Intro new 960 owner
#1
02-08-2018, 09:54 PM
Intro new 960 owner
Hello all,
This looks like a pretty active discussion forum, which I'm glad to find this for an older Volvo that I just purchased, which is my third over the years. Now I am a proud owner of a new to me '94 960. I'll try to attach some pictures. Bought this on December 21st of 2017.
It's been so long since I've been on here that I don't even know how accurate my signature is. I'll check that later.
This looks like a pretty active discussion forum, which I'm glad to find this for an older Volvo that I just purchased, which is my third over the years. Now I am a proud owner of a new to me '94 960. I'll try to attach some pictures. Bought this on December 21st of 2017.
It's been so long since I've been on here that I don't even know how accurate my signature is. I'll check that later.
#4
02-12-2018, 08:41 PM
Thanks. I'm getting the car back from the mechanic tomorrow. Here's what I had done, in addition to the timing belt already replaced:
- Head gasket replaced and plugs
- Front struts and strut mounts, end links
- Gear shifter bushings
- Rear suspension conversion kit from iPd Volvo. See attached photo, replaces mega expensive worn out Nivomat self leveling shocks w/ standard shocks w/ adapter mounting pins plus matching load replacement springs. Note: this kit was on sale 15% off $365 regular $429.95 and one Nivomat shock alone is like $280. (all figures US dollars)
- Vacuum servo repaired, air was being redirected from dash vents to the floor vents when the engine was under load i.e. low vacuum condition. I gather this is not uncommon.
- Rotted fuel hose on top of tank replaced
- Bad temperature sending unit, strange that this worked before going into the shop. It's OK if it got dinged while other repairs were going on.
This car must have been a southern USA car all of its life. The body is not only rust free at 155K miles, I couldn't even see any surface rust underneath when I knelt down and looked underneath before I bought the car. With excellent body, I can concentrate mainly on the mechanical stuff and hopefully keep this running for a long time now.
One other issue I have is the passenger side seat doesn't move at all in any direction. It's not the problem described in the sticky note on this forum. It just doesn't try to move at all. Not a blown fuse. I'll save this for a separate post later.
- Head gasket replaced and plugs
- Front struts and strut mounts, end links
- Gear shifter bushings
- Rear suspension conversion kit from iPd Volvo. See attached photo, replaces mega expensive worn out Nivomat self leveling shocks w/ standard shocks w/ adapter mounting pins plus matching load replacement springs. Note: this kit was on sale 15% off $365 regular $429.95 and one Nivomat shock alone is like $280. (all figures US dollars)
- Vacuum servo repaired, air was being redirected from dash vents to the floor vents when the engine was under load i.e. low vacuum condition. I gather this is not uncommon.
- Rotted fuel hose on top of tank replaced
- Bad temperature sending unit, strange that this worked before going into the shop. It's OK if it got dinged while other repairs were going on.
This car must have been a southern USA car all of its life. The body is not only rust free at 155K miles, I couldn't even see any surface rust underneath when I knelt down and looked underneath before I bought the car. With excellent body, I can concentrate mainly on the mechanical stuff and hopefully keep this running for a long time now.
One other issue I have is the passenger side seat doesn't move at all in any direction. It's not the problem described in the sticky note on this forum. It just doesn't try to move at all. Not a blown fuse. I'll save this for a separate post later.
Last edited by va740twagon; 02-13-2018 at 07:26 AM.
#6
02-13-2018, 07:06 AM
Passenger side seat issue, dead controller
Yeah I smiled when I first got on this forum and saw the sticky note about the seat doesn't move. I thought that's funny that my problem is so common and that there was a common fix for it. But after getting into it I discovered as I mentioned previously, mine is not the same problem described in Robert's video and in the link in the sticky notes. My seat does not try to move at all, it is NOT being held in place because the cable has become dislodged or disconnected from the motor on one side of the seat. My seat doesn't even try to move. None of the motors engage in any direction, front/back, up/down, tilt forward/back. Doesn't matter which direction I try to move it, it doesn't respond at all to any of the switches meaning all of the seat control features are dead.
FWIW, mine happens to be the passenger side. After checking fuses, I followed the video and the directions to unbolt the seat and get at the motors, which in itself is a major chore. After getting the seat out, I eventually got the control board cover dislodged from the seat enough to measure 12V at the board, at least at the STOP switch on the seat. Also the STOP switch on the side of the seat next to the door is not closed (which I gather that by itself this switch would stop the seat from moving). So it's not as if the seat is not getting any power. It just acts as if the control board is dead.
In the position that the seat was stuck in, it wasn't at the end of travel but it was way too far forward for anyone other than a little kid to sit there. After pulling the seat out and removing a cover plate under the 3 motors and then an end plate on each end of the 3 motors, I was able to get to the cables for the center motor as I recall it was. This is NOT easy getting to these cables. Since I knew by this time I have an entirely different issue and NOT a cable needing to have some length removed from the outer sheath so it goes further into the motor, I figured I have to somehow get this seat to move back so the passenger front seat can be used.
With the seat on its base unbolted and lifted off of the floor and laid over on its side, and the cover plates removed from the motors, I was able to take each of the cables from the center motor and attach each cable one at a time to the chuck on my battery powered drill, and use the drill to move each side of the seat back one side at a time to where I guessed it needed to be. There was barely enough of cable end to be able to clamp it in the chuck of the drill, but it was enough and after figuring out which way I needed to turn each cable (opposite directions from one another), I was able to move one side and then the other, then go back and forth to tweak the position of both sides until I got the seat where both sides had moved an equal amount, somewhere near the back end of the range of seat adjustment. The 2 large reference pins on the bottom seat base both fit in the holes in the floor and the 4 holes in the seat base lined up with the holes in the floor so I could bolt the seat back into the floor in its new position.
Fortunately I didn't have to repeat this exercise with the motor cables for either of the other 2 motors. The tilt foward/back was fine and the up/down position of the seat was fine, just the forward/back was way too far forward. So although I still have the same problem of apparently a dead/defective motor controller, at least the seat is where I need it to be and any adult other than perhaps a VERY tall person (I don't personally know any) can sit in the passenger side front seat.
I have previously replaced all of the seats on a 2002 Volvo V70 XC that I used to own, so I'm familiar with the fact that there can be side airbags involved. And in fact on that car the main reason I had to replace the driver's side seat was due to an air bag fault condition tripping a code causing the Check Engine light to be on and it wouldn't pass safety inspection like that. So this is not the first time I've worked with power seats. But I think with my 960 it may be harder to work on the the seats than the other Volvo. I was able to easily swap the motor controller back from the original passenger side seat to the new seat on the V70 XC, because one of the functions on the new seat controller did not work. It looks to be a lot more tedious to swap a control board from another seat to my 960 so I'll probably just leave it like it is. The heated seat function does work on the passenger side seat but that's the only electrical function that works. No seat movement.
I guess I've rambled on enough now. :-) But hey I'm excited to be here and thanks for listening.
FWIW, mine happens to be the passenger side. After checking fuses, I followed the video and the directions to unbolt the seat and get at the motors, which in itself is a major chore. After getting the seat out, I eventually got the control board cover dislodged from the seat enough to measure 12V at the board, at least at the STOP switch on the seat. Also the STOP switch on the side of the seat next to the door is not closed (which I gather that by itself this switch would stop the seat from moving). So it's not as if the seat is not getting any power. It just acts as if the control board is dead.
In the position that the seat was stuck in, it wasn't at the end of travel but it was way too far forward for anyone other than a little kid to sit there. After pulling the seat out and removing a cover plate under the 3 motors and then an end plate on each end of the 3 motors, I was able to get to the cables for the center motor as I recall it was. This is NOT easy getting to these cables. Since I knew by this time I have an entirely different issue and NOT a cable needing to have some length removed from the outer sheath so it goes further into the motor, I figured I have to somehow get this seat to move back so the passenger front seat can be used.
With the seat on its base unbolted and lifted off of the floor and laid over on its side, and the cover plates removed from the motors, I was able to take each of the cables from the center motor and attach each cable one at a time to the chuck on my battery powered drill, and use the drill to move each side of the seat back one side at a time to where I guessed it needed to be. There was barely enough of cable end to be able to clamp it in the chuck of the drill, but it was enough and after figuring out which way I needed to turn each cable (opposite directions from one another), I was able to move one side and then the other, then go back and forth to tweak the position of both sides until I got the seat where both sides had moved an equal amount, somewhere near the back end of the range of seat adjustment. The 2 large reference pins on the bottom seat base both fit in the holes in the floor and the 4 holes in the seat base lined up with the holes in the floor so I could bolt the seat back into the floor in its new position.
Fortunately I didn't have to repeat this exercise with the motor cables for either of the other 2 motors. The tilt foward/back was fine and the up/down position of the seat was fine, just the forward/back was way too far forward. So although I still have the same problem of apparently a dead/defective motor controller, at least the seat is where I need it to be and any adult other than perhaps a VERY tall person (I don't personally know any) can sit in the passenger side front seat.
I have previously replaced all of the seats on a 2002 Volvo V70 XC that I used to own, so I'm familiar with the fact that there can be side airbags involved. And in fact on that car the main reason I had to replace the driver's side seat was due to an air bag fault condition tripping a code causing the Check Engine light to be on and it wouldn't pass safety inspection like that. So this is not the first time I've worked with power seats. But I think with my 960 it may be harder to work on the the seats than the other Volvo. I was able to easily swap the motor controller back from the original passenger side seat to the new seat on the V70 XC, because one of the functions on the new seat controller did not work. It looks to be a lot more tedious to swap a control board from another seat to my 960 so I'll probably just leave it like it is. The heated seat function does work on the passenger side seat but that's the only electrical function that works. No seat movement.
I guess I've rambled on enough now. :-) But hey I'm excited to be here and thanks for listening.
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