Electric power seats are great if they are working ok. When they do not work - especially in the fore and aft or tilt movement it can be very frustrating to even drive the car. When the seat won’t move it also makes it VERY difficult to remove from the car to repair or replace the moving seat track mechanisms.
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Kent goes after repairing his own power seat in his 190E and runs into some difficulty even getting it out of the car. Since one of the motor drives is not working he decided to just replace the entire seat track assembly from a good parts car. So you will get to see the entire process as he gets the seats out of the cars, tests them, removes and replaces the track, and reinstalls the seat back into the car (without damaging the car or his back!)
You may only need to replace a worn out driver’s seat bottom with a good one from another car. This video will show you how to safely remove a seat (even if it is not powering), take the tracks off, test the motors, and replace the seat back into the car. Along the way you will also learn a lot about the theory of how these seats operate.
There might be slight differences in wiring and location of wiring plugs but the repair principles shown in this video also will apply to the power seats in a W124 or W126 chassis.
The video covers the following:
- Overview of 5 seat functions
- Repairing with used parts
- Theory of how the power mechanisms work
- Motors, cables and gear drives explained
- Common causes of trouble
- Overview of removing the track assembly
- What is needed to “power” the seat besides the car’s factory wiring
- Locating the wiring plugs that power the seat motors
- Accessing the pins to power the seat when it is out of the car
- Securing a permanent record of the routing of the different colored wires
- Accessing the front screws that hold the track to the seat bottom
- Removing the rear attach bolts on the W201 chassis
- Disconnecting all the wiring
- Removing the complete track assembly from the seat bottom
- Example of removing a seat from a 190E 2.6 that is not powering properly
- Accessing the rear bolts by manually raising the seat
- Accessing and removing the front bolts that hold the seat to the floor
- Disconnecting the wiring under the seat with seat in the car
- Lifting the seat out of the car without damaging it or your back
- Seat track install on other seat bottom not covered in detail since it is just in reverse order
- Testing before the put the seat back in the car
- Review of what functions the different colored wires perform (COLOR CODE REVIEW)
- Discussion of what you will have to do to power a seat back if not working through the switch
- Readying the repaired seat to place back into the car
- Tips on installing seat back into the car
- Conclusion
In summary this video only covers seat bottom power track theory, troubleshooting, removal of the seat from the car, testing, and removal of entire bottom track assembly from the seat.
NOT COVERED: The function, removal and replacement of the door mounted power seat switches is not covered in the video. Also the specifics of removing the seat back from the seat bottom and how to repair / replace the seat BACK motors that control the headrests and the tilt function of the seat back are NOT COVERED in this video.
WARNING: In order to get the seat out the motor that drives the seat back and forward must be working. If your seat switch is bad this video will show you how to power the motor directly to get the seat to move... BUT if your fore and aft motor is seized then the very difficult procedure for trying to get the seat out is not covered in this video. You have to be able to move the seat back and forward on the tracks in order to get to the bolts!
For information of troubleshooting and replacing power seat switches in the W201 be see related products.
Total Run Time: 41:58
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Important note: This video manual may or may not include all the information you will need to troubleshoot and/or repair your specific problem/s. Please read the full description carefully to determine if this video is applicable to your year and model and contains the information you are looking for. If not, please refer back to our "Solutions Finder" and enter your chassis number and the specific problem you are having to see if we offer a solution.
Related Products:
W201 Front Power Seat Switch Removal and Replacement - On Demand Video
If your power seat is not working it is hard to determine if it is a switch, a motor under or inside the seat, or a wiring problem. From our experience xx % of the time the problem is in a worn out or failed electrical seat switch.