Hi. My Volvo 850 drivers seat works OK when trying to go forward/back or up/down, but the recline button will not work. I hear the motor running but no movement. The seat is far too reclined and now it seems to be reclining more than it used to.

This weekend I tried Tech's fix involving heating the ends of the seat cable and pushing them in further but it didn't change anything and I am not sure that the cable is the problem. Can anyone out there in the interwebs tell me how to proceed from this point when it comes to troubleshooting this problem? I suppose the transmission could be shot? But before ordering replacement parts hopefully there is some way I can determine what the problem is because at the moment I don't know if I should order a new cable or a new transmission or what to do.

Thanks in advance to any of you smart, mechanically inclined individuals that are willing to point me in the right direction.

Shane in Alabama

 

Try sticking something in the transmission and turning it to see if the seat moves.

 

What would I stick into the transmission? Like, a wrench or something?

What will it tell me if it does move? Bad cable? Bad transmission?

 

Your going to have to determine if the cable is spinning or not. Even though you went through the heat up process did the cable actually engage the motor? I know on mine I could feel the cable spinning inside the cable guide.

I didnt know about the heat up the ends process when mine broke and I ended up taking the cable out of the seat and after measuring it I figured out that it was not making it into the other hardware. I cut the sleave to make my cable longer. Ugh, it was not easy.

I know you have this already but i am posting it for others:
https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-850-16/850-seat-back-cable-repair-16364/