Long story... Last week on a cold night, as I attempted to close the trunk, I heard a hissing noise. It looked like a plastic shovel in my trunk was obstructing the strut. I moved the shovel, and found that the trunk won't close any more - there was a lot of resistance to close. Being a long way from home, I forced the trunk lid down with some effort, and noticed it was badly mis-aligned and not completely closing.

Took it in to a Volvo independent. They suggested 1 strut (air spring) and hinge (driver's side) needed to be replaced, and recommended replacing both struts. The driver's side hinge was bent. Today, after replacing both struts and driver's side hinge the tech couldn't align the trunk lid, so he suggested replacing the other hinge as well.

After replacing both hinges and struts, the trunk lid closes, locks, but has a gap of a 2 to 3 mm on the driver's side. If you look at it from the driver's side, it looks like the trunk is not fully closed. The tech couldn't resolve it, it was late in the evening, so we decided to look at it next week.

Volvo experts - any suggestions on what is going on here? Thanks.