I just was at the junkyard to get a pair of really nice black seats from a mid 90's Volvo on Saturday. I could not remove the seat and had to give up till I found out the trick to removal. I removed all 4 bolts which held the seat tracks down, but the seat would not lift up and out... It did slide back and forth, as if it were still attached somewhere. It would slide front and back about an inch or so past the bolt hole in either direction, as if it were on some sort of long track... It would not tilt up front nor back and I slid it hard both ways up against the "stop" I felt, as I thought it may have some sort of safety retainer or something. I plan on going back tomorrow and try again... What am I overlooking?

BTW, these are destined for my 92 940.. I hope they fit!!

Any ideas? Thanks, Mike

 

There are two anchors one on each rail, there for safety purposes to prevent the seat slamming forward in case of a violent crash. To dismount the seat, I get in the back and rock it back and forth until it comes loose, hit and miss thing. Keep in mind that the "eyelet" is opened in rear so the seat anchor should be freed when the seat is slid toward the rear. I hope this makes some sense...

 

Hi Lev, thanks for the reply.

So.. from what I'm seeing here, I get in the back seat [with all 4 bolts removed from the seat rails,] then pull seat fully back and grab the back of the seat and rock it back and forth to release it? I thought it might be some sort of safety interlock....

I suppose I'll just have to experiment to find the sweet spot for releasing it.

Will these seats fit my 940? They look almost identical, except my 940 has the 8 way electric adjustable seat which is locked up in a rather uncomfortable position. It would also be nice to drop the extra weight too, as I'd think that seat must weigh a ton with all the extra adjustable mechanism on it.

Thanks again for the tips,
Cheers,
Mike

 

All 700/900 seats are fully interchangeable. So, no problem there. Just rock them back and forth to get them out.
What's wrong with your power seat?

 

What Lev has explained is that there is a metal post that is part of the bottom of the seat track that goes through the floor. After the 4 bolts are removed you get behind the seat, pull it back a little and try to tilt (lift) the seat track stud up out of the floor. If it doesn't raise up pull the seat back a little more and try tilting it up again. I usually push up on the head rest a few times until it's free.

 

Ahh.. Gotcha, thanks! I'm hitting the junkyard Straightaway after work. Got my tool bag and hand truck all stowed. My 940 front seats are both all broken down with all the seams sPlitting open. The adjustable mechanism is also dead. Nothing works on the side control panel. If it were just that and the seats were good, and the mechanism was bad alone, I'd fix it. ..

Also the rear seat in the 740 is very nice and would match style with the new fronts.. Will 7 rear seats fit the 9?

Thanks for your help?

(Ps... I think it's a 94 740 into my 92 940)

 

The 740 seats will fit the 940 fine although I usually go the other way--putting 940 seats into 740s since the 940 ones are better contoured but if you have no choice.... BTW '92 was the last year for the 740. And the rear will also fit. As far as the mechanism, if it's all dead, it's probably the big relay box underneath the seat. Open it and look for the burn spot, it'll also smell burned. Solder it back, done.

 

thanks for the rePly lev,

Yes, the 940 seats do sit nice, despite the splitting seams.. The 740 seats are from a lower mileage car that was rear ended. Perhaps I can somehow peel the cover off and resew it, and have a look it the mechanism and box you speak of. We'll see how it goes...

Cheers,
Mike

 

You guys were right.... I worked at the first one but the drivers side was a snap. Now on to the removal and replacement. I'm thinking about trying to fix up the stock 940 upholstery.. I also seen a set of nicer looking 850 seats there .. How hard are those to put in? Thx again, M.

 

The 850 seats will not fit the RWD cars.

 

as I think everyone up there said, in additon to the 4 bolts, each rail has this big fat 'pin' with a 'head', this fits into a keyhole in the floor, the seat rails have to be slid back about 1" then rocked around til the head pops out of the keyhole.

all 740/940/760/960/s90/v90 seats are interchangable, although later ones may require removing a metal 'tab' on the back of the rails (dremel cutoff tool did nicely) before you can put the rear trim pieces back on, and some may require changing connectors if they are power seats (newer ones used bigger pins), I think its easiest to just swap the whole power harness under the seat from the power connector to the motor control box.

the seat belt latches have a couple different versions, I just swapped the whole seat belt latch from my old seats onto the new and routed the wires. you'll need a big torx bit for this, I forget the size.

the seatbelts themselves have a couple different versions, some early x60 cars have a dual reel mess, where the main seatbelt takeup reel is on the seat, but this unbolts from the seat frame, and you can bolt your car's seatbelts onto the frame just fine. see torx bit above.

the side trim pieces are interchangable between versions, but theres two different sorts of power seats, and obviously you need to use the correct power seat trim + control panel for your new seats.

suggestion... when your new donor seats are out, clean and grease the slides throughly. I used white lithium spray grease, seems to ahve done the trick.

taking the headrests off the seats makes it alot easier to get them in/out of the car.

I know this, because I recently installed a pair of nice S90 seats into my 1991 745T... my 745T had totally shredded manual seats, so I ran my own power to the S90 power drivers seat, actually, hah hah, I used the seat heater power since I could care less about heated seats here in coastal central California. but if I lived where it mattered, I would have run a fuse wire from the positive terminal block thats under the dash near the steering column, and used that. I actually swiped the seat heater plug from my dead seats to splice onto the power wire of the new seats, so I could plug them in even tho its the 'wrong' plug. and yes, I have to leave the drivers seat heater switch 'on' in order to use the power, awwwww.

 

oh. 940s have a taller back seat than 740s, so those might not be interchangable. careful on that one.

 

Hi Pierce,

The seats fit great once I got the hang of the retainer post/nub thing... The 7 seats look right at home there and sit nice, but the back seat is different as you mentioned. The 7 series rear seat back is a bit short in the 9 body, but still do-able. The seat bottom fit fine as well. Now to find a nice set of black leather 9 seats to put back in.. It's very difficult to find good seats in the junkyard... .. drivers seat is always pretty trashed..

Cheers,
Mike

 

one alternative is 'custom' made seat covers, from the wide range of folks like...
Volvo Seat Covers | Seat Covers Unlimited

these are fabric (I'd get the 'velquilt' ones), but they should fit really well, especially if you get some small hog rings and use those to secure the bottoms. if the seat base foam is chewed up, find some firm foam, and cut to fill the whole and put that under the cover. you can leave the original leather on and put these covers rigth over the leather. get the 'full custom' version as they are the best fit. take your headrests off before installing the covers, punch some holes in the top of the cover if they don't already have them so you can replace the headrests. I wouldn't bother to put the covers on the headrests unless yours are nasty looking




I put some similar covers (sold by IPD) on our 240 many years ago, and they are holding up really well and fit as well as OEM cloth seats.

 

Lifesaver! Was just about to get Service Manual from the local library (if they still exist, that is). It's a rock-n-roll seat, por favore. Cheers

 

Pierce, you say that S90 and V90 seats will fit a 940, does this include all the S models - 40, 60, 70, 80, 90 and all the V models - 40, 70, 90?

 

no, just the S90/V90, which are facelifted 960's. the early 70s are 850's, the 40s are mitsubishis, etc.

 

Got it. Thanks

 

S/V40 Mitsubishis? Where did you pull THAT from?

 

the first gen 1995-2000 V40/S40 were a pre-Ford joint venture with Mitsubishi and were based on the Mitsu "Carisma" platform, although the volvo versions used a 1.9L Volvo I4 based on the same block as the I5 850 and I6 960/S90/V90 engine