1998 Volvo S70 T5 - Fixed my power Seats

[mecheng]

I just wanted to add some advice for those that are having problems with your power seats.
My passenger seat in particular was not working at all, so the first thing I did was located the fuse.
The fuse was burnt and I thought if I replace it, it would simply blow again, fuses usually blow for a good reason. Low and behold, the seats work okay. The previous owner must have had a heavy set girl out for a cruise or something jammed against the seat.

Thats normally where the story would end but I was trying all the commands to make sure the seat fully functioned and after fullying reclining the seat into almost flat mode, I was not able to get it back. I was so pissed, I tried playing with the buttons, pushing hard, frequently, quickly. The seat would not recline back to normal position but functioned normally otherwise. I took apart the switch and then I tried activating the motor by using a jumper wire to no avail, only some random sparks. I knew if the motor worked one way, it should work the other as it just reverses the polarity on it.

I was about to give up but using much more strength, I pushed hard on the button, suddenly, it came to life! I knew instantly, the switch was simply dirty! I ran for the WD-40 and sprayed down the shaft to get into the switch. I guess Volvo missed the lesson on "wipe" when designing a switch. Wipe is the action where the two contacts move relative horizontally to one another to clean the switch at every operation. I was so releaved and so was my wife!

Coles notes: if certain operations do not work on your power seat, take out switch and spray down switch shaft either contact cleaner or WD-40. Be mindful of the Side Air bag, use the orange plastic spacer to prevent it from being accidently activated, when you are done working, upon reassembly remove the spacer and put it back in the holster.