Door problems with inside lever and suspension problems ?

[Silver105]

Hi all,

New to this forum, but I have encountered a problem with my 2002 xc70. The passenger door lever to open the door on the inside of the car does not work. It seems a small part behind the door trim has broken and the dealer has said to me the only way to fix it is to buy a whole new door assembly and inside trim costing something like AUD 1250. Reason is that they do not sell replacement parts for this issue. What they did to fix it originally was epoxy resin the broken bit behind the lever and it worked for about 6 months but now is broken again. Has anyone come across this problem, do I have any other option or do I have to stump up the cash to go the dealer option.

The other issue is that the suspension on the front seems to have recently become softer and makes a squashing sound when we go over speed bumps. I am due to take the old girl to the shop to be serviced but is this likely to be the shock absorbers or the suspension bushes that I understand these have been a problem with this model.

Cheers
JJ

Help.

[jda2000]

remove the door panel to see what's going on.

usually the door handle mechanism gets dislodged from the part that opens the door.

[Astro14]

First - the suspension getting noticeably softer and making noise is likely the strut itself...you don't post the KMs, but in a 9 year old car, that's not surprising...replace the struts as a pair. I would recommend new Spring Mounts while you're at it (no increase in labor, minor cost...) and have them check your bushings, ball joints and tie rod ends to ensure that nothing else is worn out.

The door handle though, is a different animal. $1250 is an insane price and replacing the entire door an insane remedy...

go to the resources section, see how to remove the door panel. You may break a clip or two, so be prepared to spend $5 on a clip or two. With the panel off, you can see what's going on yourself and figure out how to repair this...but it sure doesn't require replacing an entire door!

What's next, replace the entire engine when water pump wears out?

Sheesh...

[haoz129]

Right, base on my experience with the dealer:
Next time, the service dept would refer me to a sales to replace my car :D

[Silver105]

Thanks for the advice, Love the car but jeez these things seem to have issues. Have replaced the turbo, the radiator, the aircon can't handle the Australian heat, had it inspected about 5 times by dealer and they say it passes all the tests but if I drive longer than 2 hours in the heat it stops pumping out air....

I think I'm just going to fix these problems and look to replace the car, but unfortunately I just don't think the quality stacks up to the image ?

Have booked her in at a Volvo specialists not the dealer and will get it all soughted, he laughed when I told him the dealer response.

Anway thanks for the comments.

cheers
JJ[happy]

[Silver105]

Forgot to mention, she has only done 90k which for all the problems is pretty poor.

Cheers
JJ

[Astro14]

You can replace it, but nothing else on the market has the combination of AWD, safety, luxury and practicality in a wagon body.

Volvos are very durable....just not as reliable as that durability might lead you to believe. They require more maintenance than a Toyota, about the same as a Mercedes...

Take care of it regularly, it will take care of you. That's one of the big benefits of this forum - the accumulated knowledge and experience of the memebers have helped me considerably in maintaining mine...

[billr99]

You can replace it, but nothing else on the market has the combination of AWD, safety, luxury and practicality in a wagon body.


Having had quite a few Volvos, amongst other stuff, I would have to disagree. You have Subaru and Audi that both produce a similar size and capable wagon. A Legacy or A6, respectively, would serve similarly with the former probably being way more reliable. Both have AWD and are within a reasonably similar size and load capacity. Frankly, after my experience with my XC and in comparison to all my other Volvos, I would probably do a Subaru at this point.

Sorry,

Bill

[sjonnie]

Having had quite a few Volvos, amongst other stuff, I would have to disagree. You have Subaru and Audi that both produce a similar size and capable wagon. A Legacy or A6, respectively, would serve similarly with the former probably being way more reliable. Both have AWD and are within a reasonably similar size and load capacity. Frankly, after my experience with my XC and in comparison to all my other Volvos, I would probably do a Subaru at this point.

The V70/XC70 has the largest interior volume in it's class, I checked it out before I bought one, cargo capacity was my primary criterion and I still fill it up on a regular basis. For me the XC70 is a replacement for my truck, so I needed something with as much capacity as possible. With the seats up there is still a lot of capacity in the back, not quite as much as a 4-door truck but a lot. With the seats down there is a huge volume, enough for a white water kayak, camping gear, a cooler and my dog, perfect for me! While ground clearance isn't an essential component for off-road capability it's nice to have in case you slip into a rut or miss a protruding boulder on a gnarly river access road, so that pretty much eliminates the German & Saab wagons. And in every test drive I've done of Subie vs Volvo, the XC70 wins hands down, handling, comfort, responsiveness, features - the Subie doesn't even come close. Only in reliability is the Subie a winner but I'm slightly wary of the different demographics of the two vehicles' owners. Like other people have said, if you take care of these vehicles, they will serve you well. 165K mi and going strong, original '02 transmission [thumbup]

[haoz129]

As we are still looking this forum I can tell the bricks are part of our life already. At least to me, it is, safe, beautiful, fun and all nice functions to serve a family.

Although Volvo ads "There's more to life than a Volvo" persuading us don't involved too much to service or repair this car, I still enjoy taking care of the car by myself especially when thinking about the dealer always throw big bills.

I won't say I will stick with Volvo but I will be sad to leave.

Hope I will earn a lot to have other handle the car when I would be too old to jack up a vehicle. Or go with a relatively more reliable brand when time comes.

Thanks.

[Astro14]

Having had quite a few Volvos, amongst other stuff, I would have to disagree. You have Subaru and Audi that both produce a similar size and capable wagon. A Legacy or A6, respectively, would serve similarly with the former probably being way more reliable. Both have AWD and are within a reasonably similar size and load capacity. Frankly, after my experience with my XC and in comparison to all my other Volvos, I would probably do a Subaru at this point.

Sorry,

Bill

No worries...:)

[greemero]

So I've been driving the wife's 01 XC for the better part of 3 months now while I'm chasing down various gremlins. However, yesterday I had to take my truck to haul some stuff. When she gets home she asks "what's wrong with the door handle?" She then proceeds to tell me it's not working (can't open it from the inside).

Turns out the handle mechanism and the wire had become disconnected. Not really sure how that happened, but it doesn't appear to be a very robust connection in the first place. Anyway, following the door panel removal instructions in the resources section, I was able to get a look at the mechanism and reconnect everything. Whole process took about 20 minutes. Pretty easy thanks to this forum.