1985 Mercedes 300SD power seat movement

[jtwoods4]

Hey guys, the driver side power seat on my 1985 300SD is not moving correctly. The switch to lean the backrest forward or backward is working and the switch to slide forward or backward is working. However the seat bottom "tilt" is not working. I can hear the motor clicking when I press the control on the door but the seat bottom does not tilt forward or backward. Any ideas?

[801mbz]

cable shrunk in housing from use. It can be fixed since the seat moves front and back. you're lucky the seat is not stuck up by the wheel.

[jtwoods4]

Originally Posted by 801mbz

cable shrunk in housing from use. It can be fixed since the seat moves front and back. you're lucky the seat is not stuck up by the wheel.

Can you elaborate a little on this? I really do appreciate the response just trying to understand exactly what you're saying.

[hercules]

The cables were made to short,Mercedes Benz to you,they would usually work for many years,some times not. The cable can move back and out of the drive either end.
Fix: try to recenter,may or may not stay,swap inner cables from different seat,buy a new
cable if available.
Others may have a good Idea.

[jtwoods4]

Originally Posted by hercules

The cables were made to short,Mercedes Benz to you,they would usually work for many years,some times not. The cable can move back and out of the drive either end.
Fix: try to recenter,may or may not stay,swap inner cables from different seat,buy a new
cable if available.
Others may have a good Idea.

okay thank you for the response I guess I need to remove the seat and take a look at everything because I was under the impression that it was a gear drive on a track I didn't realize that there was a cable.

[t walgamuth]

cable from switch to motor., still gear drive.

[vwnate1]

I just went through this in my brother's 1981 300SD (W126) ~ some where along the line someone had removed the cables, with drawn the centers, cut them to shorten them, and reassembled using hose clamps...

Terrible hack job .

Since we were rebuilding the entire seat (broken frame) and had three seats to choose from we used the drive cables with the ends sticking out the furthest .

I removed, cleaned and re lubed the cables , they all work as-new again, you ca do this too .

We mixed & matched the covers, coconut fiber buns, springs and frames etc. and finished up with really nice firm supportive seats .

-Nate

Originally Posted by hercules

The cables were made to short,Mercedes Benz to you,they would usually work for many years,some times not. The cable can move back and out of the drive either end.
Fix: try to recenter,may or may not stay,swap inner cables from different seat,buy a new
cable if available.
Others may have a good Idea.