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How do I reinstall the plastic seat belt adjuster in my 2004?
How do I reinstall the plastic seat belt adjuster in my 2004?
Pain in the ***, fell off and have been screwing around with it for an hour with no luck. Does not appear broken and all parts appear to be intact. Just fell off in my passengers hand and can't seem to get it back in place.
That was a nightmare... I took the cover off mine when I needed to remove the A, and consequently B pillar cover, to do the transmitter range TSB (hint, you don't actually need to remove anything on B pillar after the coat hook is off and the then exposed B-pillar upper screws removed only... after that you can just pull inward on the B pillar trim and it levers far enough away from the top attachment point so you can get the A pillar trim off, word to the wise!).
I got the trim to go back on after several tries and long effort because I was not careful. There are thin bendable metal tabs that can get squashed if you force it so be super careful (probably why it is never to be separated in the first place). If I had known at the time I could wedge off the entire assembly I would have done that at the time.
My recommendation is to remove the height adjuster assembly and try to carefully get the cover on while it's in your hand and you can see it in good light. If that fails, sounds like you need to buy the whole assembly... if you have to go that route tell us what the damage is.
I just went back to see my E-bay 996 DVD manual for how I could have missed that warning seen clearly in Loren's post in Rennlist link above... turns out my version of steps does not match Loren's version... mine actually states to remove the sash cover guide first and then pry out the retaining bracket... wth! Damn e-bay out of date fsm's!
Get what you pay for I guess... at least I feel better since I did follow the directions I had...
that one is a pita. it took me a few hours to get that in.
the "button" needs to be pulled to the top. align the side clips and start pressing away. good luck
I have a 997.2, but the seat belt plastic cover should be similar. You will need to remove the remaining parts off and re-assemble all parts. Just like doing some Lego parts.
Last edited by estorilblue; 03-04-2014 at 04:43 PM.
I knocked my cover ajar somehow, pulled it the rest of the way off thinking it would be fairly easy to reinstall. Not so! Struggled with it for 10 minutes or so then decided to look for answers on rennlist and renntech.
Looks like the manual says that (paraphrasing) 'if the cover comes off, replace the entire adjuster'. Others suggest that if you pry off the adjuster, you can re-attach the cover, so I'll give that a try...
Reposting the info here so it's in one place:
If you do end up replacing the entire adjuster, looks like the current part number is 997-803-521-00 with different suffixes for different color covers. About $73.
Removal
As of MY2000 - Press seat belt height adjuster release 8 out of the hexagon head bolt 5 using a screwdriver.
Install
Insert peg of the seat beat height adjuster release 8 into the hexagon-head bolt bore 5.
Note: The seat belt height adjuster release must not be separated. If the cover of the retaining frame loosens when removing, the seat belt height adjuster release 8 must always be replaced.
Another thread gives this advice, originally posted by 'upnorth'...
This is to help all those who have removed the seat belt adjuster the wrong way (I did it too, that’s how I know) and couldn’t get the cover back on.
Remove the piece that is still attached to the seat belt adjusting mechanism. You do this by levering it off. It is clipped in place with a centering pin into the seat belt fixing bolt. It makes a strange noise but it will come off. I used a proprietry trim removing tool, but a large screwdriver should work.
You then have a metal piece C, a plastic piece A. You will also have the cover D, that you took off before, with the metal clip B in it .
Remove B from D
Insert C into D
Refit B into D (this will hold part C in place)
Lastly clip in item A
You now have the whole item in one piece, which can be refitted to the car.
Just fixed my slider, can confirm that the above instructions work perfectly! Took less time to fix it than to write these two posts once you know how to do it...
Insert C into D
Refit B into D (this will hold item C in place)
Lastly clip in item A
[Then clip the entire assembly back onto the seat belt slider]