Heated seats and emission control system warning?

[Suicidalbadger]

Got this old T5 quite cheap and would like to fix some bits (might be worth keeping) the emission control system warning light?? what does that mean or what needs servicing? and where should I start looking to find out why the heated seats don't work?

Thanks for any help.

Badger

[M-R-P]

What year/model is it mate?

Heated seat elements often go funny but it's good to check the fuses etc.

Emission control warning is most likely a knackered lambda or cat.

Welcome to the forum by the way

[foammanmark]

Welcome to the forum, and I had the emission warning light on intermittently when I had my p2. In my case, it was the rear most exhaust bracket that was broken allowing the rear box to move more than normal.

[Suicidalbadger]

Great, thanks for the replies, message is emission system service and it has sometimes gone off for a while but seems to be on all the time now. Does the diagnostics plug in allow these faults to be identified? as the local village garage has Volvo diagnostics.


I'm debating whether to keep it as the auto box (when driving around town) sometimes has slow down changes or engaging drive resulting in a clonk. Solution seems to be change solenoids and fluid.

I need a tow bar so would be happy to swap it with a V70 2.4 manual or auto of similar vintage 2001 155,000miles

[M-R-P]

Plugging it into the volvo diagnostics (Dice/Vida) will tell you what's going on.

[mikealder]

For the autobox clunk I would also check the top engine mount where it runs back towards the bulkhead for excess play and the lower gearbox torque link bushes where the box is connected by a strut the front of the subframe, excess play in these bushes are easy to fix and do cause the engine/ gearbox to move back and forward when you put it in drive if they are shot.
The Volvo diagnostics will give you a clue about the engine and possibly also the autobox if that has faults logged.

As for the fluid, these boxes use fluid that meets JWS3309 anything else will ruin the box, you don't have to get the fluid from Volvo as there are plenty of alternate suppliers of fluid that meet the JWS3309 specification. Only ever add new fluid via the autobox dipstick, this is the only place you can add fluid, to go from the low mark to the high mark on the autobox dipstick (Hot side) only takes 200mL of fluid so only add a bit at a time when topping up. It is probably worth carrying out a few sump dumps of the transmission oil then see if the issues are still present after a few thousand miles, this is far easier than the B4 servo cover and solenoids.

You don't mention the exact year of the car but it is possible it still has the auto neutral when stopped feature loaded to the transmission control unit, there is a software modification to remove this useless feature which can also reduce the effects of the transmission banging in to drive when you set off from stationary.

Seat heaters, start with fuses 7 & 8 in the fuse panel on the end of the dash although I have known owners to add seats with heaters followed by a climatic control unit with seat heater switches only to be defeated in getting it working because the car needs software programmed in to it to enable the heaters to work, Volvo for some reason seem reluctant to add the required code or will charge a small fortune for it. It is possible to add aftermarket seat heater pads to the seat if you find the elements are dead but everything else is working, I did a write up covering how to do this last year - Mike