Seat Cables Shrinking???
 

Hey All,

My 83 380SEC has shrinking seat adjustment cables :eek: If i pull out the seat and reset the cables in the motors all adjustments will work fine for a little while, but eventually will cease to adjust. The motors always run, just the cables seem to be able to slide out far enough into the adjusters to not make contact with the motors. Is there a trick to keeping the cables centered in the housings?? Do i need to replace the cables?? are they available separately from the tracks and motors?? should i just block up the seat with a piece of wood?? Thanks in advance for your help.
R.

Need to trim back the outer covering on the cables a bit.

Gilly

Thanks Gilly, ill give that a try, any recommendation on how much to trim??
R.

Usually about 1/4" or so will do it. It's kind of a pain because of the metal ends, you almost need to remove the metal, trim the plastic and then get the metal back on the end.
Gilly

Thanks again Gilly, sounds like a project for tomorrow. :)

r,

What happens is the cables wear out the plastic housing, making the ID larger, and making the cable appear shorter. I wouldn't fool around with snipping off the ends. You probably have only a couple of affected cables. I'd just buy new ones. They're only $32.00 a piece. How many years did these provide service?

Peter

Thanks for all the help,

Rather than take the ends off the cables, I was able to hold the plastic housing and tap the metal end down farther onto the plastic. Worked like a charm. BTW all 6 cables were in need of help = $200.00 :eek:

Thanks again, R.

Do you use your seats for some kind of recreation? :D I've never seen a need to replace very many of these cables in my 30 years as an MB mechanic. Glad you found an easy solution.

Peter