I have already done some work on these seats to firm them up, and now I need to find out how to make the seatback straight. Seems like the right side of the seatback is slightly farther back than the left. All the power adjustments work fine. Before I do experimental surgery, has anyone fixed this without replacing the seat?

__________________
1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

2 things may be going on.

1 - left side and right side may have become un-timed. I can't imagine how this could happen unless the seat was taken apart.

2 - transverse drive rod has become bent. would happen with time, or if you lay back in the seat while having it incline the back.

Both ways require taking the seat apart. I had to do this for my 88 560SEL when the passengers transverse rod sheared and the inboard side wouldn't move while the outboard side would move as commanded. Having it out of the car is easier.

The first picture shows the passenger seat with the back removed.

The second seat shows the outboard (motorized) side of the seat with the nylon (I think) gear.

The third pic shows the inboard picture. You can see how my drive rod (hollow tube crushed to a square profile at the ends) sheared.

What I wound up doing was taking the seat back off from the base and then unstretching the leather from the back (this will make sense when you're taking it apart) Now you will have to work at splaying the base of the backrest so that the rod will come out. Now you can really inspect it for damage. At this point you will want to move both hinges either the fully reclined or inclined extreem. If the bar is okay (no evidence of torquing & the square end profiles are clocked with each other) you can re-install it and reassemble the seat. It should now work. If your bar is broken or needs to be replaced, you can use a similar rod from several other models. I know the 123's and 126's share the same seat width and basic engineering behind the ergonomics so you can pull it out of one of those. I salvaged my new transverse rod from a manual 1979 300CD seat I had for parts for my 1978 300CD.

If you get stuck let me know! Good Luck!



Scott

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Thanks for the good info and pics!

If the assembly gets un-timed, is it just a matter of moving the gear around to get it in sync?

How much additional disassembly is involved to replace the transverse rod?

__________________
1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

Did same on my 350SDL .. big fellow sat in it and twisted it I think ... bent the rod ... took apart and rebent ... seems OK ...

Was a real pain in splaying and getting rod in and out, if I recall.

__________________
George Stephenson
1991 350 SDL (200K and she ain't bent, yet)
former 2002 E320 4Matic Wagon - good car
former 1985 300 CD - great car
former 1981 300 TD - good car
former 1972 280 SEL - not so good car
a couple of those diesel Rabbits ...40-45 mpg

Yes, however I beleive a fully reclined position is the easier to streatch the hinges that extra inch and a half to slip the rod back in. Also, moving both hinges to the stop point should time them up properly.



The easiest way is to:
1 - Remove seat from car (4 bolts under than slide rails + 1 bolt for seatbelt)
2 - Remove back panel from backrest (handful of screws along bottom)
3 - Remove backrest from seat (3 bolts per side I believe
4 - Unstretch leather by unfastening plastic anchors from the metal frame
5 - Twist hinges to inclined (backrest laying down position) extreem (I could be wrong, it could be the other extreem. Its been 7 months since I did this)
6 - Brute force them apart far enough to remove the transverse rod (the jack and a couple of pieces of wood may work for this)
7 - Inspect transverse rod
-make sure no spiral stretch marks
-make sure the square ends align.
8 - Assembly is reverse of dissassembly (sorry had to )

Good Luck! Let us know how it turns out!



Scott

Does this same repair apply to my 94 E320 driver's s eat? Thx.

__________________
85 300CD Signal Red/Tan sold
83 300D Manganese Brown 109K
97 E420 Midnight Blue 197K sold
98 BMW 328i Vert White 100K, sold
95 BMW 525i White 125K, sold
93 BMW 525iT Red 193K, sold
95 E320 Green Wagon 125K, sold
94 E320 White 127K, sold
85 300SD 156K Grey (Annie), sold
84 300D Lapis Blue 170K (Judy), sold
99 ML 320 Black (lease), 1998 C230 White (lease)
00 Honda S2000 Red (lease)
86 Mercedes 300E (sold)
84 Porsche 911 Red (sold), 1965 Porsche 911 White (sold)

A seat in most any car can "twist" like this if someone very heavy gets in the seat, especially if they "flop" in and then wiggle around in the seat.

I have a cousin that lives out of town that was visiting last summer. He is a big guy (about 6'2 and 300 lbs - if I was guessing) and he plopped down in the seat of my dads car and popped something in the seat and it was all leaning back and was making odd noises. My dad had to take it apart and repair it. That is one reason I keep ALL of my cars locked when they arrive. I do not want anyone damaging my seats.

I know a lady at work that has a daughter that weighs 600 lbs. She drives her car (92' Buick) sometimes and the seat is severely warped. I am not saying this to be mean or making fun, as I am very fond of that lady, but its true. Seats are designed to take only so much weight & pressure.

I used to have an 84' Accord years ago and its seat was also twisted to the back on one side. It was rather annoying.

If the tilt isn't too bad you can put spacers between the floor and one of the rear mounting brackets, to twist the seat and seatback into shape. Make sure you have long enough bolts to make up for the thickness of the spacers.

__________________
1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

My driver's seat was tilted when I bought it and has become more severe. I guess I should take it out and look for the bent rod people are tallking about.

__________________
85 300CD Signal Red/Tan sold
83 300D Manganese Brown 109K
97 E420 Midnight Blue 197K sold
98 BMW 328i Vert White 100K, sold
95 BMW 525i White 125K, sold
93 BMW 525iT Red 193K, sold
95 E320 Green Wagon 125K, sold
94 E320 White 127K, sold
85 300SD 156K Grey (Annie), sold
84 300D Lapis Blue 170K (Judy), sold
99 ML 320 Black (lease), 1998 C230 White (lease)
00 Honda S2000 Red (lease)
86 Mercedes 300E (sold)
84 Porsche 911 Red (sold), 1965 Porsche 911 White (sold)