06-23-2012, 09:33 PM
Ok, so I did this repair today, and thought I'd add some notes. This time it was the rear switch on the driver's seat -- could only move the seat back farther back. I was starting to feel like an F1 car driver.
The bad part is that I had the same problem on the front switch about 5 years ago, but darn it, could not remember exactly how I took it apart. So I started over, in part by reading some threads here on the forum. So the short story:
- remove the 2 screws to remove the frame (raise the seat front all the way)
- remove the 2 screws that hold the switch housing/bracket onto the seat.
- pull the assembly out the best that you can. The zip ties on the bottom of the seat holding the cables will prevent it from coming out very far. it will look like this.
See that little white dot/circle on the top of the switch behind the paddle? That is where I sprayed contact cleaner into the switch
- remove the battery negative (or fuse). We will now do some back and forth wiggling, so we don't want the seat to keep jumping back and forth as we massage the contacts.
- spray contact cleaner into the hole around that little white dot. Use plenty of it, maybe 3 seconds of spraying. Note: this doesn't look like much of a hole, but it was what worked for me.
- wiggle the switch back and forth, up and down, about a dozen times.
- connect power and try it.
- if it still doesn't work, then retry more contact cleaner. Repeat the toggling.
The odd part is that when I did this 5 years ago, I could swear I was able to remove the switch from the housing/bracket. And when I did it that way, there were obvious holes in the sides on the switch where I could spray the contact cleaner. This time I could not figure out how to pull the switch out of the housing/bracket. Who knows, maybe when I sprayed "into" that little white round "hole", in fact the cleaner went between the housing and the switch and found the real holes in the switch and got inside.
I am just really glad this technique works. I used contact cleaner from Radio Shack (it is better than WD-40). Still had the can from 5 years ago. Thanks to everyone who has written about this problem on this thread and other ones: like seat removal and switch disassembly which thankfully I once again dodged!.
Roland
The bad part is that I had the same problem on the front switch about 5 years ago, but darn it, could not remember exactly how I took it apart. So I started over, in part by reading some threads here on the forum. So the short story:
- remove the 2 screws to remove the frame (raise the seat front all the way)
- remove the 2 screws that hold the switch housing/bracket onto the seat.
- pull the assembly out the best that you can. The zip ties on the bottom of the seat holding the cables will prevent it from coming out very far. it will look like this.
See that little white dot/circle on the top of the switch behind the paddle? That is where I sprayed contact cleaner into the switch
- remove the battery negative (or fuse). We will now do some back and forth wiggling, so we don't want the seat to keep jumping back and forth as we massage the contacts.
- spray contact cleaner into the hole around that little white dot. Use plenty of it, maybe 3 seconds of spraying. Note: this doesn't look like much of a hole, but it was what worked for me.
- wiggle the switch back and forth, up and down, about a dozen times.
- connect power and try it.
- if it still doesn't work, then retry more contact cleaner. Repeat the toggling.
The odd part is that when I did this 5 years ago, I could swear I was able to remove the switch from the housing/bracket. And when I did it that way, there were obvious holes in the sides on the switch where I could spray the contact cleaner. This time I could not figure out how to pull the switch out of the housing/bracket. Who knows, maybe when I sprayed "into" that little white round "hole", in fact the cleaner went between the housing and the switch and found the real holes in the switch and got inside.
I am just really glad this technique works. I used contact cleaner from Radio Shack (it is better than WD-40). Still had the can from 5 years ago. Thanks to everyone who has written about this problem on this thread and other ones: like seat removal and switch disassembly which thankfully I once again dodged!.
Roland
Roland
'93 Coupe Tip Silver on Grey, '02 911 C4S, '89 Vanagon Syncro -- (RIP: 944, 911SC, 931, MGB, VW Bug, GTO, Sprite.)
