I had to open up my driver's seat to repair the headrest again so I decided to make a video of the process. This is actually the 4th time I've done it (twice on the passenger seat and now twice on the driver's seat) so I'm getting pretty good at it. The first time I did both seats I used "Gorilla Tape" rather than shrink wrap. The tape didn't hold up. This time the whole process took me about 25 minutes, including 5 minutes searching for the right size Torx bit (I cut that part out of the video )

UPDATE! I uploaded a whole new video in HIGH DEFINITION! This one is much more clear and easy to follow. To see it in HD, there are some controls down in the bottom right corner of the video which allow you to make it full screen, HD, etc.

Tools needed:

T25 Torx driver (for unscrewing the cable bracket on the motor)
Flathead screwdriver (for prying apart the seam where the front and back pieces join)
Shrink wrap (I don't know the exact size, but if it will fit over your pinky finger it's big enough)
Lighter or heat gun (to shrink the shrink wrap)

Here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zRh1MOa4WI

And here is the TSB for reference: Headrest Repair TSB

By the way... you do NOT need to remove the seat like I did. I only did it to make it easier to make the movie. But removing the seat is easy if you really want to. You just slide it all the way to the rear, remove the plastic piece on the outer side down near the seat controls by sliding it forward, then remove the two torx-head bolts holding the front of the seat rails in place. Then you slide the seat forward and remove the two torx bolts on the rear. Then you tilt the seat backwards and remove the one or two connectors (it varies). The seat will then lift right out. I took the opportunity to vacuum under the seat. I also found about $1.90 in change. Almost enough to pay for the shrink wrap!

UPDATE!

Another member pointed out that instead of cutting the cable jacket in the middle, it is better to cut off 12mm from one end. Then dig the jacket out of the metal cap that's on the end of the cable and slide that cap back onto the end of the now shorter cable. Using this method would completely eliminate the problem with weak shrink wrap. Shrink wrap wouldn't even be needed. I think this would be a superior method. I ended up redoing mine 3 times because the shrink wrap was never strong enough. Finally I got some super heavy-duty stuff off of eBay and that worked, but normal shrink wrap just won't hold up.

 

Oh, by the way... in part one of the video I used an allen key (hex key) to remove the screws in the motor bracket. It's much easier if you use the correct size torx bit, which is a T25.

 

Did you 'scuff' up the sheath on each end Sam before you added the shrink? give it a little texture to grab onto?

 

Actually it still had the sticky glue on it from my first attempt using the Gorilla tape. After heating it up with a lighter I'm sure that glue melted enough to grab the shrink wrap. I guess time will tell. If I have to do it again I bet I can do it in less than 10 minutes!

 

Great job Sam, I see another FAQ sticky coming! You are way more patient than me, I'm lucky if I can get the job done let alone document it via video!

I have a question for you, I have an issue with my lumbar bladder, and I haven't taken it apart yet. It looks like yours is zip tied in, I think mine is loose so it's pushing the back off the seat. The XJ has a hard plastic rear cover rather than what your XK is, but can you confirm if the bladder is just zip tied in?

 

I honestly have no idea. I remember seeing it there, but I didn't look at it closely and I don't remember how it was attached. If the XJ seat opens up like the XK it is really just a five or ten minute job to open it up and look at it. The first couple of times I tried to fix my headrests I was stumped by the connection between the front of the seat and the back. Once I figured it out, though, it all became very simple.

 

Hey Rev, you ought to put your videos on DVD and sell them. You do such a great job!!

 

Sam-
This is a fantastic instructional video! The only things I would add are:

1. As Matt mentioned, rough up the outer tube and use a little epoxy on the inside of the heat shrink to prevent slippage.

2. The 2 white straps really should be re-attached to the lower horizontal frame member of the seat back with new hog rings or zip ties (if you look carefully there should be holes already punched)..they keep tension on the lower seat cushion fabric.

 

Thank you Thank you Thank you.....the video is worth a thousand reads of the TSB. I have to do my passenger seat and this makes it easy. Wnenn

 

I guess both of those things are good ideas, but I don't recall the TSB saying anything about reconnecting the white straps. Of course, I have the memory of a goldfish. Anyone who does this should read this whole thread first. In regards to the epoxy, though, don't use too much, and don't let it get anywhere near the joint where the two pieces of the sheath butt together. If the epoxy gets inside the cable you'll probably have to replace the cable.

 

Excellent post Sam and NEEDS to be FAQ'd.
I don't have the time right now buy hopefully one of the mods will sort this out in the meantime?
If not I'll get round to it on my next visit

Great job

 

Yeah... I found the TSB confusing because it just said something like "disconnect the front cloth piece from the rear leather piece". It didn't say how to do it. I actually tore a little bit of the fabric on the passenger seat trying to pull the two pieces apart. Once I discovered the "trick", the rest was easy. Both the TSBs and the JTIS can be very vague. I guess they are assuming that anyone doing the work is a Jaguar tech and they know how to do that stuff, or if they don't they can just ask another tech.

 

Thanks, but I think the low production quality would mean that I'd have to pay people to take the DVDs! I'm happy to share my limited knowledge for free. Besides, I only know how to do the stuff I'm doing because I learned it from reading TSBs and other info here on Jag forums.

 

The white strap instructions are called out in items 4 and 17 (and the note above 17) in the TSB.

Good point, if you use epoxy it has to be used carefully and sparingly.

 

I just added the TSB to my original post in this thread so that anyone who wants to do it has all of the info right there and readily accessible.

 

This is now FAQ'ed .
h20 ,I hope you would not mind

 

Great video. Two things. By far the most unintuitive and poorly explained step of the TSB is the initial step of separating the seat back material (front piece to rear piece). I started this fix and abandoned it at least 3 times because I could not figure out how these pieces separated. In fact, it is not really obvious that there are 2 pieces (the gizmo that holds them together is so clever it almost looks like a single piece of fabric with a seam). Similarly, putting the 2 pieces back together is a bit tricky but a lot more intuitive.

Second--When I opened up the seat there were no "hog rings" but, rather, the white straps were merely tied around the lowermost horizontally oriented rod that makes up the frame. It almost made me think that the previous owner had tried to get this serviced but I found no evidence of a previous splice in the cable. So when I got done I just again tied these straps around the frame.

My headrest started working again but, on any given day, it is never clear whether it will work or not. I think day-to-day driving over bumps along with temperature changes inside the cabin are what eventually cause the splice to open up slightly. I have already bought a much better heat shrink from a boating supply shop (this time they are adhesive lined) and will buy and inexpensive heat shrink tool to do the fix next time (previously I had tried Radio Shack heat shrink and a soldering iron).

Doug

 

I fixed my passenge seat this evening. Once agian I say thank you for the video. Nothing unexpected and now it works. Wnenn

 

Thanks Sam for the tutorial. The video really helps those of us who are a bit timid of digging into repairs to visualize the whole process. Sometimes fear of the unknown (and worries about making things worse) keep one from even attempting a fix. Now that I see how doable it is, I will tackle the job myself.
Tim

 

Well, I did the fix again (probably 4th time now) but this time I did it right. When I opened up the seat I found this time that the splice had separated by almost 1/4", even though the heatshrink tubing was still on. But it was obvious that the main problem was that the heatshrink I had used was from Radio Shack and obviously meant for light-use electrical wire fixes. It is relatively thin stuff and it probably did not help that I did not shrink it properly to begin with (used a hair dryer and then a soldering iron).

So this time I used some heavier thickness heatshrink that is adhesive lined that I bought from a marine supply store and I used a small pocket-sized heat shrink tool (uses a cigarette lighter as the fuel source) that seemed to work well. The fix seems a lot more solid so I did not bother with wrapping the splice with the packing tape (intentionally left this off just in case I need to re-do the splice--I did not want to contend with trying to remove the tape and dealing with a bunch of sticky coating).

Hopefully, this time should be the last time (once again the hardest part was unfastening and then refastening the seatback finisher via the tongue-and-groove pieces).

Doug