MOT Fail!

[360beast]

What's the access like without taking the seat out? My seat base won't go down so I've spent the last 5 years driving it in the highest position. It worked the first two times as I put it as low as possible and then my wife drove it and put it as high as possible where it appears to have jammed up as the motor makes a noise as if it is trying to move but doesn't move at all.

[davidalanbatt]

Originally Posted by Forrest

Well, I have got it working and popped back to the garage to take advantage of the next working day quick retest which just involves re-checking the original reason for failure.

Year's ticket now issued. Phew!

I found these videos helpful.



[YOUTUBE]HQLeDWG1y00sxgEW[/YOUT

especially the second one by Robert DIY. His method of shortening the outer sheath of the drive cable by 1/4" seems to have kept it fixed whereas just getting it running resulted in it jamming again very quickly on my first two repair attempts.

I did approach the motors from the top by releasing the front of the seat cushion, which is a bit of a pain to do. However, it would have been even more of a pain to remove the seat given the first two repair attempts failed fairly quickly.

As for aligning the runners, I just got the seat to the front-most position and then checked by manually turning the dodgy driveshaft that the troublesome side was also on the end stop. Seems to have worked fine. Maybe I was just lucky.

May I ask how you released the seat cushion? Many thanks

[Forrest]

First off, apologies, the YouTube links seem to be broken. I’ll have another go.

[YOUTUBE]eqNuX_-58kg?si=pAOYUFkRi0A-XV2p[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]7sQB-xR1daE?si=XAG26TZdSKackGI4[/YOUTUBE]

The second one, by Robert Spinner, is the most useful. Robert reckons it is possible to access these motors with the seat raised without removing the seat. I think this would be very difficult. The one that raises and lowers the front of the seat is the frontmost one and this might be doable. The others: no way!

Raising the front of the seat cushion without removing the seat is a horrible job which I would not recommend. I had done it once before to access these motors basically by following this part of the FAQ.

https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/Int...oamReplacement

This is the crucial part:

The 700/900 front bottom cushion is held on to the frame by two spring steel bars inserted into the covering flaps at front and back, and two wire clips in the front. The bars are inserted into the end of the covering material, fit into holes in the side frames, and are clipped to the seat bars with round spring clips. To remove them, first pull off the round clips, then bend the bars until they pop out of the seat frames at the sides.

But it assumes you have the seat out of the car. The spring steel bars have almost no flex and are inaccessible between two fixed structural bars in the seat base. It took me a long time the first time I did it and this time I was rushing and managed to snap off one end (that hooks through the frame). I have worked around this by inserting the other end properly and cable-tying the broken end to the seat frame. Whilst undoubtedly a bodge, this works and will actually make it much easier to remove next time.

My only reason for doing it this way is that I wanted to leave the battery connected for testing purposes. All the advice is to disconnect the battery if removing the seat since there is a risk of triggering an airbag sensor under it. Of course, you also have to be cautious if you have the side impact airbags in the seat too. These are not electrical and are triggered by impact. A veritable minefield.

[Chris1Roll]

Congrats on the fix and the pass!

Tbh I'd have been a bit miffed about having that as a fail (mainly because in my car the seat never gets adjusted and therefore I would have missed it before taking it in!), I reckon its about 50/50 whether a given tester would fail or pass it - unless they are a totally different height from you they usually just give the seat a shake to make sure its secure and that's it!

[baggy798]

+ YouTube Video

[Rversteeg]

It does not take much to remove the seat. I have done it a few times and it is quite easy. Four bolts securing it to the floor, one bolt for the seat belt, some electrical connections and with a bit of sliding (slotted pins) you can take it out within 5 minutes.
The seat airbag in it will only deploy if you drop it on its side. There is a red cap behind the plastic side cover you can insert to prevent this. Nothing electrical. Underneath the seat, fixed to the bottom of the car itself, is the airbag unit with the sensors in it for deployment. Quick well protected and I see no reason how removing the seat would interfere with this unit.

[J liddy]

Originally Posted by Rversteeg

It does not take much to remove the seat. I have done it a few times and it is quite easy. Four bolts securing it to the floor, one bolt for the seat belt, some electrical connections and with a bit of sliding (slotted pins) you can take it out within 5 minutes.
The seat airbag in it will only deploy if you drop it on its side. There is a red cap behind the plastic side cover you can insert to prevent this. Nothing electrical. Underneath the seat, fixed to the bottom of the car itself, is the airbag unit with the sensors in it for deployment. Quick well protected and I see no reason how removing the seat would interfere with this unit.

Thank you very helpful

[Forrest]

In response to J liddy‘s excellent suggestion to post pictures of the part I need, here they are. Apologies for the delay. Holiday in Scotland intervened.

It’s the metal carrier under the air box which holds the alarm siren. For some reason on this car it’s rusted to bits. The second picture is what it should look like, from my V90 of the same vintage.

If someone is looking to sell a good one from a breaker then please PM me.

Thanks.

[bob12]

Glad you got the MOT.

Had a 'little' problem with the '90 745 a week ago. FAIL - horror!!!

You could only tell by inspection underneath as no visible outward signs or noise .... the o/s spring (with Nivos) had jumped halfway out of its cup on the end of the trailing arm!

Suspect I know how/where it happened on our crap roads in Surrey/Sussex.

Slopped it back in and YES!! a new year's MOT. Only 7 years to go until it's an historic motor and no London ULEZ, tax, etc!!

Probably in my grave by then!!

Bob

[davidalanbatt]

Originally Posted by Forrest

First off, apologies, the YouTube links seem to be broken. I’ll have another go.

[YOUTUBE]eqNuX_-58kg?si=pAOYUFkRi0A-XV2p[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]7sQB-xR1daE?si=XAG26TZdSKackGI4[/YOUTUBE]

The second one, by Robert Spinner, is the most useful. Robert reckons it is possible to access these motors with the seat raised without removing the seat. I think this would be very difficult. The one that raises and lowers the front of the seat is the frontmost one and this might be doable. The others: no way!

Raising the front of the seat cushion without removing the seat is a horrible job which I would not recommend. I had done it once before to access these motors basically by following this part of the FAQ.

https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/Int...oamReplacement

This is the crucial part:

The 700/900 front bottom cushion is held on to the frame by two spring steel bars inserted into the covering flaps at front and back, and two wire clips in the front. The bars are inserted into the end of the covering material, fit into holes in the side frames, and are clipped to the seat bars with round spring clips. To remove them, first pull off the round clips, then bend the bars until they pop out of the seat frames at the sides.

But it assumes you have the seat out of the car. The spring steel bars have almost no flex and are inaccessible between two fixed structural bars in the seat base. It took me a long time the first time I did it and this time I was rushing and managed to snap off one end (that hooks through the frame). I have worked around this by inserting the other end properly and cable-tying the broken end to the seat frame. Whilst undoubtedly a bodge, this works and will actually make it much easier to remove next time.

My only reason for doing it this way is that I wanted to leave the battery connected for testing purposes. All the advice is to disconnect the battery if removing the seat since there is a risk of triggering an airbag sensor under it. Of course, you also have to be cautious if you have the side impact airbags in the seat too. These are not electrical and are triggered by impact. A veritable minefield.

Hello again,
I have managed to repair my forwards/backwards movement using Robert's method. The motor involved is the middle one and I did manage the repair without removing the seat or cushion. It is just about doable but I would not recommend it!
Thanks to all for the advice in this thread.