Broken Seat

[dah_man_ben]

Hey all..

The side plastic runner with the electric seat button in my Berlina is stuffed... snapped off so i'm gonna' fix it.

Calaber, if you read this, I'm gonna use your method that you posted in the VZ section a while back (unless its gone bad for you since then?).

I got quoted a whole new trim for $44 from Holden, so I will fit one of them if this other method doesn't work. My dad used to have a VY also, and Holden slugged him $600 to get it fixed (apparently they seem to think that the entire base of the seat needed replacing).. they also slugged him the same price for the VT when that snapped. They did try to convince me over the phone that this would be the problem with mine, but I can tell that it is just simply snapped. Oh yeah, I better add that dads VE also snapped, although after a bit of going off at Holden, they covered it under warranty. He's not a big bloke or anything that squashes the seat, so is this some sort of common problem? My VS never did it?

Anyway, thought I would share that with you all, but the main thing I wanted to know was how in the hell to get that seat recliner knob off because that is the only thing at the moment preventing me from getting the broken plastic trim off. Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks heaps, Ben.

[Calaber]

Hi Ben

Hey, I read it!

The knob will pull out with the shaft (and yes, we are still talking about the seat here!) - use a screwdriver to lever it out of the seat - it is only clipped in and should disengage and pull out easily.

That repair of mine lasted until I replaced the seats with the leather interior now in the car, and I sold the complete interior with the seat trim still in good nick. If you take your time, you can reinforce the weak piece with a metal strip which covers the full length of the plastic piece that snaps off, and curves up the inside of the side trim to give extra grip. At the other end, drill a hole through the metal so that the retaining screw can go through it into the seat frame when you put the trim back on.

Don't use that 5 minute Araldite - it's crap. You need to use the slow setting stuff because it is much stronger. The good thing is you can take the trim off, repair it and let it set hard and still drive the car in the meantime.

This is a common problem with the VT-VZ seat because there are only two attaching screws holding the things on, and the seat cushion overlaps the top of the trim, so that when you sit on the edge of the seat, (like everytime you get in and out), your weight is pushing down on the plastic trim and eventually, it becomes brittle and breaks. It is definitely worth trying to fix for a couple of bucks though - I'm sure you have better uses for the $40 plus that Holden wants for a new trim.

[dah_man_ben]

Thanks heaps champ,

Well I've got the day off tomorrow, so I'm gonna get stuck into it, probably best giving it a good 24 hours curing? And yeah I do have some of that 5 minute stuff, but i'll go down to bunnings tomorrow n pick up some good stuff - thanks for the advice.

Anyway, I will give it a go tomorrow.. I already cut some steel, bent it to shape and drilled a hole in it... but i am having a bit of trouble trying to figure out what you did with the other screw part (the hollow cylinder thing). I'm sure I will figure it out.

Will let you know how it went in the next couple of days.

[Calaber]

The other screw fitting is weak too. I found that the trim would break away leaving the screw and a small part of the trim still fixed to the seat base.

I found a small nut that was a perfect fit inside the hollow stem on the trim. The nut is one of those which have a broad "washer" on one end. This washer fitted up against the end of the stem, so that the nut was inside the stem. I then screwed a small bolt into the washer from the back side of the trim, so that it filled the threaded hole in the nut and protruded through the nut about 5 mm. I then mixed up the Araldite and poured it into the tube so that it filled the tube up to just below the end of the screw that was protruding through the nut.

After the Araldite had cured, the nut is carefully unscrewed and removed. It then leaves the hole clear for the retaining screw to hold the trim back onto the seat base.

It's really very simple provided you can find a nut that is a firm fit inside the tube. I think I used about a 10mm nut. It's also important that you use the type of nut with inbuilt washer as it ensures the nut sits squarely inside the tube and provides a firmer base for the tube than just the factory plastic set-up.