1987 240DL wagon. The back seat release cable on the left hand side has broken and the seat is thus locked in the upright position. Is there anyway to release the lock? I assume that the cable can fairly easily be replaced once the seat back is folded forward (there are two screws that I can see holding the chromed cover/lock pin in place).
There has to be a way to release this short of cutting into the seat
Any help would be appreciated.
Martyn

Just did this on my 88.

"I assume that the cable can fairly easily be replaced once the seat back is folded forward (there are two screws that I can see holding the chromed cover/lock pin in place)."

I found that it was not that easy. I would suggest that you wait and see what other posters have to say before you do what I did. May be an easier way.

Step one is to get the seat down. If the cable is broken all may not be lost. Remove the lever assembly. You should see two plastic tubes with cable in them.Try pushing the plastic tube (not the cable) toward the lock it may release. If it does not this is what I did.

I was able to fold down the arm rest (I am assuming they all have one) and shove my arm behind the foam of the seat.You will want to try and find the back of the lock mechanism on the broken side. Feeling around you will find a lever that will move freely. This needs to be pointing up. Then you need to push this lever toward the lock. (away from center of seat.) It should click and release. Jam somthing between the seat and the fender well to prevent the seat from locking back while you remove your arm. Then pull the release lever to unlock the other side and the seat will fold down.

Once the seat is down, you will now need to remove the bottom part of the seat cover. First access 2 screws that hold the armrest in place. Fold the armrest down and look in the area you stuck your arm throughearlier. You should be able to see these screws and remove them. On the back of the seat you will see 2 nuts that secure the lower portion of the arm rest, remove them. At the bottom is 7 or 8 "hog rings" that will need to be removed. Needle nose pliers worked well for me.After reemoving the hog rings the material will fold up exposing a hole near the "hinge points". Using a flat blade screw driver,insert it into the hole.Inside the hole is a spring loaded hinge pin. Use the screw driver to push the pin away from the center of the car and lift that side of the seat. It should lift up easily. Repeat on the other side.

After this you should be able to unzip the sides and the foam should be able to fold up. You may need to use a knife to seperate the glued portions from the steel backing. At this point remove the 2 screws you mentioned earlier on the lock mechanism. fold the carpeted side up and you will see a third screw holding the lock in place. Remove this screw and the lock mechanism will fall down inside the seat. Do the same for the other side. You may have to cut a couple of tie wraps that hold the cable to the seat.

Once all this is done you can pull the entire lock , lever and cable out as one unit, throught the lever hole. Got to a junk yard and get the parts needed to repair and assembly is just the reverse of dissassembly. I used big tie wraps instead of hog rings when I put mine back together. Hope this helps.

Good luck

Joe

Joe,
Again thanks for the information the job was sucessfully completed yesterday.
Fortunately I didn't have to remove all the seat covering as the third screw holding the latch was just (only just) accessible by stretching the seat cover in yesterdays georgeous sunshine and the cable was not secured to the seat frame. Maybe Volvo made that change to prevent what had happened with mine. The cable wire had become detached from the latch (not broken as I thought). To repair I reformed the z shape on the end as best I dare without breaking it, and then repositioned the z in the hole in the latch securing it with a small amount of epoxy adhesive to reduce the chance of it working its way out of there again.
Joe, your advise/information was extremely valuable...Thank you, thank you, thank you,
Just thought I would add my actual experience of doing the job in case others may benefit.
Martyn

I dont get to contribute as much to the board as the board contributes to me. I am glad it went well.

Joe

Joe,
Thanks for the info. I will give it a try. Sounds like this is not a 10 minute job even with the seat released.
Still think she is worth investing a little time in, now over 250,000 miles and running good.
Martyn