Passenger seat wont move!!!

[edwardabud86]

Hi all,
I had the car washed inside and out today, and they moved the seat forward to hoover behind it. And when i went to move it back to its original postion it something broke!!!
And now the little leaver moves but the chair doesn't!
Has anyone experienced this problem and is it an easy fix??
Kind Regards

Ed

[Aidi]

Had it with mine a few weeks back.

When you pull the lever to make it move, it pushes down on a small plunger in the sliding rail, which allows the seat to move.

The plunger had somehow become stuck on mine, so it was a case of getting a large flathead screwdriver in there and wiggling around until the plunger spring back into position.

Would have been a great deal easier if the seat had been removed, but it wasnt an option for me at the time. If you can remove the seat (very easy to do) it will make it much easier to figure out what is not working correctly.

It could also be that the bit of metal which pushes down on the plunger had become mis shaped and not making contact, or the cable has stretched or become detached.

Rgds
Aidi

[edwardabud86]

oh ok, Cheers Aidi. I shall have a look tomorrow. Or perhaps i'll leave it a couple of days so i can enjoy watching the mrs with her knees up on the dash! haha

[marktaylor]

i put money on the cable just coming loose from its housing

pump the height of the seat up and then you will able to see what i mean

[jimmyred]

The lever at front pulls a cable similar to the brake cable on a bicycle. This is anchored at other end on a spring loaded axle that has levers that wedge on the track, holding seat in place. When you pull handle, the cable pulls and twists axle, lifting levers allowing seat to move. Have a look in rear footwell at working mechanism on other seat.
As Mark Taylor says, the little noggin that attaches cable to axle has probably popped out. It should just slot back in. However, mine had snapped off the end of the cable. If this is the case a new cable is less than a tenner. I thought it would be fiddly to fit, so I came up with a jury rig fix:
Using the 2 part resin ''super putty'' you can get from DIY shops, I rolled a pea size piece. I then squidged it onto the end of the wire, working it in well. I then shaped it with my fingers into a teardrop shape. When this dried it worked perfectly to attach cable to mechanism.
In the mean time you can operate mechanism by hand by reaching under seat from rear footwell.