V70 ignition barrel repair success

[John Underhill]

Glad the post was useful - that's the joy of this forum when you save money

I've not had a problem since, in fact I'd forgotten all about it till I read this post!

[J Cook]

Just to further affirm John's advice.

Yesterday my wife found herself stranded, ignition not moving past 1st position, (07 plate 2.4 D S60).

My mate found this forum and I read through John's post. I carried out the mod/repair as John explains and had the car up and running again within 30 mins; brilliant.

The little metal plate to the underside of the ignition can be levered downward with only a little bit of effort. I didn't have a Dremel to hand, but as the ignition case is a soft alloy, I was able simply to tap the peen spots flat by way of a small chisel and thus allow the plate to be levered downwards.

I lowered the plate by about 2/3mm and the key turned instantly; fantastic. By not grinding the peen spots away fully, my lowered plate has a nice solid secure feel about it, but this is just an observation on my part.

Out of curiosity I tapped the plat back up into place, (tempting fate I know), and found that the key once again locked solid, only to again free instantly once the plate was re-lowered; which is where it now remains.

Any further problems and I would look to replace the ignition unit in full; but at £200+ and a load of time / hassle, I'm very happy to stick with the repair that's been carried out.

Again, thanks John, a brilliant tip and one that really works.

Regards
James.

[lincolnboy]

Just had this problem on my 07 plate d5 stuck on a car park in town, got car home with the help of the recovery company. After reading through this thread decided to try it myself and it has worked the key now turns nice and free. will be adding a t25 torx driver to the toolkit just encase. Thanks to all of the members that have contributed to this thread

[milesce]

Just wanted to throw my vote in. New here. I have a 2003 S80 which locked up last night. Key would not turn at all. It had been having occasional problems for several months, but flipping the key always worked.

This time is didn't.

Borrowed a dremel from a friend. Followed the instructions here. Got the plate to drop down about a bit. Car starts perfectly now.

For those of you who did this in the past: what are long term results? Any problems?

[Jim314]

Originally Posted by milesce

Just wanted to throw my vote in. New here. I have a 2003 S80 which locked up last night. Key would not turn at all. It had been having occasional problems for several months, but flipping the key always worked.

This time is didn't.

Borrowed a dremel from a friend. Followed the instructions here. Got the plate to drop down about a bit. Car starts perfectly now.

For those of you who did this in the past: what are long term results? Any problems?

No problems about 3 or 4 years after I did this in my wife's 2007 XC90.

[Homersdad]

I too have this problem with the key turning to position 1 only, so though I would give this a go. Unfortunately, this has not worked for me, the key is now not even going to position 1. This looks like I will need to get a new barrel.

I have a couple of questions that I hope someone may be able to help with.

Would a barrel and key from another car work? Would it start the car? or would it bring up error messages on the dash? I know I would have to use 2 keys, but would not be too bothered about that if it will save lots of pennies.

Failing that, any idea on the cost of a new one, and does it have to be a main dealer that supplies it.

Any help with this would be appreciated, am really starting to pull my hair out over this

Regards
Steve

[jasmith44]

Originally Posted by Homersdad

I too have this problem with the key turning to position 1 only, so though I would give this a go. Unfortunately, this has not worked for me, the key is now not even going to position 1. This looks like I will need to get a new barrel.

I have a couple of questions that I hope someone may be able to help with.

Would a barrel and key from another car work? Would it start the car? or would it bring up error messages on the dash? I know I would have to use 2 keys, but would not be too bothered about that if it will save lots of pennies.

Failing that, any idea on the cost of a new one, and does it have to be a main dealer that supplies it.

Any help with this would be appreciated, am really starting to pull my hair out over this

Regards
Steve

My 07 s60 has a second hand barrel and key with the old barrel tied to the steering rack so the immobiliser still works.

[Jim314]

Originally Posted by Homersdad

I too have this problem with the key turning to position 1 only, so though I would give this a go. Unfortunately, this has not worked for me, the key is now not even going to position 1. This looks like I will need to get a new barrel.

I have a couple of questions that I hope someone may be able to help with.

Would a barrel and key from another car work? Would it start the car? or would it bring up error messages on the dash? I know I would have to use 2 keys, but would not be too bothered about that if it will save lots of pennies.

Failing that, any idea on the cost of a new one, and does it have to be a main dealer that supplies it.

Any help with this would be appreciated, am really starting to pull my hair out over this

Regards
Steve

If you cannot get the ignition lock to work, the only reasonable solution is to get a new ignition lock assembly from the dealer with the lock tumblers set to your current keys, assuming these are the original keys. This is done by Volvo from the VIN. You do not want to have one set of keys to open the door and another to operate the ignition switch.

You cannot just change the ignition lock cylinder because the fault is almost certainly not in the cylinder but in another part of the mechanism. Anyway removing the lock cylinder from a Volvo ignition lock body requires removing the lock body from the vehicle, drilling in three places and then manipulating a spring through the three drilled holes! In some auto locks the cylinder can be released by putting an ignition key in the lock, pressing a small button, turning the key then pulling, but Volvo cylinders cannot be removed that way as far as I know.

Addition in editing

If you wanted to save money by using an ignition lock from a breakers, you could remove the cylinder from the lock body (considerable trouble), remove the entire ignition lock assembly from your vehicle (considerable trouble), remove the cylinder from your existing malfunctioning lock body (considerable trouble) and place it in the lock body from the breakers. Then you put this back into your vehicle. This is so much trouble that I would not want to do unless I was putting in a new lock body or at least one which has not had much wear.

[2.4TSE]

Homersdad - two questions, please written as one of the posters above who found this thread in April 2013 and used the trick with success both at the time and without repercussion since:

> Did the flat plate under the barrel drop evenly (just under one millimetre is needed in my experience) or did it move unevenly?

> Have you put a *little* light machine oil through the ignition key aperture? (I did not use WD40 but did use some 3-in-1 oil prior to finding this thread and it may have helped the solution)

Don't give up and spend good money just yet.

[Homersdad]

the plate didn't drop down evenly, one side moved,the other one didn't, with a bit of persuasion I managed to get it to move, but has come down as much as it has on the locksmiths video, not just a millimetre or so.

No, I haven't tried anything to lubricate it, do you think this may help

Regards
Steve