Front passenger seat stuck in reclined position :(

[Dave M]

Little road trip to Minneapolis resulted in my friend in a passenger/permanent reclined position (reclined to almost touching the back seat). The motor works, but no movement on the outer side of the side).

Question # 1) I'm aware of the cable issues with the seat tilt, but all procedures seem to require the seat to be upright to remove and the seat back to be in a 'straight' position to remedy. How big a PITA will it be to get the seat out and fixed from this less than perfect position?

Question # 2) Anyone have a black passenger seat for sale? I would consider buying both as mine are less than perfect.

Thanks fro reading,

Dave

[632 Regal]

I think the biggest issue will be access to the rear 2 bolts. Put the seat as far forward and up as possible to get more room. Getting the seat to tilt forward to unhook it you might need to lower the seat. Getting it out from that point should be easy.

[shogun]

The front-most motor drives the seatbottom height adjustment, the motor just behind it drives the seatback tilt.
Here's some more info Gale wrote up years ago.
http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/page_11.htm
http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/page_32.htm

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=29110
http://www.odometergears.com/how_to.php

You may also be dealing with this situation.
The teeth on that plastic drive wheel strip and it can no longer be rotated by the worm gear.. Fixes include finding the gearbox from a seat you know fits and works.

I'm not sure all E34 seat gear boxes are set up the same but I am assuming they are and you can search for them from the whole spectrum of vehicles not strictly Sport Seats.
8321

[Dave M]

Thanks gentlemen, great information.

I will get into it this weekend, but space is limited and not looking forward to the contortion.

Dave

[Dave M]

FIXED. It was the cable. Followed Winfred's awesome procedure and went smooth. Getting to the rear torx bolts was not as difficult as I thought it would be with the seat back stuck in the reclined position. Just needed to raise the seat bottom as far up and forward as possible.

Thanks again for you help Jeff and Shogun!

Davve