My heated seats in my 95 850 are not working. the light on the console button comes on for both seats and the fuse under the hood is good. Any other suggestions.

thanks

 

I have the same problem.. I can see the white heating pads underneath the seats.. I guess the elements wear out after time I don't know.

 

I have that same problem but only on the driver side, sometime they say the connections can get loose but its usually the heating elements within the foam seats that can break or stop working, its under $200 Cdn to fix just because of the labour of having to pull apart the foam layers apart to fix it all. check the connections first but if you find a good deal on Used good condition seats that's your best bet

If you find any more data let me know, I'd like to feel warmth again lol

 

Look under the seat, on the right hand side as you look at it from the footwell, and locate the power connector for the seat.
It is the large white connector with the Yellow/Red wire and the Black wires.

Use a Voltmeter and, with the seat heater switch on and the key on, check for battery voltage between the Yellow/Red wires and the Black wires. If it measures good there it means that the switch is good and the wiring to the seat is good.



You next need to locate the heater pad plugs, they are just below the front edge of the seat, they are both 2 conductor connectors. One connector is gray and the other is black.

They are pictured here:



Backprobe the red wire on the black connector and check it for battery voltage as well, the black wires on the power connector are a good ground point for the meter.

If you have good voltage there it means that the thermostat and its circuit are good. If you don't have voltage there it means that the thermostat is bad (not likely) or the wiring to the thermostat has come unplugged (more likely). The thermostat is located near the rear of the bottom seat cushion and it has a Red wire and a Red/White wire going to it. Plugging it back in is tricky and is best accomplished from the back seat and having someone sitting in the seat - that someone will get goosed a bit.

Assuming that the voltage is good on the red wire next move to the yellow wire. On a normally working system you should read voltage there but it will be less than full battery voltage.

If you read full battery voltage on the Yellow wire then the seatback heater element has burned out.

If you read no voltage there then the seat bottom heater element has burned out.

...Lee

 

wow, thanks for the detailed info Ozark I'll have to check mine out tomorrow

 

Good stuff Ozark! I put the link to this thread in the helpful hints sticky at the top of the forum.

 

Wow thanks Ozark that's quite helpful for me too, boy its great to have such brains like you guys, thanks! again another project for when it warms up, i guess for next winter i might have heat, its just too cold right now to fiddle with wires

 

I have a 2003 XC70 with a heated seat problem. My driver side heated seat will not go off even if I switch it to off.So I have pulled the 15 amp fuse.

I'm trying to find a picutre of the underside so I can see where the wires are going to. Does anyone have one?

Volvo tells me there is no thermostat in the 2003. But there is what they refer to as a controller. could this be the cause?

Jim

 

I believe the most common problem is the wiring going to the thermostat. Because it is constantly being moved around, it tends to get loose and come off of the connector. Try that first. It's hard to fit your hand in the small openning going up to the seat, but worth it as a first try. If the wires are intack, then follow Lee's procedure. I had to recrimp mine to the wire connector and then get frustrated trying to put it back on the thermostat without bending the prongs. But, eventually, it went and I have a nice warm bun when it is cold outside.

 

According to Volvo there is no thermostat on the 2003 model. If thats the case how does it know to turn off? there must be something. I'll check it out.

Jim

 

With my 97 850 GLT, I had one day where the seat heater was toasting my butt, then the next day the heater didn't work. A few weeks later, I got a recall notice from Volvo about the thermostat for the heaters, which I believe are under the individual seats. It mentioned that they may fail and cause the heater coils to burn themselves out - and in rare cases, catch the car seats on fire!

The dealer replaced the thermo's, but since the recall notice was only for the thermo's, they were not able to help me replace the burnt-out heater coils. They told me that it's probably cost $300 a seat because you had to have a leathersmith (is that the right phrase?) to take apart the seat and then stitch them back together..

You may want to lookup recall notices for your car and see if the situation has been addressed.

 

You can do it yourself. The pads are about $85 a side. You need some hog ties and the tool to crimp them with. I did the seats on my old Vette. It took me 1/2 a day.

Jim

 

Hi Jim,

He has a 95 850, not a 2003. My 850 is 1993. I couldn't tell you about a 2003. But, I am sure they must have something there to control the temp of the seat. Maybe they call it a different name.

 

sounds like that 2003 will have a sensor giving feedback to electronic controller circuit somewhere that cuts of the current to heaters.

 

Just had my seat apart and everything looks good. Hopefully my seat works.

 

dont re use the hog ties, dont waste your time with them either.. just cut them off and replace them with.... zipties. seriosuly, works a treat

ive had them for a year and i havent found 1 downside yet.

 

I did use zip ties. The heating pad looked to be in fair condition. I didn't see any burnt spots on it. I wish I was good with ohm meter and understood how that works. I imagine someone could check the ohms and tell if the pad has any broken wires in it.

 

FWIW it turned out to be my controller under the seat. Its a small box that the heat pad plugs into. It had melted at the connector. I replaced it and my seat has been working ever since.

 

Hey Lee, I apologize for asking you to break this down a little more for me but, do I unplug any of the plugs to test for voltage?

Also, I believe the seats are not suppose to come on when it's a certain temp, something like 56 degrees or something. Can this test be done even when it's warm?

https://www.customers.volvocars.com/...11.html#pg1.16

 

The whole seat heater system is a series circuit so the voltages must be read with everything plugged in and turned on. There is enough slack in the back of the connectors to get the probes from a Voltmeter shoved in to take the readings.

...Lee