picked up a cheap 91 940 SE wagon for my college son... I think this is our 6th volvo... car is otherwise in really good condition for a 240000 miler, runs great, drives great, brake rotors have no wear, tires are all good... got the car for $1700 because its cosmetically rough, clear coat is peeled off the top surfaces, etc.

The drivers seat doesn't work, its the power seat withOUT the memory and the really big switches. the passenger seat works fine. there is power at the various wires on the switch module, and the buttons seem to turn things on/off, but I don't get any attempt at motion in any direction, no hum or click or nada. I'm thinking of trying to unbolt the seat rails so I can get under there and check the motors.

also, the front leather seats are trashed. any suggestions for the best seat covers for these for not too much money? I gather this 940 SE is really a 965 (thats even what the volvo serial number plate under the hood says)... I dunno if that impacts the seat shape. I google various places online that claim to make full custom seats in OEM style velour w/ foam backing for any model car, including 940/960. Anyone got a vendor they had a good experience with?

 

there is a relay under that seat. you have 940 seats, power. u can replace them with non powered ones, no problem... any 940 1991 to 1995, or 960. or you can buy the leather covers used, they come up on ebay, etc. or junkyard seats can be swapped left to right, bottom cushion is easy, seat back cover from the pass. seat will fit the driver's.

 

There's a green relay under my seats, but I thought that was for the seat heaters?

I have to unbolt the seat, and since its stuck fairly far back, getting at the rear bolts will be, um, interesting.

 

I did better. first, I found a wiring diagram for the non-memory seats. ok, orange is 'control' power for the stop button, red is 'real' power for the motors, black is ground, and the various other wires go to the motors. inside hte switch module there's a relay that the stop button activates, this relay provides power to the other switches to actually power the motors. per extensive prodding with a volt meter it was evident that this relay wasn't working....

so I figured out where the other side of this relay had to be on one of the switches and ran a wire from the red to said terminal... voila, now motors all work, but no stop button. since not a single other brand of car I've ever seen has a stop button on their power seats, I figure thats tolerable.

 

I just found this thread and I think this could also be my problem. How did you open up the control unit? I've been tryin to get to that module for the STOP button but I can't open the control unit. Any tips?

 

I no longer own that car, but it was, IIRC, a pain to take that switch module out. I don't recall the specifics. I used quite a lot of nsfw vocabulary in the process.

 

You think cutting the orange power wire to STOP button would make it work?

 

no, the important one was the red wire I jumped to the output side of the relay (which I figured out by studying the traces on the bottom of the PCBA and comparing it with the wiring diagrams). the wire jumper you use has to be thick enough gauge to handle all the motor power (eg, as thick as the original red wire).

 

Do you remember where to jumper it from the attached photo.

 

nope, sure don't remember, but its somewhere under that milky-white insulator sheet, which I sliced up to remove.

 

I figured it out. Place the jumper wire from red to the solder spot I'm pointing at. Now the power seat is working again.