rixter

ok.. I'm trying to remove the seats from the weissach, really good condition seats
I got lucky with the passenger seat (shown) the one bolt I couldn't reach wasn't even there.. problem is the driver seat, back inside bolt is not accesible the seat is too far back and I need to get it out.. car electronics are shot, and even if they were good I think the motors and gears are shot
I keep hearing there is an adjuster to manually crank them fore and aft.. can someone please tell me where this is located.. I inlcuded a pic of the bottom of the pass seat for reference.. for the life of me I can't figure this out

thanks

sublimate

Isn't that thing near the lower left of your bottom pic a lever you use to disengage the motor so you can slide the seat manually? I don't think you crank it, just use the lever and the slide it with your butt power. I think you push the lever towards the outboard side of the seat.

rixter

I tried that.. it either doesn't disengage the mechanism or my skinny **** ain't strong enough to move the stubborn/stuck seat

sublimate

Well, on the later model seats where the motor is up near the front you just pull off the flexi shafts and crank them to move the seats. I can post a pic from my recent seat removal if you'd like, but I don't think it'll help. On your seat it looks like the motor drives the gears directly - I don't see any flexi shafts.

ColinB

Rixter
The manual cranking mechanism you've heard of is fitted on later seats. It's operated with a 6mm allen key on a gearbox which drives both rail screws via flexible shafts. Your seats don't have that system but maybe the 6mm allen socket is there elsewhere. On the motor shafts perhaps? Somebody with an OB must know the answer to this one. There is a seat-stuck-all-the-way-back- scenario on Nichols.

Colin 89GT Euro RHD

jpitman2

You squeeze the lever left towards the side rails as seen in the picture - this disengages the gears from the rack on the rails, and you can either butt power move it, or you rotate the shaft seen peeking out on the right behind the right hand motor. I have this on my 83, so it didnt come in real late...no sign of an allen key fitting to turn anything though. To get at the rear bolts, you raise the seat electrically, dont need to slide it forward , just raise the rear. If you can apply +12V to the the connector underneath directly you may be able to trigger it into moving...if you know which pins to hit - suck it and see?
jp 83 Euro S AT 49k, BTDT

rixter

JP... tell me where to appy power (I hate electrical).. I have more detailed pics if I need to post.
this is driving me nuts..

Don Carter

I have this same issue with my 81 euro. Is there a way to tilt the seat back forward manually? My driver's seat back is reclined way back and I need to move it forward in preparation for the day when I get the engine fired up. (making progress on that, new injectors are installed, just need spark now)

jpitman2

Not having checked wiring diagrams, I would be tempted as follows:- Separate the chassis connector from the seat connector; connect a meter to ground on same site, and then check resistance on the seat connector pins; When you find 0 ohms, that should be an earth; when you find a low but distinct resistance, that should be a load like a motor with luck. If all show up as 0 or dead short, try testing while holding the UP switch in the up direction - this should only show a circuit on the correct pin. With an external supply of +12V (ie not from car battery preferably), I would connect -ve to a seat rail or ground, and then carefully and tentatively apply +12V to the pin in the seat connector that showed a low resistance, and if you get some motor noise, see which way it goes....you need either forwards or upwards to get access to rear bolts. Seat motor failures are rare as I understand it, its mostly switches that fail. I will see if I can make some sense out of the circuit diags and come back.
HTH
jp 83 Euro S AT 49k

jpitman2

Looked at wiring diags - 82 US model. Power to seats comes from fuse 14, connector l2, red-yellow, via two connector, comes out as red/white to all switches on pin 3. Ground on switch is pin 4- brown. all switches feed power/ ground to motors on pins 1 and 2. If you can get +12 to the red/white ingoing line, and find no short there, try the fwd or up switches. If this fails, try removing the switch completely, and applying +12 to pin 1, ground to 2 (of the switch harness - I think the rear of the switch will be marked, or the plug); reverse if this goes wrong direction.
hth
jp

Andrew Schauer

Rixter-
The lever that Victor has pointed out will release the front-to-rear sliding mechanism. Mine was also jammed tight due to the motors being bound up, but if you can rap on it with a hammer, it will probably pop loose and let the tracks slide. You might want to lube the slider tracks and release mechanism if you can reach them. Once you get the track slid forward, and even if you can't get the seat to raise, an allen wrench with the "short" side ground off even shorter will allow you to get to the seat bolts. I went through the same process with my seats when I first bought the car, so feel free to PM me if need be.