95carrera

So I have owned my 993 one week. I have been trying to sort out a few things. Replaced the light bulbs this weekend and washed it, etc. It has the common power seat failure where the driver's seat is locked up or bound in the farthest back position. I read about the switch and how to advance the cables with a power drill. So I thought I would investigate tonight. My 95' has no allen head for manual advancement like i have seen posted in other's photos on here. I inspected the cables and they both looked good. So I hooked up the drill to move it up. Moved a little one way and then I reversed to move it back, basically trying to wiggle the seat loose. What I couldn't do using my body as many have suggested on this board. When I went to reverse the drill to move it back, I hit it too hard or for too long and it basically unwound the square steel drive cable. It is destroyed. I had no idea it could do that. I guess I didn't read far enough on this subject because I certainly would have been more careful.

I was going to leave the seat alone because it was fine for me but my wife wanted the opportunity to drive it so I thought I would try a little DIY and fix it for her (us) but it was a huge fail and now I have to price a new drive cable that was perfectly fine before I got a hold of it. I will add this list of self-inflicted damage that I have done to my car in the last seven days. I think I should stop when I am ahead.

eddie_993

Just hang in there. I'm also still sorting things after almost 3 months from my purchase.

Stuff happens, better that you learned on this instead of something more expensive!

CalvinC4S

I fixed dozens of these with out fail. Put someone on the switch forward, then get back there and violently rock it forward from the base with both feet. 5 minute fix every time.

Neil Perry

Hi
I had a similar problem with my seats and found that the seat rails were bent.
I destroyed two of the flexible cables before I discovered the problem.

I had to remove the seat and check that the runners moved freely, in my case they did not and I purchased secondhand seat rails.
Then replaced the flexible drive cables again.

The rails should run freely on the seat.

I am not saying this is your problem but is worth looking at, to save destroying any more drive cables.

Good Luck

95carrera

Thanks, I called Sunset and they have the part for $53. I was expecting double that.

I did get the one side to move but the right is still jammed. I have read about bent rails and coins being lodged in rails too. I think my real problem could be a bound seat and/or a bad switch. The switch makes a clunking sound in the rear position only, of course the seat is all the way back, maybe that's why. I really wish this thing had simple manual seats.

mike cap

95,

Be patient, you'll figure it out. Debug and learning curve is twelve months on a 993. Be happy, on a used airplane it's about five years....

si2t3m

Here is what I did:

I made a cheap tool with a cheap phillips screw driver. It needs to be big and long enough to reach where the drive cable get to the mecanism under the seat on the stuck side.

Grind / file the "phillips star" down so that it will look like a square making it the size of the end of the cable.

Now enter your new tool where the drive cable was on the stuck track side turn to bring it forward.

lopro

the tital of this thread is pure win.

Cemoto

The brass/copper internals of the seat switches get tarnished and do not energize well, especially if not used often. This may well have been your initial problem and not the cable at all.

Search for a DIY on seat switch repair. They are easy to do, but MAKE SURE you disassemble the switch over a cardboard box in case the spring and or ball decide to take a trip on their own.

BTW, if I was to buy a cab, your color combo would be one of my top choices.

Regards,

.

MarkD

A little more info...

the L/R drive mechanisms under the seat can be rotated with a crow's foot, ratchet and extension.
There is a nut landing near where the cable connects.
Remove the cable first, of course.

That will unstick the stickiest of them

assuming the seat rails are in good condition, as mentioned by Neil above

Garth S

If one cable has been 'buggered' .... there is a good chance that the drive gears for the two tracks are not in sync - ie., both in a line perpendicular to the mounting rails.
If not in sync, the seat will always bind or drag in a fore/aft motion. Pull the seat out & flip upside down to set the gears equally ..

If rails are bent a bit, surprising how well they bend if a piece of 1/4" steel plate is held against them so that it spreads the love tap from a 2# ball pein hammer.

It may only be my imagination, but I've found that if the seat must be moved forward from a (near) max rearward position, it always works better if the rear of the seat is raised ~1/2" first BEFORE hitting the forward switch.

95carrera

So I pulled my passenger seat to clean one of the switches. Passenger seat is semi power, up down, two seperate switches. I got the seat out without any problems. Once you cut the zip ties holding the wires together you can pull the switch from the housing far enough out that you can disassemble and clean with out unplugging switch from motors. Seat would be laying in its side at this time. I used a towel to catch the tiny ball bearings. I sprayed contact cleaner into switch and scraped the contact points, I did not pull the brass contacts out because it looked difficult to seat them back in. I guess I should have tried harder because after it was all back together it only goes up, not down. So I fixed 1/2 of switch. If I pull the seat again I think I would just spend the money for a new switch. You really have to ask yourself if its worth a $100+ so that your passenger can lift the rear of the seat. Not sure it is frankly.

Glad I pulled the seat, I learned a little more about the car. Now I need to decide if i want go fool with drivers seat or just take it in to shop and write the check.

95carrera

I decide to work on driver's side and glad I did because I got it working. Almost gave up, mashed the switch real hard and I heard it move. When I heard the motor turn I put the new $53 cable I just received from Sunset in and now it is all working. I expect they may stick again but now I know what to do and not do on these seats. To unbind the drivers seat i found a square bit in one of my screwdriver sets and saw that it was an exact fit after matching it up to my new cable. Took the square bit and advanced the seat p an even amount of turns on both sides. Then connected the drive cables. All working now. If these continue to be a problem I think I will replace with new switches. Will try to upload some photos later.

Rinty

Well done.

You can also move the seat rails back one bolt hole, so that the seat doesn't have to be full aft all the time; that's where it tends to stick.

Bn7