Advice please on best way to Remove seats on my x300

[timedwards]

I have removed the bottom part of the rear seat on my x300 and have the upright back part/rest loose and ready to come out. I am now not sure whether I have to unbolt the m10 bolts at the bottom of the seat belts so the seat belts don't prevent the backrest being removed. Can anyone advise please whether I am doing this the right way or have I missed something obvious and don't need to unbolt the seat belts at all?

Also when I remove the front seats do I undo the bolts connecting the seats to the rails or the M10 bolts holding the rails to the floor? I am thinking it is the M10 bolts then everything comes out (electrics and all) and I am then hoping there will be one 'electrical plug' to unclip and carefully lift the whole thing out so to speak.

[Popsjag]

Tim,

According to the workshop manual, you should be able to remove the rear squab by 'moving the belts aside'.

With regards to the front seat, I would remove the runners with the seat (from memory, move seat fully forward to get at the rear bolts, then fully rearwards to get the front bolts).

I've never removed a powered one, but I believe there will be a multiplug connector to the Seat Control Module, seat motor & switch. Look out for the harness being cable tied to the frame, before 'yanking' the seat out.

I hope that helps you.

[robv12]

front seats , all car inc 308's are one piece unlike 40's where you can remove the base first

so, remove the front torx, remove the rear torx and the runner covers, GENTLY tip the whole seat backwards, this will reveal the seat ECU and wiring, carefully unplug the wiring from the ECU, it's idiot proof and will only go back one way, so we are all safe here!!, then undo the 17MM bolt holding the seat belt to the seat, tie the seat belt out of the way, then carefully remove the seat through the door aperture, job done

300 rear seats, now this depends on your vin, MOST cars have a seat back that will just lift away once the four self tappers at the base of the back (if that makes sense) have been removed, you need to remove the base to access these, NOW if you have a late 300 it will have a 308 rear seat, the seat belts exit the seat back at the top and are covered with a small plastic escutcheon, these need to be gently removed otherwise they will break, the seat back then needs to be moved upwards quite a away to clear the seat belt inertia reels, this can be quite a pain and can become time consuming due to lack of space to manouvere

hope this helps

[timedwards]

Thanks both for the replies.

Thanks Rob it makes sense now that you have said that, I thought I was going mad! I was just about to post a pic up of the seat belts coming out of the back of the squab so it must be a late model seat then. It's an absolute nightmare to lift up and the headrests don't make it any easier either. So I presume to remove I need to unbolt the seat belts at the bottom ie the M10 bolts so they slip through the top of the squab since the seat belts are holding the squab in place?

The reason the seats are up is because I have pushed the ABS sensors through the floor for rear subframe removal. Steve was bang on, they were well and truly seized onto the hub carriers so not even going there!!

The car needs welding floor to sills so I thought would strip interior to save sparks damaging upholstery. I may be able to shield the squab though, however have a look at the rust around where the abs sensors fit through. Would you cut and weld or wire brush, prep and POR15? If it's POR 15 I may leave the squab in situ then as I have enough jobs to do on the old girl.

Now if I had got a JEC inspection I may be driving by now - this is going to be long haul

[robv12]

mmm, I'm not really a bodywork bloke, but common sense seems to say to me, cut out the rot, put a plate in , paint and treat however you wish, then remake the hole for the abs sensors, make sense??

others may have other ideas

[timedwards]

Thanks Rob - Yes that makes sense to me so it's out with the rear squab along with the carpets and grind back to see what needs cutting. Thanks again for the advice.

Cheers Tim

[timedwards]

In the end the list of other jobs to be done on this car and other more serious rust issues meant that because this rust area was in comparison fairly superficial I decided to grind back to clean metal and treat. I can always come back to it at a later date. I broke an escutcheon taking the back of the seat out (despite the warnings) in my enthusiasm and it was not really necessary in any case and very fiddly to do.

The end result was o.k. I think. Given the likely value of the car I guess a line has to be drawn on how far to go initially on the rust front and treat the most pressing areas first. The car itself is a bit of an unknown quantity since it clearly had a dodgy MOT. Here is a pic of the hole from the top. The underside is all treated and painted up to protect for a while.

Sealant applied to prevent damp ingress and secure the ABS lead.