Okay. Sorry for all of the text. I'm just trying to be thorough! I'm about to take my 2004 Volvo XC70 to the dealership for the fourth time (in 3 or 4 years) for this issue, and I'm mainly looking for what to tell them to look for to find a permanent fix.

So, backstory, I have a 2004 Volvo XC70 that I’ve had for, give or take, five years. I had it roughly two years before I started having issues with the tailgate opening. Sometimes it would open, sometimes it wouldn’t. I lived with it for a little while abefore I took it to the Volvo dealership. I do not recall exactly what they did, but nothing was really replaced… more of a clean the locking mechanism type situation. That worked for a few months. Then I started having the same problem again: sometimes it would open, sometimes it wouldn’t. Then I got to the point it would not open from the outside at all, but it would open from the inside. As long as I could get it open some way, that was good enough for me. Like all tolerable things though, that, too, came to an end. So, I took it back to the dealership in June of last year. They replaced the part that wasn’t catching to release the door (I think). It was about $500. That worked fine up until about a month ago. I loaded a 36x48 canvas in the back, only to get home and find the tailgate was stuck again. I was able to finagle the canvas out of the rear passenger door, but that tailgate would not open... not from the inside.. not periodically... nothing. I decided to just deal with it for a little bit until I could get to the dealer, but I was constantly checking at least once a day to see if that was the day it decided to magically open (never happened). So, I finally take it back to the dealership yesterday. I get a call later that afternoon saying the tailgate opened up just fine when they got it in the stall and the mechanic was looking around to see what the issue could be. Never heard back from them, but I went to the dealership after work. The guy said they couldn't find any real problem, but the did another cleaning-type fix, but nothing needed to be replaced or fixed. Said the mechanic had been testing the door and that it was working fine. So i paid $100 and tested the tailgate twice when they pulled it around, and left knowing that this was not the end. I pull in front of my house, get out, and walk to the back of my car. I knew before I even tried that that door wasn't going to open, and sure enough, it was stuck.

I'm going to take it back Monday, but I think I have too much faith that the dealership mechanics are knowledgeable enough about this issue that they are test all the solutions I’ve been reading about online and I don't really have the time, place or tools try any other than the very simple possible solutions. I do understand that maybe I’ve read so many posts online that I’ve convinced myself this is much more common issue than it actually is. And maybe the dealer doesn’t have as much experience with this type of problem to know what to look for? At this point, it seems like I need to go back to the mechanics and ask that they looks at specific things that could be causing this problem, and I was hoping some of you might be able to suggest a few things I could have them look at.

Some other information that might be helpful to know:

  1. I do not use the tailgate that often – I may have opened and closed it 50-60 times since the repair in June of 2016.
  2. It locks and unlocks fine. There is a keyhole that I’ve tried and doesn’t help.
  3. You can tell when squeezing the handle to open the tailgate that something is not right. It’s a very awkward, slight resistance that you can tell is not engaging something properly.
  4. It always closes fine. I’ve never had an issue with it staying closed.
  5. I’ve tried pushing the door in while pulling the handle method a million times.
  6. I’ve also tried pushing the lever on the handle inward.
  7. It is not getting stuck on the back mat or being closed on anything that I can see.
  8. I’ve cussed at it and punched the back window the bottom of my fist A LOT. Doesn't help or relieve any frustration.


So, any advice? Any more info I can provide?