Ignition Problem

[WayneC]

Happy New Year!

I have not posted nor had a problem for a while - so here it is.

Got in this morning and neither my key nor my Wife's key will turn to position II in the ignition. I first thought it was the steering wheel locked and so I moved it to ensure this was not the problem. Now I am lost. Can anyone help?

Regards,

[WayneC]

Is this forum dying or fading away? I hope not but not many people on it compared to SP's R subset. Anyway, situation resolved.

While doing some other work, I googled the problem and guess what? It is a very common VOLVO problem that has been going on for 15 years at a minimum!
I did spray some WD40 on spare key (would have preferred Lithium grease) wiggled it around as possible in ignition, applied a little pressure and it worked. It continues to work.
According to posts on different forums - almost all tow-truck drivers know about this problem and Volvo wants $500 to order & replace cylinder.

Regards,

and I really do like this Forum and still love the car.

[thinkjon]

hey there  happy new year!!

I had this happen... I have to be honest.. it was beyond what i wanted to fix although I think you save about 200 bucks but still need to program key ( someone else jump in please i'm not sure).  i don't know if you can get an idie to fix it but they needed to get the ignition part (where you stick the key in) from Sweed so it took awhile to get.. 

 

I forgot what it cost me but the guy that did the job scratched my tint (after market)and the paid to replace it  I think it was about 500$ so that info is correct.  from all the research I did, you are not supposed to spray a wet lub into it. ... worst part is, it is going to happen again.. not a if but a when.  The tow truck guy tried to fix it when my wife had the car 40 miles away.. all he managed to do was spray wd and set the air bag light off...  volvo rest light for nothing. so good luck... and yes this is a well known problem that volvo doesn't seem to want to acknowledge.. I ended up having to have the car towed (AAA-free).. NJ to NY

glad you got it going, but I think you may wanna confirm that it is a when not an IF... 

sorry for the bad news and sorry you waited so long.

 

 

[cantryan]

On 1/14/2016 at 10:28 AM, WayneC said:

Happy New Year!

I have not posted nor had a problem for a while - so here it is.

Got in this morning and neither my key nor my Wife's key will turn to position II in the ignition. I first thought it was the steering wheel locked and so I moved it to ensure this was not the problem. Now I am lost. Can anyone help?

Regards,

I just had the same problem with my 2007 V70R. I just bought it 3 months ago and was taking it across the state for the first time. It only has 58K miles. I'm a bit tall and I bumped the key fob with my knee while I was on the freeway. I stopped at a rest stop and couldn't get the key past position 1. I ended up having it towed all the way back to Seattle (over 200 miles- lucky for AAA Premier). A local shop drilled out the ignition cylinder lock and replaced the part for $565 (2 hours labor included). They mentioned they'll see this once a month with Volvo but the new ignition cylinder lock has been redesigned to keep it from happening again. It takes sometime for them to get the piece made at Volvo because it has to match your key. My car was in the shop for a week and a half. 

 

I toyed with it for a few hours before I admitted defeat. If you can eventually get it started I'd drive it directly to a dealership or garage that can fix it because it's going to happen again. Hopefully you're not in the middle of nowhere at a truck stop the day before NYE in freezing weather after dark when it happens like I was.