Thanks all. swede4 sent me 3 relays that turned out to behave identically to the ones in my car. So I am assuming they are all fine. There is a possibility that all these relays degrade over time so they all may have a thermostat that cuts out too early. Anyway, it was a nice day here in Southern Ontario (9 C in January !!!!!) so I had another go at the driver's seat (I was working on the passenger side before). I found a snapped off wire at the relay, as others had predicted to be a likely trouble spot. I may have broken that in my poking around so it may not have been the original problem. To repair that connection, I had to be creative in hacking together a fix since the spade connectors are quite narrow. See below for a description if you are interested. I took the opportunity to clean 13 years of crud out from underneath the seat since I had the seat out, put it all back together and tried it out tonight. It was still few degrees above freezing but the relay stayed on initially long enough to get warm, then cycled itself (off most of the time). Warm bum!

So I think I am back to a working system and I have 3 apparently good relays that I would be willing to sell at my cost + shipping to anyone who needs one.

Thanks again for all your suggestions. Special thanks to Swede4 for the relays and to Dave for digging into the circuitry.

To hack up a connector to the relay when the wires snap off the connector plug,I tried to remove the spade connection inside the plastic connector plug housing. I just caused more damage do I decided to make my own connector system. First note which wire is mated to which relay connector, then cut off all 4 wires from the connector plug and crimp on 4 standard female spade connectors to the wires. Then flatten the wire end of a standard male connector just enough that it slips tightly over a prong on the relay. Essentially, the relay prong is the 'wire' that you insert into the male space. This male spade now acts as an extension to the relay prong. Repeat for the other 3 prongs. Now plug the male and female connectors together. You will have to bend, rotate, etc, the male spades to ensure the 4 do not touch each other. Insert some insulating material between the spades. Tape up the works. Job done. Of course, an easier solution would be to get a used connector plug at a wrecking yard but that was not an option for me today.

Bill
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Volvo Info Site 1990 745GLE 16valve

Those leather seat heater relays must have something intrinsically weak. The ones in my '95 940 have died as did the ones in my '89 740. I tried re-soldering the 740 ones and that brought them back to life for a while, but the thermostat never did kick in like it did when new. Re-soldering the 940 ones didn't bring them back to life. On the flip side, the non-relayed heaters in my wife's 940 cloth seats don't kick out soon enough and toast your buns.

Unfortunately it's not always easy to find used leather relay units, especially working used ones. In the first place not all that many 700/900's came with leather. You'd mostly be looking for 760/960's and perhaps some late 700 and early 900 turbo and GLE models. Volvo calls these "overheat protected" heated seats. They use a black plastic box relay module (clipped under the seat) that has "LEATHER" printed on the case. These use an internal thermostat and timer circuitry, they do not sense actual seat temperature. I don't believe there were ever any relays used for cloth seats which use the earlier style button thermostat in the lower heater grid -Volvo calls these "normal output" heated seats. Best bet of course is a yard specializing in Volvos, but those yards know list prices and charge accordingly. Used ones are just as likely dead as alive unless the car has been in such a warm area that the heater was rarely used. It's difficult to perform a quick test at the yard unless you pick a real chilly day -even bringing a can of cold spray doesn't work well on these large relays in that plastic case. Some yards are fairly reluctant to give refunds/exchanges on electricals, especially if you've had them a few weeks.

I don't know which part of the circuitry tends to act up -I'm guessing the thermostat opens up at the slightest bit of internal heat. It would be nice if there was a repair for these things so if anyone has sorted it out please post what information you have. Perhaps someone nearby could donate one to Don Foster. The challenge alone will be enough to get him working on it.
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Dave -not to be confused with a real expert, just goofing around at this

-I have a used relay marked LEATHER, Volvo p/n 1363999 that I could easily part with. Is that what you need? I have to test it first.

Suggest that you take the plastic cover off yours first and see if the contacts are burned. If so,
clean them up with very fine emery cloth or similar.Test the coil to see if it is still good. You may not need a new one at all.

Try calling these guys on the phone (toll free):

http://www.swedishengineering.com/

Go to:

http://www.fcpgroton.com or

http://www.newandusedvolvoparts.com and click new parts.

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Erwin in Memphis, '88 745t 190,000 miles, '95 855t 92,000 miles