Hi Everyone, I have a '94 850 Wagon and the drivers heated seat does not work at all. The passenger side works fine. I have checked the relevant fuse and the wires/connectors under the drivers seat - all seems ok, I wondered if it could be the switch on the console?

Also, I have an interesting problem with the remote locking system and the trunk. If you unlock the car remotely, the passenger doors will unlock but the trunk won't, the car will then not lock remotely, you have to lock it by using the key in one of the front doors. However, if you unlock the car via the key in the trunk, the whole car will unlock itself, you can then lock the passenger doors remotely with the key fob - but the trunk stays unlocked. If you lock the trunk with the key, the whole car will lock itself as normal. When you leave the trunk unlocked and unlock/lock the car remotely, the trunkmechanism makes a funny noise - like it's trying to do something but isn't. I wonder if the mechanism is faulty or something is mis-aligned?

Thankful for any advice

James

 

Anyone out there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

How about checking the continuity through the seat heaters? I would suspect they might be open. I have the same problem, but I haven't tried to troubleshoot yet. If you don't have a volt/ohm meter, get one.

John

 

Hi James,

Sorry about the problem.

I'm kind of confused after reading the interesting problem, the car locking & unlocking on its own mind. The remote entry system on 850 and other Volvos seem to have some problems, and I could not help you on it since my 850 did not have such fancy feature.

As to inoperative seat heater, if the fuse is fine, then it could be the switch as noted by Quincy56, or the heater element (heater pad) may be shot. Or, the thermostat for it may be shot. If you do not have a digital multimeter, I would get one at Sears; all you need is $20-$30 meter.

If a wiring diagram would help, let me know and I'll post it for you.


JPN

 

NO clue on the locking issue, but as for the seat heater, if you are so inclined I would swap out the switches and see if that solves the problem. If not, then as JPN says, try to meter out the wires.

Glenn

 

Thanks everyone for your help and advice, I swapped the switches over yesterday and it made no difference, so it must besomething to do with the wiring or the heaterelement or thermostat - I guess these are more difficult and expensive to fix.

JPN, I'm not sure whether I'd understand the wiring diagram asmy technical knowledge is very limited,I have acquired a multimeter and will check it outtomorrow! If the element was at fault, would it mean a new seat?

I'm not that bothered about the locking issues really, but now it's getting a lot colder in the morningI want to fix the seat!!![&:]

 

I haven't taken a seat apart yet, but there were plenty of heated seats in the junkyard I went to on Friday. I plan to get two power seats if they are still there next week. I would imagine you just pull off the leather covers and replace the elements if they are open.

 

I believe this info to be correct about a 1994 model, but you can find out pretty easily.

If you look under the seat, in the middle of the foam padding there should be a round hole with 2 wires going into it. These are attached to the seat thermosat. It's common for those wires to break, become disconnected, or for the thermostat to fail.

You can slip a finger to the side of the thermostat and pull it downward to remove it.

 

If I remember correctly, there are 2 positions in the trunk lock -one of them will allow to unlock thedoors but not the trunk-check the manual since I do not have it anymore.

 

Thanks, I have found the manual and you are right, the 850 sedan has a feature which enables the owner to bypass the remote locking to the trunk, you turn the key anti-clockwise so that the key is completely horizontal, then remove the key from the lock in this position. However, mine is the wagon and does not seem to have this feature, I tried different combinations of locking/unlocking yesterday (removing the key whilst in different positions etc), it looks as though I will have to take the lock to bits and get it tested. My friend mentioned something about the possibility of a faulty solenoid the other day.

 

Many thanks tripleb, I have checked the wires and they tested ok, so will replace the thermostat and hope for the best!

 

I had a similar problem a month ago. I was driving down the road and the door locks just locked on there own without me touching the locks. The next day I was allowing my car to get warm inside and when I came back out to my a few minutes later I went to open my hatch (I have a wagon, too) and all the doors locked with my keys inside!! I tested this again and again (with my drivers side door open this time) and everytime the locks would lock. I put my key in the hatch and turned it to open the hatch and I also moved the child safety switch back and forth and since I did those two things I haven't had any problems. You got me.