Electrics: 70: Battery slow drain

[LPTkim]

Hi all,
Battery has drained away in 5 days of non use......have found that recently the interior lights have been staying on with all the doors closed. So have them switched off, on switch by interior mirror. I suppose because I have been on a new battery and using the car fairly often it has not shown up , till now any ideas ??? thanks Kim

[Luxobarge]

At least you know where the problem lies.

These are controlled by microswitches in the door lock mechanism, so sounds like you need to pop that out and clean it all up/test/investigate etc.

See if you can work out which door is doing it, save stripping ALL the lock mechs. Probably the driver's door though, based on how often it gets used.

Post back if you need help on how to do it.

[mikealder]

Check the door marker lights are off (you should be able to see the red glow through the gap at the rear edge of the front doors if you look in the dark) also the glovebox light is another that easy to miss and will drain a battery down over a period of five days - Mike

[LPTkim]

cheers guys ...Its dead, dead so I will have to jump or recharge if that fails. wait till dark and start the investigations ...oh happy days... Kim

[LPTkim]

Thanks for this ,
Do you mean there is a micro switch in all 5 door locks , what /where are they located. Is it an easy job to fix........in the past on my fords each door pillar had a sprung loaded pressure switch ,is the Volvo the same ? thanks Kim

[LPTkim]

having checked my Haynes ....of course its one of those take it to a dealer fixes....a nice guy on the forum has offered me a lock unit??? micro switch. Is it a big job to fix /
I think it is the passenger door that's the problem ,it comes and goes though. can something be cleaned or is it a change part thanks Kim....

[Luxobarge]

I did this job - to be honest the best way is to invest in a Haynes manual, the section on getting the locks out is quite good.

Will you need a new lock mech? Depends on what's wrong, you may be able to clean/adjust the microswitches, or it may be fubar - you need to take it out and investigate first IMO. On mine, the pivoting white plastic arm was stiff, so I freed it up and it's been fine since, but no telling what will actually be wrong with yours without taking it apart TBH.

If you do need a new lock mech, get one from a scrapper, you don't need to touch the lock barrel so no need to worry about keys etc.

[SussexSwede]

Sorry to jump in on this thread, but I am having exactly the same problem on my V70 with the marker light staying on when the n/s rear door is closed. The alarm sounds as soon as the deadlocks go in. I've been trying to get to the micro switch and run into a snag with the Haynes manual. I am trying to remove the outer handle and the book says to push out the lock operating peg first. Thing is, I can't find anything which looks like the Haynes picture. The car is a 1999 T reg and the book is 96-99 V reg.
Any ideas please, and do I need to get the lock mechanism out before I can fiddle with the microswitch or even the plastic contact rod referred to in other posts.
I would consider disconnecting the alarm siren, but for the fact that the door marker light will drain the battery flat!

[phatboy130]

This may help, it did for me following advice on here....

Before taking locks off etc, flood, and I do mean flood each of the door locks with wd40, then open and close til you get well ****ed off with boredom, or use a screwdriver to mimic the lock latching, this may see you right as often the problem is due to the microswitches in the lock getting gunked up and sticky. I used a whole large can to do all my locks. Hope that helps

[SussexSwede]

Thanks Phatboy!
I finally managed to get the lock out last night and I'm disappointed to see how clean it looks. Still I will do as you suggest and hope the microswitches get some benefit. Small little bu**ers aren't they?