push down quite hard to release the catch. once you get the tailgate open you can then clearly see where to drill a hole if you feel it needs one

[Backo]

Originally Posted by gary9990

this is becoming a saga! tried to undo the 3 screws that hold on the lock & I have managed to round one of them off because I used the wrong size torx bit, when I manage to get the lock off, can anyone tell me where I have to place the cable tie to stop the actuator arm overshooting? I cannot find photos on any posts. please help!!!!

I must have pulled the tiger by the tail with entering this thread... just the other day my actuator gave way too. Having the trim already cut a few years back (for a broken handle) came handy.
The actuator was jammed and initially I thought it was overthrown. I even went so far to install a pair of 2.5mm thick rubber stops inside it's box to prevent it from happening again.




However it kept on jamming with the stops on, even when operated outside the lock - just on its own.
So I figured out it must be the natural wear and tear that has caused the plastic rotor to get loose in its bed and its teeth jam against motor's pinion. It only happens at the end of the locking, but not the unlocking cycle, as the direction of rotation pushes it up against the cover.
So a few winds of tin foil around the so-called bearing surface and liberal lubrication brought back the snug fit.



I tested it at least 50 times on the bench - no issues.

[Scotty86]

Hi folks could anyone please post a photo of this 'spoon' that must be pressed to activate the mechanism? I can pull the trim back so far but can't see anything obvious, and of course blindly fumbling around down there isn't getting me anywhere... any help is appreciated!