Help: Carrera seat rails don't line up

[Dauner]

Hi,

Car is a 1989 Carrera 3.2 targa with 212K miles. Removed drivers seat to clean underneath. Pretty nasty. Left rear bolt was extremely tight. PB Blaster wouldn't help. Decided to just drill cap screw head off and all was well.

Immediately upon setting seat on garage floor, i noticed that the rails were not coplanar. If i pushed right side of seat down so right rail sits flat on floor, the left rail makes contact at the front, but is raised off of floor at the rear. Did some quick searching on Pelican and read how rails and mating surfaces are not all flat, so i figured it would just go back in fine.

When went to reinstall, the seat sits kitty wompass in the car just like it did on the floor. Bummer. I can't believe i didn't notice it when i was removing, but assume it must have been the same. I didn't put power to anything, or turn or adjust anything after removal. Just cleaned up a bit.

So, question is, is there a procedure to manually raise just the left rear seat (which would lower the rail)? Are the motors and seat height adjustment independant of each other left and right, so all i have to do is put power back and hit the up button on seat rear? How would it have changed?

Three more facts. It actually does look like there is less gap on left rear vs right rear between rail and seat. I have also always felt like since i owned the car, the drivers seat tips slightly to the left. Now maybe i know why. There is a possibility that these are not the original seats. When i bought the car, one of the former mechanics commented on how the person i was buying it from put in such nice seats. I wasn't sure if that meant covers, or entire new seats?

Pics below.

Thanks for any thoughts or help!

Mark

[cabmandone]

I had the same problem a week ago. Somehow, the power seat transmission (for lack of a better word) on one side of the seat was higher than on the other which caused the seat brackets to sit at an angle when placed on the floor or on the seat mounts.

I removed the cable from the motor on the side that was up. There was a flat head slot on the bottom of the transmission that I then turned to lower the side that was off.

[Dauner]

What process did you follow to get things aligned before bolting down?

Thanks!

Mark

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by Dauner

What process did you follow to get things aligned before bolting down?

Thanks!

Mark

Sorry! I edited my post while you were typing yours. I don't know if my method is the right one or even the easiest but it worked for me.

I guess the other thing you could do is unhook the low side and then lower the high side with the motor.

[$ Short]

Does the seat sit flush with you sitting in it?
I seem to remember mine doing the same.

[Dauner]

When I sit in it, I can rock. Something's not correct.

I put power to it and and raised and lowered rear all the way. Doesn't align in any scenario. I'm going to pull seat again and flip over to have a closer look at adjustment options.

Thanks for the questions.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by Dauner

When I sit in it, I can rock. Something's not correct.

I put power to it and and raised and lowered rear all the way. Doesn't align in any scenario. I'm going to pull seat again and flip over to have a closer look at adjustment options.

Thanks for the questions.

You can unhook the motor and manually turn both sides to the full up or down position then reconnect the motor. IIRC, there were adjusters inside the transmissions that are visible from the bottom side. I think you still have to unhook the drive shaft from the motor or transmission to raise or lower manually but I could be wrong about that.

Putting power to it won't fix it as the transmissions are out of adjustment with each other.

[Dauner]

So, everyone was right. I measured the location of the depth down to the threaded portion of the mechanism on all four corners. Three of the corners were 1.57" and the corner i was having the problem with was only 0.77". See pic for explanation. There is a clip that holds the cable in the transmission. The cable is identical to an old speedometer cable. Square flexi cable inside a jacket. With the clip removed, you can pull the cable out. You have to pull kind of hard to get it clear. Once out, i used my smallest crescent wrench to turn the cable, which in turn "raised" the seat. It bottomed out at around the same 1.57". Installed in car and everything was perfect. I have no idea how it could have gotten this way? Possibly a former owner wanted the angle for some reason? Pics below. The Waste Management garbage container worked perfectly as a work table... Thanks for all of the responses and help!

Mark

[kodioneill]

When went to reinstall, the seat sits kitty wompass in the car just like it did on the floor. Bummer. I can't believe i didn't notice it when i was removing, but assume it must have been the same. I didn't put power to anything, or turn or adjust anything after removal. Just cleaned up a bit.

Just exactly, what is kitty wompass????

[86 911 Targa]

Originally Posted by Dauner

So, everyone was right. I measured the location of the depth down to the threaded portion of the mechanism on all four corners. Three of the corners were 1.57" and the corner i was having the problem with was only 0.77". See pic for explanation. There is a clip that holds the cable in the transmission. The cable is identical to an old speedometer cable. Square flexi cable inside a jacket. With the clip removed, you can pull the cable out. You have to pull kind of hard to get it clear. Once out, i used my smallest crescent wrench to turn the cable, which in turn "raised" the seat. It bottomed out at around the same 1.57". Installed in car and everything was perfect. I have no idea how it could have gotten this way? Possibly a former owner wanted the angle for some reason? Pics below. The Waste Management garbage container worked perfectly as a work table... Thanks for all of the responses and help!

Mark

Don't forget the Anti Seize on the bolts.......

Gerry

[Dauner]

Thanks Gerry... Yep, i didn't think to put some anti seize on the capscrew threads. Will do that this week.

Urban Dictionary: kittywampus


Sorry for the typo. Apparently kittywampus, alternative to kattywampus, is a regional thing. I grew up in Madison, WI...

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by kodioneill

Just exactly, what is kitty wompass????

See also "jacked up, screwed up or tweaked (not twerked that's a whole nother thing)

[nineball]

be very careful with those square-ended cables. if they fray you have to replace them, and if i recall correctly they are like $75 each.