'98VDP/131,085 miles and still going strong...

Need to remove the drivers seat to figure out why the front seat height adjuster isn't working. The relay clicks, the motor spins, but no vertical seat movement. While I'm at it I thought I'd try to fix the seat heating element as well (switch works, just no heat).

Of course, I own no torx bits - anyone know what size I need to remove the four bolts that hold the seat in place? FWIW, the tip of a 5/16" flat screwdriver blade fits in the bolt tightly.

Thanks,

Ian

 

Bought a three pack of Torx bits on sale at Sears and got lucky, the largest one (T-50) was the correct size for the seat bolts.

Unbolted the seat, and good new, bad news:

Good news: the front seat height adjustment problem was caused by the motor cable having come out of its socket. Plugged it back in, it works fine now.

Bad news: one of the rear brackets that holds the seat to the frame is completely broken, and the other is badly cracked. The brackets are roughly triangular in shape, with a flat flange at the base securing it to the floor rail with two Torx bolts. At the top or "point" of the bracket there's a hole through which a large rivet connects it to the seat frame. When you adjust the rear seat height, its around this rivet that the mechanical movement pivots. The hole is where both brackets are damaged.

I'm assuming I can purchase replacement brackets, drill out the rivet, and install a suitable nut and bolt in its place. Anyone here have a source for the bracket (besides the the local dealership)?

Thanks,

Ian

 

Just did this myself as my passenger seat belt connector had gone. The front Torx bolts (they call em star in the US) were T45 and the rear were T50 as already mentioned above. The belt connector was a T45. Quite easy to get at the bolts if you just move the seat back and forwards - I have an XJ8L so i had plenty of room to move the seat to get the belt connector off - Be harder in a normal xj8 I reckon

 

The broken bracket problem has been discussed here in various threads. Only two sources: new from a dealer, and used from a junkyard. People have discussed welding the old one back together, but it would probably fail again before long, without reinforcement. So far, no one has identified a private source for new (and, one would hope, improved) brackets.