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Bought my 1988 240 in the summer and took the car into the mechanic last week to see if he could get the seat heaters working. He's supposed to be really good and pulled the seat cover back with the seat in place, exposing the seat heater mat. He said he expected to find a detached wire from the thermostat, but it was okay. He then turned the seat heater on and claimed they were working, but in touching the pad I felt the slightest heat (I think) but otherwise virtually nothing. I can well imagine that it's impossible to feel anything through the 1/4" foam and cover when it's back on the mat. He said that it's not the same as my seat heater in my S80 (which is great) and that it's not a heat pad either. He said that's the way they are, but that leaves me and my wife pretty disappointed. Honestly, can't feel anything. Is this the way they are, or is my mechanic wrong and I should look into something else?? Thanks, Fred
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My seat heaters work very well, though I have cloth (tricot?) upholstery. It gets quite hot, then simmers down. I recently re-upholstered my seats and was pleasantly surprised to find that they worked after that job. It's a nice little comfort feature on these -20 days/mornings.
Steve
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'90 245 DL 253K M47
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I bought two used sets of heated seat elements from eBay. I remove all four thermostats and tested each by putting them in the oven while hooked to a continuity tester. They all shut off just fine. Two of them turned on after about an hour or so at room temperature, but the other two didn't turn back on, even the next day after the oven test. The thing I noticed is the terminals on the set that worked well were silver, while the other two had copper terminals.
You may have lazy thermostats if they indeed aren't heating up, although they should close once the cabin gets chilly.
My heaters are tame compared to newer Volvos I've driven, which became so hot I had to manually turn them off. I can feel mine working on my 240, but they aren't as strong as I'd hoped. Still, with the temperature right now in the teens, I'm not complaining since they do make a difference.
--
Mike F - 1984 244 DL - 229,000 miles - with Euro headlights and lots of gauges
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You could try using an ohmmeter as a quick check as to whether current could possibly be flowing through the seat heaters. Test when cold though, or thermostat may be open circuit and prevent a reading. Across the 2 pin connector under the seat, you should read about 4 ohms. If you get a reading, it's still possible as others have suggested, that the thermostat is shutting it down prematurely.
If it's open circuit (again, testing while cold), it's impossible for the heater to be giving any heat. You can isolate the problem to either the seat bottom cushion or the seat back cushion (although with most of the force on the seat bottom cushion, it's most likely that heater):
There's a 1-pin connector under the seat which joins the seat bottom and seat back heaters together (they're connected in series). Disconnect this 1-pin connector. You can test one heater by reading from one pin of the 2-pin connector to one side of the disconnect; the other heater will read from the other pin of the 2-pin connector to the other side of the disconnect.
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My '88 245 seat heaters were modest, at best. When I was wearing a heavy winter coat it would take 10 minutes or more to feel the heat. The seats were vinyl, so there was no mistaking when the heater was on or off, but the heat was just enough to take the icy chill off. On my 850, the bun warmer provides what I call a therapeutic level of warmth... too warm for me after just a few minutes, unless it's really cold out.
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posted by
someone claiming to be Sargent
on
Wed Jan 21 10:14 CST 2004 [ RELATED]
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Fred, I think that the thermostat in your car is the same in mine (84 760) I had this same problem and my dad and I ended up bypassing the thermostat. The problem seemed to be that the thermostat did work but, it was shuting off before I could feel the heat. In addition once the thermostat clicked off it had to drop back down to 30-40 degrees before it would click closed. If you would like the seats to get hot, I would suggest saving money and just splicing the two wires togeather that lead to the thermostat. BUT... Make sure that you tell your wife that she needs to remember to turn it off manually or it will get hot enough to burn the seat.
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Bypassing the thermostat is a good way to start a fire in your car. Heated seats are a luxury, not a necessity. Creating a fire hazard to save a few bucks is a good way to end up completely without a car.
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1991 245, 61k miles, looking for a 5 speed 92-93 245 cheap.
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It won't start a fire, but the heat could damage the leather if left on long enough over several years. The replacement seat heaters which IPD sells (made by the Check Corporation) are self limiting and have no thermostat.
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john
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I've actually seen a 240 DL wagon that had a fire start in a defective seat heater. It was a vinyl interior car, and for whatever reason the heater went ballistic in the passenger seat and lit it up. No, it's not normal, but when you bypass the safety mechanism things can go very wrong.
None of this compares to an electric blanket I had catch on fire once. I turned it on about a half-hour before going to bed. When I walked in the bedroom I could smell something smoldering. I pulled back the blanket, and the flames started. The thermostat in the blanket failed, and allowed things to go really wrong.
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1991 245, 61k miles, looking for a 5 speed 92-93 245 cheap.
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I have seen the seat bottom foam melted to the pattern of the seat heater wires in a 1991 940T. We took all of this into consideration when we eliminated the thermostats in Evan's 1984 760T (1985 seats).
With Evan being the sole operator of his car, we felt that it was better to have the seat heaters working than not, as long as he monitered the heat. The thermostats would shut the circuit off in less than a minute, and no heat would be felt. He lives in Pullman, WA. The temperatures there seldon exceed freezing in the winter, and has been down to -10ºF already this winter.
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john
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posted by
someone claiming to be Sargent
on
Wed Jan 21 10:56 CST 2004 [ RELATED]
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That would be why I cautioned him. Your point is well taken. Its not worth bypassing the thermostat if you cant remember to turn it off when it gets to 98 degrees (factory setting for the switch) The thermostats in some 850 cars get too hot as it is.
For me however this was a great fix and was well worth it.
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Just realized that somebody signed me out. Last two sargent posts are mine.
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'84 760 '90-B230FT
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Nice posts, but quit being me.
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john
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I don't know how well the mechanic looked at the wiring at the thermo, but I would go back in there and solder it well to ensure a good connection. You may want to check the whole thing (there are 2 pcs, back and butt) to make sure there is not a loose wire. Your mechanic may have moved a loose wire when pulling it apart, hence making it work, then later it lost the connection.
They should work hott!
--
'88 244 171K, '87 BMW 325e 172K (used to feed a '84 245 'till 227K)
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In my 91, I can absolutely feel the seat heater working. The passenger side doesn't currently work, but the driver's works very well. It produces enough initial heat that there's no way I could miss it.
--
1991 245, 61k miles, looking for a 5 speed 92-93 245 cheap.
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