Hey everyone,

I have a '95 E420 and I'm having problems with my driver's side adjustable seat unit. The rear 'up and down' function on the seat control only activates the left side of the seat so when I try and adjust the seat down, the seat goes down at an angle on one side. Initially I thought it was the cable from the motor but after ordering the part and completely pulling the seat I've realized that it's not the problem. Now my car is out of commission and I need to get it back together for work in the morning. Could someone please give me some direction on it? It looks like it's the front motor that powers the rear up and down function but I'm not sure if there is a linkage or what that transfers motion to the right hand side of the seat (opposite the motors).

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!!

__________________
1995 E420
1998 SL500 Sport
2009 E350 Sport
1995 S500 Coupe
1992 500 SEL

I had the same problem with my 95 E320. There is one motor that has two cables coming from either end of the motor. I found that the problem was that one of the cables was not engaging the rear reduction mechanism. The inner cable has square ends that must engage the motor on one end and the gear reduction on the other. I was able to slide a 1/4" long piece of wire into the motor before attaching the cable so that the other end of the cable would project into the gear unit far enough to engage properly. Others have had this same problem and if you do a search you will find a post with pictures showing a very nice way to shorten the outer sheath of the cable to effectively make the inner cable extend further into the gear unit. This involves taking the end of the cable, cutting the sheath off about 1/4" and then reinstalling the metal end.

I removed the seat base from the seat and set it back in the car and connected the electrical connectors so that I could observe the operation and locate the fault. Some have found that the square end on the cable is damaged and needs to be reshaped in addition to shortening the sheath.

Well I finally got the seat back together. I now know more about the adjustable seats than I'd like. Talk about a pain in the @ss! Ended up removing the entire seat in order to access the front motor/cable. I'd already ordered a replacement cable prior to tearing the seat out but found out that it wasn't the correct length. (longer cable for the 2 rear motors) It didn't make a difference in the long run (just a little bit more cable to curl up into the seat) and now the seat works like a charm.

Lesson learned on how much of a hassle it is when something fails on the seat.

__________________
1995 E420
1998 SL500 Sport
2009 E350 Sport
1995 S500 Coupe
1992 500 SEL