W124 front seat removal tips & procedure

[ke6dcj]

The removal of the fronts seats involves removing (4) seat-bolt rails (10mm) and (2) seat-belt tranny-tunnel bolts behind a black plastic cover, and setting up the electric seat for easy maneuverability out of the front doors.

Tips & Tricks:

Since the USA seats are electrically powered, I do the following:

1) adjust seat 80% forward and rear of seat-bottom in the UP (highest from the floor) position;

2) remove the two rear seat-rail bolts (10mm) and the tranny tunnel seat-belt bolt;

3) adjust head-rest to lowest position;

4) adjust seat-back so it's folded FORWARD at least 90% from limit;

5) adjust seat just enough back to gain access to both the front seat-rail bolts (10mm) and enough room to un-hook and pull back the upholestered cover to gain access to the seat's electrical connectors;

6) use a flashlight and small screwdriver to disconnect 3-major plugs, being careful not to pull the tops of the connectors off and loose the pin orientations;

7) disconnect two other 2-pole connectors (1-red; 1-black);

8) disconnect heater connector if you have heated-seats (4-pole);

9) place a towel on the plastic door plate so you don't accidentally scratch the finish;

10) adjust steering wheel so it is in the most forward position for more clearance;

11) fold-up driver's armrest;

12) gently tip seat forward and maneuver front seats out front door (all the way open!)

Hope that helps.

:-) neil
1988 E36T AMG
1993 500E
1995 E320 wagon

[JimFreeh]

Neil,

Might also want to remove the bolt for the inner seat belt mount.

Jim

[ke6dcj]

Originally Posted by ke6dcj

(2) seat-belt tranny-tunnel bolts behind a black plastic cover,

2) the tranny tunnel seat-belt bolt;

Already covered.

:-) neil

[casey saravanan]

hey guys......disassembly was smooth and went fine....i have got everything out now...

BUT IM STUCK..somehow i cant remove the spring box from the height mechanism.,,there is rod which goes from left to right through the spring box and this is secured to the height adjustment mechanism...all the screws etc that i can see are non removable types.

any ideas ...?i have prying pulling..and even used a pipe wrench....HELP..!

its 230E model seat..standard..no electrics..forward/back/height adjust only

[stevenstevensteven]

1. Are there any photos of this process?

2. Do I need to add lock-tite to the seat-rail bolts when re-installing? Any special torque req'ts?

[Hogweed]

i can't see any rear seat track bolts w/ the seat 100% forward and raised up? any ideas?

[sptt]

It may not be raising up enough because you would see them. I ended up having to take the gear covers off on the back lifter elbows and manually cranking them up revealing the rear bolts. Is it possible the top rail is still sitting too low on the mounting rail covering them up?

[Hogweed]

Originally Posted by sptt

It may not be raising up enough because you would see them. I ended up having to take the gear covers off on the back lifter elbows and manually cranking them up revealing the rear bolts. Is it possible the top rail is still sitting too low on the mounting rail covering them up?

i see them now but, i've never seen bolts that are placed in such a way! they must bolt the tracks in and then build the seats in the car.

[sptt]

My seats came out all as one piece frames. I took out both seats to repair cables underneath that weren't fully adjusting to their limits but getting to the back bolts required the seats to go fully forward and tilt full up from the back.

[Hogweed]

after much weeping and gnashing of teeth, i would like to recant my former testimony against mercedes engineers re: w124 seat fastening. if the seat is moved all the way forward and the bottom tilted/raised up all the way in the back, then the bolts are accessible. so much so that no special tools are needed! i was able to get a 1/2" drive snap-on big ratchet on all four rear bolts (2 on each seat) using no extensions, wobble drives or anything last week i was frustrated because the passenger side switch was not allowing the seat to tilt up all the way, so today i started with the driver side and noticed it went up about 5" higher; i went to the p-side and put some more pressure on the seat switch and, viola! up it went

[stevenstevensteven]

hardest part i had is getting those brittle plastic covers off so i could access rear bolts

[oldirty88]

I recentley saw a very good set of seats at the local scappers but couldn't figure out how to gain access to the bolts with no power to the car. Is that possible, and then how would you squeeze them into the car if they're not folded properly?

[Hogweed]

you need to get the seats positioned all the way up and all the way forward to have clear access to the rear seat bolts. i had the seat about 90% where it needed to be (didn't know they weren't all the way) and was ready to set fire to it because i couldn't get to them. once i moved the seat where it needed to be it was cake. take a battery to the yard and you'll be in business.

Originally Posted by oldirty88

I recentley saw a very good seat of seats at the local scappers but couldn't figure out how to gain access to the bolts with no power to the car. Is that possible, and then how would you squeeze them into the car if they're not folded properly?

[oldirty88]

Originally Posted by Hogweed

take a battery to the yard and you'll be in business.

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by Hogweed

you need to get the seats positioned all the way up and all the way forward to have clear access to the rear seat bolts. i had the seat about 90% where it needed to be (didn't know they weren't all the way) and was ready to set fire to it because i couldn't get to them. once i moved the seat where it needed to be it was cake. take a battery to the yard and you'll be in business.

What if some genius before you cut the battery cables? I think my yard does it for safety reasons with cars with air bags.

I have access to the power seat wiring so I just need to know which wires do what.

Originally Posted by augapfel

I can now give additional info on how to move a stubborn power *memory* seat after doing it myself this past weekend in the U-Pull-It yard.
The car was an 89 300E with a leather interior in great condition. I wanted the seats and was determined to get them.
After studying the power/memory seat schematic I did the following:

1) I hooked up my B&D cordless drill 14.4V battery pack to the fuse block and the body. All the fuses has been taken from the fuse block. Positive terminal went to the tab for fuse E or F (can't remember which - one is for driver seat and the other is for passenger side) and the negative went to the brake master cylinder.
2) With the driver's power/memory seat switch removed (someone had already taken it) I opened the connector body(s) to expose the wire terminals.
3) Then it was a simple matter to touch the appropriate wire to *ground* to get the seat to move the way I wanted it to. Touch violet to ground and the seat moves forward. Touch blue to ground and the seat moves rearward. Ground white and the front of the seat rises, black and the front of the seat drops. And so on using the colors I posted above. I didn't mess with the headrest or recliner functions but they undoubtedly work the same way.
Very satisfying to see that seat come to life in the junkyard.
The real difficulty was unplugging the wiring harness connectors from the memory module on the seat adjuster. That 16-pin connector is hard to access and very, very tight.

Found this on another forum. Hope it works. I want those seats!