I have successfully removed the heating elements from my donor 360 (my original car had no heated seats) and soaked the webbing in boiling water and Napisan.They are now clean and flat again.I have switches in the centre console for turning the heat on and off.

I also have the thermostats that only activate the heat at 15 degrees or below.Can I remove the thermostats so that I can switch them on and off at will?

I don't see why not really. a thermostat is pretty basic so it should be removeable. someone else will either confirm this or throw it out the window though.

without the thermostat i believe the heating element will keep heating up forever until the seat catches fire - could be a problem if you accidentally left the passenger one turned on

Check the wiring diagram / manual between early / late cars.

My 82 has auto driver seat heating. Drove it in the summer and didn't know. Assumed it hadn't as it was a DL. However in winter when I jumped into the car to get some fags, after a couple of minutes I thought I'd crapped myself as my rear was rather unexpectedly toasty

I think later ones are just on the switch with a upper temp thermostat so you don't scorch your arse.

The thermostats do fail as do the switches. The switches are surplus to requirements really, you need the thermostat as a safety item.

My 1980 345DL had them, thought all 340s did.

The 940 ones seems to last better in the seat and I think they might fit, the switches still fail though.

Ride_on wrote:thought all 340s did.

Probably UK ones had them. Where taxes were high, it's less likely. e.g. RoI cars tend to be povvo-spec

15 degrees is a little too safe dont you think?

^^^ ambient temperature.

So the thermo switches the elements off at the ambient temp.When they are refered to as heated seats what they mean is seats that don't freeze or get colder than 15 degrees.I sometimes have a dodgy back and thought that I could loosen myself up on the way to work with the warmth.

Actually, I've looked at the Green Book available here: http://www.volvo300mania.com/forum-uk/v ... =36&t=7261

It shows two conditions:

Ignition ON, heated seat switch ON, and if temp is below 15 deg C = heat.

Ignition ON, heated seat switch ON, and if temp is above 25 deg C = no heat.

Thermostat is in middle of seat base cushion, just under the cloth cover. Earlier cars do not have heated seat switches. Operation is automatic.