Removing Front Seat

[GrahamS4]

Well I searched of course.

Then I looked at the AW tech articles.

All I could find is:

From: "Keleigh Hardie"
Subject: Re: Removing the drivers seat. 97 A4Q
To:
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 21:52:10 -0700

Run the seat all the way forward and remove the plastic trim bits at the aft end of the tracks. Now, run the seat all the way back, and remove the plastic trim bits covering the bolts that hold down the front (careful with these, they break if you take 'em off wrong). Remove the two bolts holding down the front and lift the front and disconnect the wiring. Slid the seat backwards out of the track, and try and get it out of the car without sliming your carpeting or gouging your console. Good Luck!

Keleigh!
88 80Q

PS. I was assuming you have power seats. I they are manual, the instructions are the same except the front has only a small metal clip limiting rearward movement. Squeeze and remove...

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Mine are manual - all I need to do is refit a spring that has come off the height adjust lever mechansim on the passenger seat. Sadly with the tension required and space it seems impossible without elevating the seat higher than it goes or removing it.

Can anyone expand on those instructions, I'm not quite with them, especially the clip it speaks of at the front?

I'm sure someone can help, I found plenty of interior swap threads here, just no instructions.

Thanks.

[GrahamS4]

Oh, for those that have done this, is there any procedure for disconnecting the connectgions on the bottom of the seat? I don't want to throw any fault codes up because I disconnected the airbag or something.

TIA.

Pesky spring.

[jfeb]

Graham. I have just replaced the seats in my car. It is actually pretty easy.
1. Remove the squeeze clip from the front of the seat on the central runner. It squeezes together and just pushes out by hand


2. Unscrew the peice of plastic trin that keeps the carpet tidy at the rear of both runners - it can be hard to spot the screws (one on each piece of trim) if the light is bad!

Inside piece already removed (sorry, no photo of it attached, but to get to the screw you lift off a plastic cap from the top of the plastic fitting with a small screwdriver)


Outside piece

3. Lift the seat up at the front - I wedged it up with a screwdriver so I has space to get to the electrical connections

4. I used a small flathead screwdriver to prise open the electrical connections (I had 2 but there is a third for the heating function I think). They are pretty robust


5. Cut the zip tie that holds the cable to the bottom of the seat, keeping it tidy and out of the way. You can just make out the white, plastic seat the cable is attached to. I have already removed it in this photo


6. There is now nothing attaching the seat to the car so push the seat all the way to the rear and lift if out of the runners. I found I had to angle the seat a bit and take out first one side then the other. There wasn't a trick to it but it did take a few goes.

When I refitted my new seats I had to clear an airbag error code on the passenger seat using Vagcom. I am not sure if this could have been avoided if I had unplugged/plugged the cables in a different order. Disconnecting the battery before starting might avoid this problem. Otherwise just use vagcom to clear the error codes when you have finished.

PM me if you have any specific questions.

[GrahamS4]

Fantastic. I was about to post that I thought I had it clear, having looked at the instructions, then at teh car again. Your photos have made it absolutley clear, exactly how I like it, thanks.

I only need to lift the seat a little more to get this pesky spring back on.

Step 3. - you say lift the seat to access the connections. How does releasing the front squeeze clip allow the seat to be lifted?? I thought it just stopped it sliding out? Anyway if it does that is probably the extra access I need and I won't have to disconnect the cables.

I read on AW that someone disconnected the battery and the seat an still got a air bag error!

I don't have a vagcom (yet - any going used??) and having an error light would be more annoying than a seat handle that doesn't return on it's own.

Thanks.

[jfeb]

The purpose of the squeeze clip at the front is to stop the seat slipping to far back. WIth the squeeze clip in place you can't actually get the seat to the back of the runners. It also hold the front of the seat down. You might find that if you take out the squeeze clip (I wonder what it is REALLY called?) you can push the seat back a bit, the middle runner (that manages forward/aft seat position) will disengage and you will be able to raise the front of the seat about 4 inches, even with all the electricals attached. That might give you enough room to replace your spring.

Re Vagcom, I would have thought someone lives near enough to you to help you out. I live in West London but work near Reading if that helps.

[jfeb]

By the way, larger versions of the photos I took are here:

http://james9205.fotopic.net/c1041048.html

[GrahamS4]

Top stuff jfeb - that sounds exactly whay I need to do. No point removing whole seat for this job I don't think.

Much appreciated. I'll be giving it a whirl tonight.

Graham

PS. On another car I struggled to fit boot hinge springs and although on a diffent scale, the relativly small spring on the seat still has an amazing amount of tension.

Is there a method to fitting springs other than brute force? I wondered about expanding and packing with a few small wedges or something?

[buzzard]

useful thread lads thanks.
anyone know about do's and dont's cus of air bag dettination
i am presuming -- ignition off--
would be interested to here

[jfeb]

I just had the ignition off, although I was a bit wary of the airbag going off in my face! In the end there were no problems on either of the two front seats I fitted (apart from clearly a fault code on Vagcom for the passenger seat airbag)

I did think about disconnecting the battery but thought that would just cause other problems (even if only resetting radio security codes etc).

[GrahamS4]

Spring re-fitted.

Those seats are more like quick release! Two plastic stops held in by a total of two screws and a squeazy clip thing!

I had to remove the two end stops to clear the front runner back enough to lift up, but once free I could pull the seat forward so I could work without the rear popping out of the runners or disconnecting the airbags cable.

Another nice fix completed only with the help of the forum. Keep it coming guys!

[jfeb]

Good to hear it worked out. Thanks for the update.

[AdamS4]

Ohhhh handy find.... I need to sort my heated seat out... Might need this to remove the seat

[jb7_uk]

Brucey Bonus!

I got the dreaded 'Air bag warning light of doom' on at the moment but am 99.9% sure it is just down to dodgy connection under the drivers seat... if i clear it, then it stays away... until i move the seat then it's straight back on again.

Top instructions, cheers guys

[Blue_Thunder]

Excellent write up. Worthy of going on the (much underused) 'How To' sticky.

I'll put it on there now.

[jfeb]

For my part in it, thanks.