The weather is getting nippy up here in Ontario so I decided to finally look at the seat heaters in my 1990 745 GLE with leather seats. Last spring I measured the seat pad resistances and got 2.9 and 4.2 ohms for the driver side and passenger side respectively. That's high, I believe. There is power to the relays, switches work and I could hear the thermostat cycle on and off. There is no warmth to the seats however. I figured some of the heaters wires are broken. So last night I removed the passenger seat cushion to have a look. I pulled up the rear leather flap and followed the 3 wire harness for a few inches into what appears to be a grey spandex-like material that lays on top of the seat foam between the foam and the leather. The wires fan out like a 3-pronged fork and then stop! The spandex material extends forward horizontally, dips down through the foam at each of the 2 leather pleats. The spandex material is intact with no evidence of tampering.

What gives here? It appears that the spandex material is used to provide shape to the foam cushion. But what happened to the heater? Why do the wires enter the spandex material? As I said, I see no evidence of tampering. What does the heater look like and where should it lie? On top of the spandex next to the leather? Am I missing something obvious?

Bill
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Volvo Info Site 1990 745GLE 16valve