V40: Door locks and alarm

[psvfixer]

Not used car for a few days, previous to that only very short trips, today battery to low to start. So took out battery to charge up in my garage.Later take battery back to car to fit and l must of locked car with fob before removing battery and bonnet fully closed. No problem l thought use key unlock drivers door pull bonnet fit battery. However could not unlock any doors.Only tailgate would unlock, had to crawl through to pull bonnet none of the doors would unlock from inside ( deadlocked ? ) is this normal. Once battery refitted all working again. So not really a problem but will have to remember for future. Just glad l could get the tail gate to unlock.
Also alarm led is always on no flashing, shouldn't the led flash when active? or may it of been deactivated be previous owner who was a dog owner to stop setting alarm off when left in vehicle. I remember cleaning lots of dog hair out when l first got car and replacing a seat belt that had been badly chewed.

[ww1dm1]

I have no problems locking or unlocking the doors with the battery out on the P1, doesn't sound normal at all. The immobilizer light should be flashing when armed (an flashing more rapidly when there is a problem, I believe), so there is something fishy going on.

[bobthecabbage]

Originally Posted by psvfixer

Not used car for a few days, previous to that only very short trips, today battery to low to start. So took out battery to charge up in my garage.Later take battery back to car to fit and l must of locked car with fob before removing battery and bonnet fully closed. No problem l thought use key unlock drivers door pull bonnet fit battery. However could not unlock any doors.Only tailgate would unlock, had to crawl through to pull bonnet none of the doors would unlock from inside ( deadlocked ? ) is this normal. Once battery refitted all working again. So not really a problem but will have to remember for future. Just glad l could get the tail gate to unlock.
Also alarm led is always on no flashing, shouldn't the led flash when active? or may it of been deactivated be previous owner who was a dog owner to stop setting alarm off when left in vehicle. I remember cleaning lots of dog hair out when l first got car and replacing a seat belt that had been badly chewed.

Sounds like normal behaviour. You dead-locked it and then took the battery off. Only way to get in then would be the boot. Except in my car where the boot lock is seized! So if I get a totally flat battery then I guess its going to be a brick through the window... ...except my bonnet cable snapped and I've rigged it to open through the front bumper, so disaster avoided (as long as I remember that before I find a brick).

My alarm back-up battery has died and my alarm goes off randomly with a dying screech or just goes off silently and I end up with a flat battery. Sounds like you may have a similar issue (unless you haven't shut the glove box properly, the light runs the battery down as well). The solution is to lock it with the key (and take the bulb out of the glove box). You can unlock it with the remote as usual.

[RobertP]

I had the same problem on my phase 1, when I had locked it, and allowed the battery to run flat (car is on SORN). I had to crawl in through the tailgate as the side doors would not open on the key. It looks as if this is how they are designed, at least on phase 1 cars. (It is secure behind a locked gate so usually I don't lock it, and leave the bonnet open a bit, for just this reason, but I forgot.)

[psvfixer]

Thanks for that Bob,had the glovebox problem in past, bulb already removed.Will look into alarm side of it, but cannot find any info on it, no wiring diagrams seem to be available, which i suppose is to be expected.

[ww1dm1]

Hm, apparently this is normal on newer Volvos with an alarm fitted. Good thing my alarmless P1 has none of this trouble.

Anyways, for your little LED problem and any other alarm issues you have, you can start checking the connections on the alarm module under the dash or in the center console, depending on the year you own. Here's a pinout for P2 models, I believe pins A14 and B4 should interest you for the LED.

[druid]

About the LED - nobody has mentioned the bonnet catch, if it's out of line you get an alarm that thinks the bonnet is open.
The Ferry switch or dog left in car switch its only per stop not permanently off.

[psvfixer]

Well strange day today trying to decipher how the alarm works, l was led to believe if l locked the car with the remote all doors lock and then the alarm should arm, but if l was to lock the car with the key all doors lock but the alarm does not arm.My car seems to be the opposite alarm sets when locked with key, but not with the remote! Another point l found is that the engine bay fuse box has no alarm relay in the marked position ? So can't work out what the hells going on.