Hello Everyone,

I bought a 1997 volvo 960 wagon for my wife about 3 months ago. We got a great deal on the car and it was in great condition.

However three issues have arisen with the car that I cant figure out. The first is that the two front seats no longer heat up. The driver seat no longer moves back and forth, it only moves towards the right .

The other issue is that last night we were driving and noticed the right turn signal turned on and stayed on. It no longer blinks and the lights in the front and back are both lit up yellow.

Lastly but not that important is that wipers one of the wipers on the headlights doesn't move.

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Also as of now I have taken my car for one oil change to my local jiffy lube. What grade oil and filter should I be putting in it.

 

Welcome to the forum,

I don't know if you are aware about the timing belt maintenance with the B6304 engines? If you don't know the mileage of the last belt change, I would change it ASAP. These are interference engines, and if the belt breaks, serious damage to the engine can happen. If you have the belt changed get the water pump, and timing belt tensioner replaced while you are about it.

Others will help you about the seats, mine does not have that option.

Good Luck

 

+1 on the T-Belt thing. If you are unaware of the last belt replacement stop driving it and have it towed to a shop for replacement. Here is Volvo's link to the service information: https://www.customers.volvocars.com/.../97960_000.htm
The timming belt should be replace every 70k or 7 years. If you don't have to, don't risk damaging the motor by not replacing this. When I purchased the 960 that I have now I replaced it at 60k because it was 10 years old. I wish I could have replaced it sooner. When I purchased my 850 the timing belt replacement was my 1st stop. If you can afford it, DO have the water pump and all the belt tenioniers, etc. replace as well.

SEAT HEATERS: Did the seats ever heat up since you had the car? Does the switches light up? Have you checked the fuses?

POWER SEAT MOVEMENT: It is very common for the seats to bind with one side moving and the other not. The problem is that one of the cable ends have backed out of the seat transmission and no longer turns the transmission gear that moves the seat. What I have done in the past is try to get the seat to center it's current movement, then I reach under the seat and push in on the cables ends on the side that doesn't move until you find the bad cable, the entire seat will move forward and back. Once I find the bad cable, I get some duct tape or something simular and tape the cable in a possition that will keep pressure on it so it works. This temp Jerry Rig can work for years. A better fix may be to get a small butane cigarette lighter torch and heat the end of the cable while pushing in on it. Then hold the cable in until it sets, dries, or whatever it will do. This fix has show to work well with 850 power seat cable problems.

TURN SIGNAL LIGHT PROBLEM: If you are having the same problem that I had, the signal relay is stuck. This relay is in the trunk, on the left side, under the access panel where you can put small tools or something. If you pull out that little trunk floor panel you will see a black bracket, the relay is clipped on the bottom side of it. Mine is blue. U un-clipped the relay and wacked it one good time with the handle of a phillips screw driver and have not had another problem with it since. That was 5 months ago.

HEAD LIGHT WIPER: That is suppose to come on when you clean the windshield. If the blade arm is tight you likely have a bad motor. You can get them from a salvage yard but they are a pain in the you know what to replace.

Happy Driving.

 

Ok Here is the update.

I checked for the timeing belt, and it seems that it was replaced at 87K, thats whats written on a sticker. Currently the wagon has 106k on it. So I think Im good.

As for the heated seats. They did work when I got it and the light still turns ons but no heat. I checked the fuses in dash panel as well as under the trunk all of them are good.

As for the blinker and the seats Ill check out what you mentioned and get back to you guys.

Thanks guys for your help. My wife really likes here volvo and the extra fold away seat in the back is great, we used for the first time two weeks ago. For $2500 you cant go wrong.

 

The blinker light still not fixed. I checked all the fuses, all the light bulps and everything is fine. I also tried wacking the relay in the back storage area. However one thing I did discover is that the blinker works fine as long as the headlights are turned off, but when I turn the headlights on, the right blinker arrow stays on and the right side front and rear lights stay on orange.

Any help would be great. I really want to fix this myself and dont want to take it to the dealer, as they will charge me an arm and leg.

As for the seats moving only oneside still nothing. After fixing the light I plan on taking the whole seat out and checking it out.

Or if anyone living in so. cali that can help me out at a decent price let me kow.

Thanks

 

I'm a big fan of taking the seats out but it is a real pain in the 960's. You may want to avoid doing that. Just try to move the cables under the seat.

 

I have a 91 940se i just replaced the heated seat relays. seem that the thermostat is in the relay and only turn on when they need to. the temperature rises slowly but surely. Are the days warmer now? If so that may be why they dont turn on. Try this..cold night leave front doors open for an hour then turn the ignition on and the heaters give it 3-5 minutes see if they turn on

 

When I turn on my heated seats I can feel the heat in about 1 minute.

You should replace the light relay.