Volvo 480 Club Europe

Well....last night i went to town, parked in a small street. When i returned to my car (11 pm) everthing seemed ok. Tried to start the car, but was unable to turn the lock. At 2 am, me and my dad gave up and went back home. So i had the fun, to get there again this morning. My m8 and a car mechanic i know joined me. Another two hours of trying later, nothing! Finally had to call my insurance which organised a towing company. Now the car is at the local volvo dealership. New lock + installation would cost me more than 330£. Only have the car for about 4 months now, and spent over 2200£ (incl. the enormous price i payed for the car) within those months. The car is leaking oil, engine not running well, cooling liquid expansion tank cracked (wouldnt be a big problem thx to jim), interior is broken on some parts and other things.
It's a real shame to give up such a nice car, but mine in particular seems to have been treaten really bad before it met me It's even more a shame, as i spent so much time and money in it, to fix all the minor and major problems, to get it back on the road again. But even the volvo mechanic i went to said, that it's just not worth investing anymore money in it. I'm really pi*"ed... especially about the bloody mechanic which sold me the car.
I think last thing i at least am going to try to, is to save as many parts before it's being sent to car heaven, so that i could at least give something back to the forum members.
And believe me, i'm really not the type of giving up easy...the car was undriveable for over a week right after mot! but spending hours on fixing it, without even thinking of getting rid of it.
Well what can i say, of course i will keep using this forum, to try helping other members with the 480 problems (as i've seen and solved a few myself yet).

Thanks for all your advice.

Greets
Raff

Raff what locks do you need they are lightweight and small in volume so if I knew which ones were which I could advise on how easy it is to change them over and better than that to keep you on the road I would send over the locks needed for free all you would need to do would be to cover the 8 or so euros postage charge.

if this is all that stands between you and scrapping the car.

Think about it and get in touch , give me as much info as possible if you want to take up the offer.

It is such a damn pity you are not near glasgow

regards jim.

ps changing the locks is easy if it is only the lock barrels that need done it is so so easy to do ! At 330 Euros you are being royally screwed !

Well Jim, I'm glad you want to help me. It wont be only the lock, but also the steering wheel lock. At the moment the steering wheel is locked, so i can't even tow that thing to my home. And I would have to remove the steering wheel to get to the lock. So i guess I would need the whole steering wheel lock mechanism. And, how could it be different, i'd need the plastic cover ring (with the green ring inside, guess it was illuminated once upon a time) as my mechanic friend used brute force. Well Jim, the problem is, it's not only the lock, but lot of annoying things, as described in my post. And this, already after 3 months of driving it. The lock was just the top of the iceberg....
I gonna try remove the lock myself on friday, so that i can tow/drive it home and see if i could fix it on my own. But tbh, i'm really pi*"%ç off about this shit at the moment. It even did cost me half a work day, organising the towing and all. It's not that i do have plenty of free time to spend at the moment.
Can't show you any pics of the parts i'd need yet. I'll see what i gonna do.

Greets
and many thanks for your offer, with a 480 best thing is to be uk based i suppose

Raff

Raff
if the key can be fully inserted into the steering wheel lock it is easy to remove but if not it needs to be drilled out. Will take photos tonight and show you what to do as well as hot wireing it.

regards jim

Have you tried a different key? One of my keys gets in the doors fine, but is a real pain in the ignition lock!!

I agree, it sounds like you've bent a key.

Have a close look and see if it is bent, maybe take it to a key cutting shop. It's unlikely all of the locks would break at once. It must be the key.

pol

Well it's not all the locks, only steering wheel one. First thing was trying the second key of course. Did not work though. You can insert the key fully into the lock, until it makes "click". But you just can't turn it. The shizzle is, that i need to remove the steering wheel to get to the cylinder.
Gonna try bring my car home on saturday and thanks a lot jim for your support/advice.

Greets
Raff

The lock and ring asembly is all in one .
there is a little hole that you push a very small metal bar into (like a 1mm allen key ) and turn the key round a 1/8 or 1/4b turn and pull the lock to remove.
On the assumption that the lock is solid then drill the barrel out !

The car can be easily started by hot wiring and if my memory is correct you dont need to remove the steering wheel. Will post up photos friday evening with detailed instructions for you. Once the lock has been removed you can hot wire the other side and the car will start very easily.

does your car have an airbag or is it the older type (older type is easier to work with reckon you could do everything and be back on road in 90 minutes start to finish

330 euros my arse

replacement lock and key with illumination ring max 8 euros inc postage. volvo dealers

The Forum will keep your 480 alive as long as you can take the pain.

Lol.... well thanks a lot jim. One major problem though: After removing the cylinder (I hope the mechanic friend of mine didnt kill anthing vital ) will the wheel lock have been gone too. If not, i wont be able to turn the steering wheel, which will make it somehow hard to drive home... I don't have an airbag (airbags and ABS are for girls only ) I can't leave the car at the dealership for longer than 3 days, which is one major problem. So i gonna have to somehow release the steering wheel lock.

Thanks a lot
Raff

when you take out the lock barrel the steering lock is integral with the barrel so when it comes out there is no steering lock. Like I said it is simple when I post up the photos tomorrow night in the how to section you will see for yourself how easy it is.

The worst that can happen is you have to thump the barrel casing with a hammer and chisel but it is a very cathartic experience.

Dont go near a volvo dealer

In fact if you take a screw driver you can just start the car with that so you dont even have to hot wire the ignition.

It is nice that the car has a dumb key

still waiting for the "how to". Gonna try to remove it tomorrow afternoon.

Greets
Raff

its up now raffa best of luck jim

Ok..... had some trouble removing the cylinder. Drilling out wasnt an option, as there was just not enough space to do so. So we decided to open the lock case. Some Minutes of sawing later, the lock cylinder was free to remove. But of course now the aluminium housing of the lock has gone. What i now would need is the whole thing, housing + lock + key. And i don't even know, if you can remove the whole thing, as volvo used special screws Is it easy to remove them? Or is another drilling session needed?

Greets
Raff

P.s. Pictures to follow

no Raffa you dont remove the security screws shown here...

you simply replace the entire unit which is an easy job with no special tools required and time is anything upto 2 hours start to finish. Plus the bonus is you dont use a hammer

here is a set of photos of the unit ...

your services priceless .

Jim you're the man really! Guess i could spend 2 hours on it as i have spent over about 10 for the whole lock issue so far.

http://img34.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=minipict3474.jpg

Before and after i used the big pipe wrench on it. And of course you can see a drilling attempt, which didnt work. Just not enough space nor the right gear to do it. I wish i had replace the lock when it did stuck for the first time... removing the cylinder would have been sooooo easy

Raff can you show me a picture of how it looks now . Because if the actual grey casing is still intact then you could remove the unit stick it on a bench and have plenty of room to get the internals out.

If the actual grey metal housing/casing is screwed then you have to replace the unit.

I forgot you are LHD that restricts your access since in a RHD 480 you are working from the door side

The grey housing is totally screwed m8! had to slice it open using a saw So i would have to relplace the whole unit.
LHD is a pain in the a** for this repair m8. Well would love to show you pics of the actual situation, but as i refit the wheel already. Might take some when (if at all) replacing the whole thing.
So thats how it looks at the moment. And i'm of course really at the moment. Gotta the guy who sold it to me.

Raffa the replacing of the unit is starightforward LHD or RHD and the steering would be as good as new except you have 2 keys instead of one but even that can be altered.