Dear fellow Volvo-heads,

A few months ago I've become the proud owner of a rather lovely 1998 C70 T5 Coupé automatic in Cassis Pearl with a creme and wood interior and Dolby sound system. Totally love the experience so far. As anticipated, small things do pop up occasionally, such as having to replace the heater core and fixing the notorious "power seat failing due to microswitch spring post snapping"-issue.

Right now I'm dealing with a different power seat issue, though. The driver side seat reclining motor does in fact turn, but has recently become unable to recline far enough to be comfortable. The motor turns but the seat back stops moving and a rattling, clicking sound can be heard.

I have found the video on fixing the power seat cable issue that seems to be common in the 850, V70 and all the other 4- and 5-door vehicles. However, because they have to be able to fold forwards, the C70's seats are slightly different - they don't have a cable. Rather, the motor is attached directly to the gearbox, which is mounted to a spline shaft connecting the left and right sides of the seat. So, no cable.

My question, then, is basically this: does anybody know what could be the matter and more importantly, how this can be fixed? If it cannot be fixed, could someone provide me with a part number for the gearbox or motor+gearbox assembly?

EDIT 2020-03-10 - Yesterday afternoon the reclining function actually started working again. I'm not complaining, but I do question the validity of my previous assumption regarding this being a mechanical issue. After all, gears magically "healing" themselves is fairly unlikely, or is it? Is it possible the aforementioned rattling, clicking sound is some kind of rapid electronic pulsing of the motor?

Any thoughts on this will be deeply appreciated, thanks in advance.

Marc