Temporary removal of VE front seats

[mtd]

Hey all,
Due to a water leak (which I am yet to diagnose whether 1 or multiple locations) I'm considering temporarily removing the front seats so I can deal with the leak properly. Underlay is frecken drenched. Bugger! I won't rave re the Melbourne weather.

In another thread it was stated to ensure the battery was disconnected because of the airbags. I'm gonna assume its not just because you have to disconnect the seat electrics. i.e. Just being careful...

Gonna ask a silly question - why exactly is this required? At a wild guess i'm thinking it would be because of some interference with the checks that are carried out on startup with the bag sensors? Maybe it requires a reset if this happens - heard this elsewhere I think...?

So, follow this process (please, by all means, correct anything wrong here):

Removal:
- Slide seat forward - undo rear bolts
- disconnect battery
- Tilt seat forward, release electrics and remove seat by tilting/lifting (think it has no bolts front?)

Installation:
- Sit seat from front to back (seems to be a 'claw' fitting front - is that right?)
- Tilt seat and re-connect electrics (no connection to battery yet)
- Redo back bolts.
- Reconnect battery.
- Test

Anything wrong here? Anything I'm missing or gotcha's? Won't have to get the airbag sensor stuff reset will I?

Thanks all. Cheers

 

[uglyoldfatbastard]

Disconnecting the negative terminal is all you need to do and do it first.
It will be just like an operation when you are all done and hook back up the negative terminal the car won't have a clue what happened.

 

[J_D 2.0]

Disconnecting the battery is standard procedure when you do anything involving airbags. Seeing as the seats have airbags in them then that is why you disconnect the battery.

Truth be known the risk of an airbag going off is probably tiny but for the sake of pulling a battery terminal it’s not really worth the risk of finding out the hard way.

 

[mtd]

Thx UOFB and J_D, that's enough electrical confirmation for me. Makes sense.

 

[Fu Manchu]

I take it a step further. Disconnect the negative terminal and then do a capacitor discharge.

Turn lights on. Beep horn, operate brake pedal, open doors, switch interior lights on, turn ignition with a false start. Then leave the ignition on for a bit. Then I remove the airbag sensor related fuse.

 

[Fu Manchu]

Has your Calais got a sunroof?
I take it, it’s a wagon?
There’s a few people here that have had leaks in the rear of a wagon.

We had the pedal plate behind the carpet and behind the firewall insulation in the engine bay, rust out and that’s a common thing according to the wreckers I spoke with when trying to source a new one. Found it by accident.

Passenger side can be the cabin air intake. Remove the wiper cowl and run silicone inside the top edge of the cabin intake above the filter.

Also can leak via the firewall bolts.

Water can come in via the plastic liner inside the door skin. Runs down the plastic and through gaps, dripping into the foot well.

Replace the chrome trims along the top putter edge of the window and reseal the plastic with new stuff from car builders with new butyl sealant.

If a sunroof is installed watch this video:

 

[chrisp]

I take it a step further. Disconnect the negative terminal and then do a capacitor discharge.

Turn lights on. Beep horn, operate brake pedal, open doors, switch interior lights on, turn ignition with a false start. Then leave the ignition on for a bit. Then I remove the airbag sensor related fuse.

I‘m not sure that will do much to the air bag system. The air bag deployment system will have its own capacitor/s so it can still fire the air bags as the car, and its electrical system, as destroyed in an accident. The air bag module will be ‘diode isolated’ so damage to the car‘s electrical system can’t discharge its capacitor/s. So, just do what the manual says, remove fuse or battery and wait a few minutes (5 minutes?). The internal energy within the air bag module will be designed to self discharge within those specified minutes.

 

[Fu Manchu]

I still play it safe. They are explosive devices and it makes me feel better having done what I can.

 

[lmoengnr]

I think it's prudent to disconnect the battery whenever you're working on any electric/electronic sub system, so you don't accidently turn the ignition on and set a 'hard fault'.

 

[uglyoldfatbastard]

I still play it safe. They are explosive devices and it makes me feel better having done what I can.

Don't you like the smell of gunpowder in the morning