Help! S2 Driver's seat jammed

[gbleenz]

I've returned home and got my car back from my stepmother, which is great. However, since I've been away the driver's seat has become jammed, and won't tilt forward to allow access to the back seats.

I've got a RHD model, and had a look to see if I can find the problem, but to no avail. Of the two latches holding the seat back in place, the one closest to the center console is the problem.

I really don't want to have to pull the entire seat out - but that may be the way things go.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

George

[Skull]

Probably the wire broke up. pita.

[stiglet]

Seats aren't hard to take out. Takes about 2 mins. One nut/bolt on the front runner, slide back and out.

[gbleenz]

Looks like it's coming out anyway!

Sorry for the slow reply

I've just bought an alpine v12 amp, which I'm going to try to shoehorn under the seat... A perfect opportunity for me to have a look around

I'll let you know how it goes

[gbleenz]

Well, for the first time I've had a good look into what is causing this seat to jam.

There are two hooks at the back of the seat. When the handle on the side of the seat is lifted, these two hooks are pulled upwards by means of two cables, one running to each hook.

Now, for some reason, one of these cables has become loose, preventing one of the hooks from lifting completely. Just like pita suggested The new problem is getting into the seat to find out why this has become loose.

I've tried undoing the two screws at the base on the rear of the seat, but it feels like the whole cover is all connected. How do I go about this?

George

=== EDIT ===

Problem solved. Here's what I found:

I know that steel cables are not supposed to stretch, but this one was longer than it should have been.

Getting into the seat is relatively easy once you know what you're doing. Check the photos out for a better understanding. The leather upholstery is clipped onto the hard back panel by small metal clips which fit into a groove down each side of the panel. I pried these (carefully!) out with a flat head screwdriver. Also, don't forget to undo the two philips screws at the base of the hard panel.

Anyway, upon getting into the seat, it appeared that the crimps on the end were fine, nothing had slipped. I puzzled over this for a while, and gave up on the shorten-the-cable idea.

As you will see in the linked photos, the hooks have two 4.5mm holes drilled through them, to which the crimps at the end of the cable loop through.

Solution: Drill one new hole below the original to compensate for the longer cable. Hooked everything back up, and presto! I was flipping that seat back and forward just like before.

Click the photo to visit my MobileMe gallery wth a few more shots of the process:


Oh and 1 more thing - a decent sized amp is definately not going to fit beneath a front seat