Hello,

Since I've purchased my '96 XJ12, the most annoying issue has probably been play in the driver's seat. Every time I brake, the seat moves very slightly forward, and when I let off the brake, it moves very slightly rearward. This is VERY VERY annoying. If I grab sightly on the steering wheel and try to twist my body in the seat, it'll move that 1/4 or 1/2 inch or however much it is to annoy the heck out of me.

Not sure if anyone has had this issue and what the correction would be for it. Would it be an issue with the seat tracks, or seat mounting itself?

Any help?

Thanks,
Nick

 

I get that ...but, oddly, only from time-to-time. It started only after I had the seat removed to replace the heating elements. I always assumed that I got something slightly out-of-phase when I reinstalled the seat.....some sort of minor left-vs-right difference in the positioning of the tracks. Never bothered me enough to remove the seats again.

Anyhow....

Someone will probably come along with a known cure. If not I guess the only thing to do is remove the seat for a look-see and go from there

Cheers
DD

 

Will be curious to hear some responses specific to the Jaguar seats.

Just about every car I've owned with manual or power seats eventually seems to develop some play in the front/rear track.

With manual seats, one can usually find another "notch" that isn't as worn.

 

My 2004 XJ8 does the same thing and it really is annoying. I have tried to locate the loose pivot or joint with the seat installed without success. I imagine I will have to remove the seat to figure it out. If I ever get to that point I will definitely post my findings.

 

I've found the loose area to be the metal arm on the front right side of the seat. When sitting on the seat, with my hand on the front edge (so I can feel the underneath of the seat bottom), I can hear and feel the play best by firmly trying to move the seat in an up and down motion.

I ordered a new seat slide, we'll see if that cures the problem. It's so very annoying!

Thanks,
Nick

 

Agreed! Just had the seats apart yesterday, some torx bolts under the squab were loose, that seemed to partially correct the problem but the major amount of play seems to be in the slider/track ...most annoying!

 

The X300 is very similar to the X308. And since Jaguar likes to repeat mistakes, this probably also applies to the XJ40 as well as the X350.

The X308 front seat rails are attached to the floor at the front using bolts through the rail going into *&$# sheet metal spring nuts clipped into recesses in the floor. In addition, the bolt runs close to horizontal.

If the spring nut is not engaged to the hole in the floor the seat has a rocking motion.

Even if the bolt is tight, the spring nut can allow motion.

On mine, the spring nut had dropped into the mounting recess and had to be fished out.

To access these nuts, slide the seat fully forward, loosen the rear track bolts, slide seat fully back, remove front bolts, tilt seat+rails up, inspect and repair as required.

A tin of niblets corn is just the right size to hold up the track you are not working on while you work on the other track.

No, a beer can will not work. Too tall and skinny.

The only other required tool is a torx bit and ratchet.


++

 

Performed a thorough inspection of the seat today. Discovered there is play in the seat track. The floor mounts were tight and had no play. I have decided to learn to live with it.