Tailgate Woes

Hello folks,

I have done a search and I didn't come up with much.

My car is a 1998 V70 AWD.

I am having some real problems with my tailgate and I'm looking for some new ideas from the group.

I have a family member with almost exactly the same car. His is a 1998 V70 XC, while mine is the V70 AWD. They're the same car with different trim kits, essentially.

His tailgate closes quite nicely, needing just a small push. Actually, his support struts are wearing out so the tailgate slowly falls on its own, and even this is enough to properly close the tailgate on his car.


My tailgate is very difficult to close. Initially the tailgate just seemed very difficult to close as it got colder in the winter. Then it was impossible to close no matter how hard I slammed it. It always latches on the first 'stage' of course, but the tailgate is not really closed unless it gets the second stage. The cargo area light stays on and the dash warning light is lit, unless that second stage is accomplished.

I discovered how to adjust the striker plate, and adjusted the plate out (away from the car), and was very sure to keep the 'pin'/bolt centered on the center of the lock mechanism. This did make the tailgate easier to close, but then the tailgate made noise when I was driving. If the plate was only a little bit too far out it would squeak, and I think the noise came from the striker plate area. If the plate was all the way out the noise was a loud air pressure noise like if you open only one rear window. Obviously something was wrong with this solution as well.

For a while I found I could manage a balance of adjusting the tailgate striker plate in or out to achieve a balanace between difficulty to close and the shaking/squeaking during driving according to the weather. When it's -20C and the family just wants to go this can wear a bit thin.

I decided that the problem must be the rubber bumpers on the corners of the tailgate and the ones built-in to the striker plate. I figured they had gone hard on me from being old, so I ordered new ones from FCP. They didn't cost much - less than $20 for all three if I remember correctly.

After installing these new parts and playing with the position of the striker plate some more, I found the tailgate was in general easier to close with the new parts than it was before. However, it was still not correct by any means. I still had to really slam the tailgate to close it, and as it got colder outside it again got worse.

I did a more thorough inpection of the closed tailgate in the 'too loose' position described above. Looking through the panel gaps between the tailgate and the body-mounted rear lights I found that neither of the rubber bumpers were actually touching their counterparts on the body.

So I adjusted the striker plate inward, and checked again. It was predictably hard to close the tailgate, and when I inspected the bumpers again this time I found the left/driver's bumper was fully engaged, but the right/pass's bumper was approx 1/2" away from it's counterpart on the body.

It was quite clear to me that this must be the problem. But I didn't know if was because the tailgate had become mis-aligned or if the tailgate or body were somehow twisted.

I first tried resetting the support struts to make sure they reached their maximum extension at the same time - I supported the tailgate and released the bolts holding the body-end of the strut in place allowing them to fully extend and then tightened them in again.

I did some investigation using VADIS and found that there are a number of ways to adjust the tailgate's position - in and out and up and down and side to side.

Specifically there are two bolts on either side of the tailgate which adjust the position of the gate itself relative to the hinges. I set to work adjusting the tailgate by releasing these bolts and then tightening them again when I thought I had the tailgate moved the way I wanted.

I have to say this was a giant PITA. The tailgate is damn heavy and it's hard to move it the way you want it to go and then hold it there while you're trying to tighten the bolts as well...

Anyway, I think I have it now so that the bumpers are about equal, but they are equally far away from their counterparts on the body[mad2] rather than equally engaging them.

I will endeavour to try to adjust the tailgate again when it gets a bit warmer out, but in the meantime I would like to solicit advice.

Has anyone else ever adjusted the tailgate on these cars?
Any advice or tips?
Has anyone every had this done at a dealer? I think I would be willing to pay even their exhorbitant rates to get this fixed up for me.

Any words of wisdom or encouragement are welcome of course.

Thanks for reading my long story:o

You need a new tailgate lock, these ail as often as door locks(which to say is many failures).
Would have saved you a lot of time, effort and grief.

You CAN adjust these, but if it repeatedly won't latch you need a new lock
I have one right now that just quit on me in this cold weather

Thanks for the reply and the advice JRL.

Will the 850 lock work in my car?
Will the 1999 and 2000 locks work in my car?
what about beyond that? 2001+?

Also, what is the difference between the single-stage lock and the dual-stage lock?

I know I have the dual-stage lock now, but will the single-stage lock work on my car? Any benefit?

http://www.volvowholesaleparts.com/p...layCatalogid=0

I don't think you do.
Any hatch lock from 98-00 will work, they're all the same
I have no idea what a single and a dual stage TAILGATE lock is??? :confused:

You can try used: www.erievovo.com and save 50-60 bucks

I'd bet that "Dual Stage" refers to the deadlock feature common on EU versions of the car.
It engages a "deadbolt" in the latch about 30 seconds after locking that makes slim-jimming a virtual impossibility.
It may lock out the key cylinders, too. Not Sure...

Hello again folks. Thanks again for all your thoughts from the first post I did on this.

This past weekend I had everything apart trying to line it up as best I could to try to determine if I could get it to work 'better' until I decide to buy a new latch mechanism.

I pulled the upper tail-light sections so I could adjust the tailgate position (up/down + in/out) using the four screws on the side of the tailgate while the door was actually in place.

I also removed the striker plate so that it couldn't latch. I thought this would give me the maximum flexibility in terms of repositioning the door.

I also had the tailgate door skin (the interior panel on the inside of the gate) removed so that it could not interfere with anything.

To my surprise, even with all that stuff out of the way, I STILL had the left/driver's bumper contacting while the right/pass's bumper was still 1/4 inch away from it's contact. Even after trying to adjust the right side 'inward' (door towards the car) I couldn't get it any closer - I had run out of adjustment and it wouldn't go 'in' any further on that side, or indeed 'out' any more on the left side.

I think the tailgate might actually be bent. Or the body is. Actually now I'm pretty convinced one or both are not straight and that is what is causing my problems. I am not the car's first owner and it is after all ~12 years old.

Does anyone else have an opinion on this 'bent' theory?

Also I'd love hear ideas for modifications I might be able to make to solve this.
Again, the two things I'm trying to balance are 'ease to close' vs 'door rattle while driving'. As I move the striker plate inward it makes the door harder to close but it rattles less because it's sitting against the left bumper more tightly. As I move the striker plate outward it makes the door slightly easier to close but it rattles more because the only thing suspending it is the back-pressure of the weather stripping and it's internal supports (it has some extra support on the corners).

If I close it with my hand directly over the part of the door where the latch is (ie: bottom of the door, centered) it actually closes okay, but it's really not the way it's supposed to work and it's a bit dangerous to have your hand there when slamming the door shut. Esp if you're a bit uncoordinated as many people are.

Any thoughts or advice will be greatly welcomed. I'm kind of out of ideas for now....

I also have a 1998 V70xc (bought new). The tailgate became increasingly difficult to latch in cold weather. Never a problem in warm weather. I, too tried adjusting the strike to make latch without repeatedly slamming the tailgate, without success. About 2 years ago we were on vacation and the tailgate would not open. The latch would not release. I had to buy a set of torx bits (had 2 sets at home) to open the tailgate by removing the strike plate and make a 3 hour drive to the closest dealer to buy a new latch mechanism for $150 as I remember. Anyway, I never have had any problem latching the tailgate since then regardless of the temperature. I'm convinced that the original part was defective from the start.
If I were you, I would replace the latch and deal with the misalignment only if you have water or dust infiltration into the cabin.

Good luck,
Redoak

Thanks for the insight redoak.

I think I will end up buying a new latch mech in the summer just to rule it out. At least then I'll know I've got the best set up I can have (new latch mech, new striker, new bumpers, alignment adjusted as much as possible).

Excellent thread and thanks as usual to JRL for his normal good advise. As to the "dual lock v/s single lock" issue; iPDusa.com describes it as the number of times you have to press the fob to "unlock" the locks. = once for the driver door and twice [dual] to unlock all doors.
p.s. iPD wants $187.50 for OEM tailgate latch

I confirm that tailgate wise, my tailgate keyfob unlock button (leaving rest of car locked) requires a double click - the fob also needs to be within a 2meter range of tailgate. Also the deadbolts only apply the the driver's and front/rear passenger doors.