Ok, first it started out a year ago with the sunroof on my '94 940 wedging is such a way that even using the great procedures found on Brickboard would not allow me to remove and repair it. No problem -- I got it back in the closed position and wedged it shut. I can live without a functioning sunroof as long as it doesn't leak.

Next it was the driver's seat - Stuck in the rearmost position and skewed sideways so that I couldn't remove the left back anchor bolt that would have allowed me to remove the seat for repair. No problem -- I have long legs and would have had the seat in the rear-most position anyway. (However, this position is not ideal for other family members which means I get to drive the car most of the time. Yes!!!)

The most recent problem occured this weekend when returning from a trip. I opened the glove compartment to store something, closed it, and haven't been able to open it since. It is not in the "locked" position. The knob still rotates 90 degrees clockwise. It just doesn't open. I suspect a malfunction in the latch, but can't figure out how to defeat the latch to get the thing open. I removed the two panels located on the bottom of the dash under the glove compartment but could find no way to remove the glove compartment. I even dislodged the pin in the right-most hinge, but still could not get the door off. The left-most hinge does not allow for access to its hinge pin. I was able to pry the door open enough at the right-most hinge point to remove a few essential things in the glove compartment. I could say "No problem, I can live without a glove compartment", but thought I should at least ask the question. Any suggestions? Oh, and by the way, if you have any advice on the driver's seat, please feel free to recommend a procedure.

Best regards,
Ron

Are you sure it's not the 'mechanic's key' problem.

I seem to recall something about how each volvo comes with a regular key and a mechanic's key that won't open the glove box.

I've never tried locking mine...

Peter,

Is is not the Mechanics Key problem. I have one of those but keep it tucked away. The problem is not that I can't put the latch in Lock position. It's that when its in the Unlocked position, the latch will not disengage. I believe Spook in the next append has nailed the root cause and I'll try his putty knife technique tonight.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Best regards,
Ron

Dear Imken,

Good p.m. and may this find you well. Regarding the glovebox lock. The following likely is what happened. At the back of the lock cylinder body - which I think is aluminum - there is a stud. It fits into a recess in the locking lug (plastic). The stud has broken-off from the lock cylinder body. As a result, when the lock cylinder rotates - as you turn the key - it no longer moves the locking lug.

To open the glovebox, take a 3" wide putty knife. Insert it into the narrow gap between the top edge of the glovebox door and the dashboard overhand. Press downwards (towards the floor) firmly, but not violently. The goal is to push down the center of the door, so that the locking lug is pulled below the level of the catch bar. That will allow the door to open. You can then remove the glove box lock. You should be able to get a replacement from a salvage yard, possibly with a key. If not, a locksmith should be able to re-key the lock. I do not know the cost of this. When my glove box lock stud broke, I took the lock apart and replaced the stud. This involved the use of a Dremel moto-tool, and some very small-diameter drill bits.

As to the jammed seat:
(a) Have you checked the accessible parts of the tracks, to make sure that the seat is not being jammed by a coin, a pen, or some other "foreign object".
(b) Do the seat motors come on, when you move the buttons (even if the seat does not move)?

You should be able to get at the rear seat bolts, as follows.
(a) In the case of the door-side bolt, even with the seat all the way back, you should be able to remove the seat bolt cover. It is made of plastic. If necessary, you can break it to remove it. To see the proper removal procedure, consult the FAQs, under FEATURES, above. There's a section on installing a power passenger seat, in a car that was not so equipped, at the factory. In that procedure, you'll find detailed instructions, on the removal of the seat bolt covers. Once you've removed the cover, there should be clearance to insert a socket tool, and to remove the bolt.
(b) In the case of the console-side bolt, you can access the bolt, by removing the emergency brake console. See the same procedure, referenced in (a), for the way to remove the console.

You likely will find that the drive cable end has worn. Sometimes, reversing the drive cable - pulling the flexible steel cable from its housing, and putting the "motor end" of the cable into the recess in the seat gear drive - cures this problem. Otherwise, replace the drive cable. If that turns out to be the problem, post back, and I'll add a procedure, for accessing and reversing, or replacing, the drive cable.

N O T E: D E A T H D A N G E R W A R N I N G! Before you do ANY work on the driver's side seat, disconnect the negative battery cable clamp from the battery terminal, and put the clamp in a plastic bag, to isolate it. The airbag sensor is under the driver's seat. If this sensor is banged or thumped, it can trigger the airbag. At close quarters, that can be lethal. Even if not lethal, it will be costly: a factory-new airbag is about $1,000, and a factory-new sensor is about $1,200.

Hope some of this helps.

Yours faithfully,

spook

Spook,

The putty knife trick did not work. The entire latch mechanism seems to move in tandem - locking lug and catch bar together. I'll give it another try but am not hopeful. I believe I retrieved everything of value. Now my problem (assuming that I am giving up on getting the glove compartment open) is to get the bottom molded cover back in position. There are some tabs on this cover that fit into slots under the glovebox. I don't see how I can get it back into position. But that was the only way I could extract the contents of the glovebox.


As far as the driver's power seat, the left hand side of the seat is too far back to fit a socket around the bolt head. I had removed the cover but there is insufficient clearance. This side of the seat is definitely farther back than the right hand side. I probably used excessive force when moving the seat back from its almost full forward position after my short teenage daughter had driven the car. Ever since acquiring the car 15 months ago, the front-to-back mechanism had been erratic. It would only move in short bursts, and needed "help" to move. I guess I helped too much and skewed the seat in the process. At least I had read the FAQs to know about the potential for problems with the air bag, and had disconnected the plugs. I'm reluctant to whack the seat for fear I will damage the drive gears. I thought I could disengage the drive mechanism and slide the seat forward enough to get the bolt out but no luck.

Thanks again for the excellent and detailed advice. Any other suggestions will be eagerly entertained.

Best regards,
Ron

Two words: LARGE HAMMER.

Seriously!

You'll want to get a length of steel to use to like a chisel, so you can get the force from the LARGE HAMMER to the rear of the side of the seat mount that's most rearward. Or from the front, the part of the seat mount that's most forward. Either way, you need to get the two sides even so you can move the thing. It sounds to me like one side didn't engage the catch and got jammed too far back, cocking the seat to one side.

I'm not familiar wiht your glove box latch, but it sounds to me like you could get a wire or something and reach in and trip the latch on the inside. Either that, or find a matching replacement door and just rip the stuck one off.

You sound like you have the opposite luck with cars that I do. For me, everything works, always. When I drove a tow truck back in the mid-70's I'd go on a call and try to start the broken-down vehicle, and they started right up virtually every time.

When we lived in Nebraska and drove $25 cars so the rust would have somnething to eat, I could drive one forever. Then as soon as I sold one, it would stop running, usually before the buyer even made it home! Go figure...