So, i got a 06 S40 for the younger kiddo, and its a salvage title, but it was rebuilt in 2007 according to carfax, so i felt ok buying it. Anyways, i have 2 issues im trying to address right meow. 1: the headliner has fallen and ive tried to re-attach it with this stuff. It seemed to work ok for the first 24 hours, but has since fallen again. Any suggestions for what adhesive to use? Im about to buy some CA glue and put it up with that!!! LOL!! The yellow backing is quite slimy and pretty gross to the touch and that might be the issue. Insights would be greatly appreciated! 2:the steering column doesnt lock into position. From what ive read, when the airbags deploy, there is a firing bolt that discharges to loosen the steering wheel. Thoughts on this too?

 

Headliners are kind of a bear. The RIGHT way to do it is to pull it entirely out of the car, clean the old fabric and adhesive off, and reapply new fabric and spray adhesive. I did that on my Jeep Cherokee - a fiddly job, though not really hard, not at all expensive, and well worth it. The fabric is pretty cheap, and can be found at a JoAnn's Fabric store (yes I feel odd walking around there, but they have a good upholstery section). The Volvo adhesive is AWFUL. Took me longer to clean the old adhesive off my door panels than the rest of the job, but came out really nice (a lot better than factory fabric, both texture and look).

I have seen some folks "patch" a headliner by spraying a piece of paper with adhesive, and then slide it under the loose section. Yeah, you might have to slice the headliner, and it might not look "show car", but for an older car that your kid's going to drive into the ground anyway, it might save you some time and trouble.

It sounds like your SCL (Steering Column Lock) module isn't working. The bad (!) news is that you can't just replace it, but have to take it into Volvo for them to program it (so you'd have to plug it in while you're in their parking lot, or let them install it). I'd be tempted to just ignore it if it's working otherwise, as when one of these truly fails, you can't start the car any longer. I'm not sure about the whole exploding bolt thing, but if that's the case it might just be a case of dropping the steering column and lower dash covers and seeing what you can see. You might just have to replace some hardware.

 

that was my fear about the headliner. thank you for your reply man!! how bad is it to take the a, b and c pillar stuff off to get the headliner dropped in this car? i did that in my 1996 i30t, but that was the only car i did that in. Swedish cars are new to me

 

Can't help you there - happily, I've never had to drop my Volvo's headliner, and besides, my Volvo is a V50 (you know, the sexier version of the S40). ;-) Most times though, it's not all that difficult to pull the pillar covers off to expose what you'll have to do to get the headliner off (will include dropping the visors as well).

 

I had this same problem today in V70 2008. When you inserted the key, you didn't hear that "ZZZT"-sound that activates the steering lock



And then after a few hours it started working again. Tested it like 30 times and now it always works.

Here is a repair video.

Here is a guy who somehow programs the whole steering lock out of order. I have no idea what software/hardware he's using though.

Here is an emulator that removes the whole system. I wonder if anyone has any experience of this.
https://mat-emulators.co.uk/products...-fix-plug-play

That emulator could be worth trying. Mine is an old car and I don't care for the steering lock anti-theft anymore.

 

I like the idea of an emulator, but the one in the link isn't for an S40 / V50 / C30, etc. Some have simply left the SCL module hanging loosely below the column where it can be pulled out and smacked with a blunt object (which often shocks it back into working). On mine, I pulled, cleaned and lubed it and that lasted years. I did eventually have to pull it out and re-clean / lube it, but it's an easy enough job doing anything else made no sense.