It appears that the forum won't let you reply to "older" messages, so I'm posting this response to a 3/25/06 message as a new thread.

posted by lpsage on Sat Mar 25 06:18 EST 2006
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The interior drivers door opening handle/lock assembly on my 98 V90 broke.
It is still functional, but the part that you pull out to open the door "dangles" as if a spring holding it in was broken or disengaged.
The door functions, the lock functions but this piece hangs loosely outward until used. How do I fix it? Thanks!
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94 940 110K ,98 V90 112K

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Note that the part that's broken has absolutely nothing to do with the functioning of the door opening mechanism. If you don't mind a floppy handle, you can leave it like this indefinitely.

The following is for a 97 V90, but probably also applies to other 960/V90 model years.

This is about a 15 minute job for someone who has done it before. It took me almost an hour, mostly trying to figure out how to put things back together. I don't think it's possible to do this repair without removing the door panel -- but removing the door panel is very easy.

The part is "return spring" 9126002-6. My local Volvo dealer charged me $4.26. Make sure you get the one for the left door -- springs for the left and right sides are not the same.

You'll need the following tools:
A very thin-bladed flat blade screwdriver or similar tool
T-25 Torx driver
A small pin punch or nail set
Small hammer
A pair of needle nose pliers is not necessary but could be useful

You can pop off the trim around the lock mechanism with your fingers. It just clips in. Once you get this off, you will be able to see the top and bottom of the vertical pin that acts as the hinge for the lock handle. joza960 (March 25, 2006 post) said that you can remove this pin with a small screwdriver, but that looks almost impossible to me. Instead, I removed the door panel and drove the pin out from the top using a nail set and a small hammer. The pin is knurled on the bottom to hold it in the plastic fitting. A mechanic at the dealer told me that when doing this job he sometimes puts a drop of KrazyGlue on the pin when reinstalling. I don't know if that was the case with mine, but it took a few firm taps to get it out (I didn't glue it back in).

To remove the door panel, use a thin flat bladed screwdriver or knife to pop open the cover in the door pull area. Unscrew the 2 T-25 torx screws. On the bottom edge of the door are 3 rectangular openings in which you should see 3 white plastic bobby-pin-like clips. These just pull out. Grab the door panel on each side and pop it off (there are a couple of interior plastic pins that you are disengaging). There are a series of metal clips on the top edge of the panel which should come off as you lift up. The panel should come off fairly easily without having to force anything. I just left it dangling by the various electrical connections (speaker, window controls, etc.).

Now that you can get at things, push the pin out from the top and carefully remove the lock and opening handles, making sure to observe how things are set up. There's a small coil spring that is attached to the upper (lock) handle. The other end of this fits into a circular hole molded into the plastic.

The spring that broke is a coil about 0.5 in diameter and about 0.5 in long. Instead of staying in a coil shape, the ends of the spring stick out. One end is longer than the other. The short end is the lower end and fits into a slot molded into the door release handle. On mine, at least, the short end of the old spring was intact, but the longer end had broken off, so I was unable to see the proper placement of the long end. If you are careful when you take things apart, you should see how the spring fits into the door release handle and where the short end goes.

The thing that took me the most time was figuring out where to put the other end of the spring. It does NOT go anywhere near the cable that activates the lock or the fittings that engage with the handles to activate the lock. Rather, the rear-ward vertical edge of the plastic housing into which the handles fit has 2 small horizontal ribs. The tip of the long end of the spring fits here. Once you see this, it makes perfect sense, but I was fiddling around for at least 20 minutes without seeing it.

Get everything lined up and push the pin up through the holes. I suggest pushing it just enough to engage the top hole and then trying the handles to see if everything works correctly. If you're satisfied that everything is in the correct place, push the pin the rest of the way up so that its knurled part holds it in place.

Installation of the door panel is the reverse of removal. Hook the top clips over the edge and push down. Push the interior pins into their holes, and re-insert the clips along the bottom edge. Screw in the 2 torx fasteners and pop the screw cover and handle trim back on.

02 V70 86K; 97 V90 130K; 91 S**b 900 SE Conv 76K