josephsc

I have an 8-way power seat that I am trying to repair. The problem is that I can't get the seat to move forward because something is broken -- and it's not the switch. The seat is in all the way back position, making the rear bolts on the rails unaccessible -- so I can't remove it to repair it.

The problem appears mechanical -- if I remove the right-side cable at the front seat motor, then the left-side rail will move just fine (ruling out motor and switch as the culprit). If I put the right-side cable back in, the motor just "sticks". I've also tried twisting the cable by hand, that it seems jammed. Is there another way I can move the right-side rail manually? Or another way to get to the bolts, that doesn't involve cutting?

944_S_TYPE

Not sure if it helps BUT, I have had to resolder my switches 2 times. you may want to double check them. also, I looked in the shop manual, all it covered was the removal of the seats/ repair of the "heated seats"

Laust Pedersen

You could fabricate some wood that push on the rails and use the OEM scissor jack to do the actual pushing from behind.
I did something similar when installing new seats, until I realized the importance of having well-aligned rails.

AZS2

I don't know if this helps if the seat is mechanically bound up. But... There should be a 6mm allen key at the very front of your seat. It is throught a hole in the black plastic piece on the lower front of the seat. You can put a 6mm allen socket in there and drive it with an electric drill this will manually move your seat front and back. You don't need the screwdriver but it will save you alot of time.

If it is mechanical, feel around under there. You will find to long screw actuators on each side that run the length of the seat. Maybe you got something jammed in one of them. Maybe you have something jammed in the rail itself.

Another idea, if you can get the other rail moved to expose the 2 nuts on the one side, you could remove them and maybe free up the seat enough to get better access to the problem rail.

Otherwise, I don't think there is any way to get the seat out without destroying something. If you end up butchering the lower seat rails, I might have the pieces you will need. I just got done doing some work on my seats and I have 2 seats that are good for parts.

josephsc

Thanks for the suggestions -- I tried the 6mm hex already (forgot to mention). Something is definitely wrong at one of the rails underneath. As soon as it's done raining, I'll have to give another go at it. Wish me luck!

Jfrahm

I had this problem on my parts car. The gears were stripped so I could not use the manual socket or the electric motors to move the seat. Since I could not move the seat to expose the seat bolts I could not pull the seat.

I had to pull the cables out of the gear assembly and chuck them into a drill to move the seat. There is one cable for each track. I used two drills, one set on reverse so I could move the seat without having to switch the drill from one cable to another 50 times. If you try to move only one cable at a time, the seat twists and jams up.

If you take the cover off the motor assembly you can see how to get at these cables.

-Joel.

josephsc

Thanks -- I know the cables pretty but never thought of putting it on a drill! I'll try it!

ckathens

I had a similar situation on my (dead) 968. I figured out eventually there was something stuck in one of the rails. Check the rails themselves -- mine had a dime which had been almost cut in half by the rail!! The 4-way power switch (passenger side) was also out so once I got the thing out of the rail, I took out the seats and replaced that.

AZS2

Yeah, I bet you got something jammed in the rail or the screw. Thats about all that can go wrong mechanically.