1997 Volvo 850 passenger door pops open
 

Hello all -

I'm writing here on behalf of my girlfriend who recently purchased a 1997 Volvo 850 sedan. It has a little less than 80,000 miles on it and while the body (interior and exterior) are pretty ugly and neglected, the car runs really well. She's had it for a few months.

Yesterday afternoon on the driveway the front passenger door popped open when she hit the "lock" button on the fob. The door actually pops open. We can manually lock the doors by putting the key into the door and locking it and it will stay locked. When you unlock the doors the door does not pop open. This morning she had a scary moment when she got into the car and was driving down the road and decided to lock the doors from inside. When she did this, the passenger door opened as she was moving.

I checked the mechanism and sprayed it with WD-40 in hopes that I could unstick something that is getting gummed up but the problem persists.

Do you guys have any ideas what could be happening and how to fix it? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks -

Pete

I have no clue on the door popping open. If it locks and unlocks then you know the rod is connected to the latch properly. If it wasn't locking or unlocking I'd say someone connected it wrong but .... not the case.
My car, I'd take the door panel off and work the lock actuator until I figured out the problem or disconnected the actuator if I couldn't or until I could.

IMHO - Put the can of WD40 away. It's a dry lubricant and isn't a good choice for this type lubricating situation. On a latch that is in bad shape I'll spray one day with a penetrating lube like PB Blaster or liquid wrench and follow up in a day or two if it's working properly with a sticky white lithium spray lube.

WD40 doesn't work it's way into a problem and even if it does it evaporates. That's why it's a good choice for wiping down a tool. Spray it on, wipe it off and you can handle the tool without getting your hand oily. But that same property is what makes it a poor choice for lubricating moving machinery or mechanisms that have contact points. Penetrating oils are liquid oils and don't evaporate. They seep into contact points and provide lubrication long term. White lithium is sticky and works great for hood, trunk and door latches as you can spray it in and it sticks to the contact points. The reason I'll use a penetrating oil first on a problem latch is the penetrating oil will seep in and loosen things up where the white lithium is thicker and sticker and doesn't "flow". The white lithium is for long term lubrication to keep it working smoothly and repels water.

The "WD" in WD40 is for water displacement. That's what it does best. It's great for coating ignition wires or for spraying the inside of a cap and the rotor to clean and protect them but it's not the better choice for a lube on the car or in the house. Just a suggestion.

I'm sorry but it's like Permatex red. Somehow it was pushed on us and the marketing hype overtook the actual products capabilities. In case you didn't know the fumes from the "red" can actually corrode gasket material and metal inside an engine.
The reason Permatex doesn't pull it, they sell a ton of it as "we" think it's great stuff. That and the average guy isn't going to know the cause of a gasket failure due to the red RTV from any normal cause.

It needs a door latch. Tie it shut w/rope or such until you get it fixed; as you have seen, it's dangerous.

Good idea to tie it or use a bungee cord till it's fixed. May not need it but if you do it's better to have it already secured.