Joe '87 S4

Tomorrow I'm driving my car from San Francisco to Los Angeles to visit some friends for the weekend. Nice long road trip for the 928! However, last weekend my nephew was in the car and playing around with the passenger side power seat controls (won't let him do that again) . While I was cleaning out the car and preparing for the trip, I noticed the passenger seat is jammed on the left (when facing the windshield) upper side. The top reclines all the way but only comes back up to about 70 - 75 degrees before the left side jams. The right side continues to try to go up toward 90 degrees but the seat starts to "bend". Obviously when I realized there was a problem, I stop it at the highest point before it starts to bend but it's kind of an unfomfortable angle to be seated for 7 hours. I'd like to know if anyone has any tips for unjamming the seat. I can't see why or where it's stuck. Any suggestions? Thanks!

tuk_928

Joe,
I presume there are no easy "repair in place" solutions to this problem with the passenger seat. First step, remove seat....take inside to your bar area (if available) or kitchen table. Place the seat at the workstation upside down so you can gain easy access to the motors and switches. Now, find yourself a 12V (DC) power supply (A/C inverter or even a car battery) that will handle the load (amperage) from the electric seat motors without blowing a fuse. Next, source some some clipleads (try Radio Shack) and prepare to have some fun running those seat motors back and lubricating the worm gearing until all is right with the world.

John Pirtle...where are you? Joe...haven't checked Pirtle's site for you but do seek it out. Seat gurus please fill-in-the rest and let me know if I need to delete my post if it causes more harm than good...


Tim

Weissach

Get a flash light and have a look down there. Sometimes a little piece of carpet will get stuck in the tracks.

BTW. Chances are that it wasn't your nephew's fault. Stuff like this happens to all of us.

Joe '87 S4

Just wanted to post an update. I tried to raise the seat again after stopping halfway to LA and it works fine now. Apparently something was jammed in there and worked itself out. I'll try and take a closer look tomorrow.
BTW - The car performed great on the 900+ mile trip. I guess it just needed an extended drive to "wake up" and shake out the cobwebs. It truly is a car built for long trips.

Bill Ball

Coins commonly jam the mechanism too.

SharkSkin

Interesting thought. I have my seats out, and while moving them around I can hear some change jingling inside. I'm planning to try a little harder to get it out tomorrow, even though it can't possibly harm my early manual seats. I'll count it as a "tip" for all my work...

Ispeed

My passenger seat would blow the fuse every time one direction was pushed. I had a new 4-way switch and assumed the switch was bad, so I took the seat out. What was happening, somebody must have shoved something under the seat and it bent one electrical connector until it was contacting the metal frame of the seat and grounding out. I bent it straight and it was fine, no more blown fuses. Also got a chance to add grease to all the moving parts.
There's NO room to stuff anything under the power seats. And I did find some change and junk down there but not in the way of the seat.

Joe '87 S4

I forgot to add to my post last night that every time I filled it up and checked the gas mileage, it was a steady 21.7 mpg. I was pretty pleased with that. That's with a fully loaded car: two passengers with luggage and the A/C on and cruising at the "speed limit" on I5. I did get a little concerned coming over the grapevine when the tip of the temp. needle went over the top white line. Is this normal? I would think so considering the load it was under going up the mountain but I kept one eye on the gauge and just when I was about to shut the A/C off, the needle starting to come down. I'll ask DEVEK about it the next time I take it in for service.