TD% 7ES with a stuck 7th Seat

Just bought a lovely TD5 7ES after growing up from a 300TDi.

However, when I lift out the 7th seat and it locks in place in the boot floor, the backrest won't come up. The lever on the side is solid and I don't want to break the seat by forcing it.

Does anyone have any ideas as to why it's jammed ?

Other rear seat works as it should.

Thanks

Ian
(Cheshire)

be good to see what comes up here as both mine are the same

I had that problem with my 2001 and finally got it solved - but it's hard to explain .
First make sure the slot in the boot floor taht the seat locks into is clear of all debris as the locking mechanism is very fussy about being fully in place .
The seat has to be firmly locked down before the back will come up and the handle on the side has nothing to do with the back coming up - it's only used to allow the back to tip forward when the seat is being folded up again.
As you look into the boot I will take the seat on your right as an example :
if you put your hand in under the seat towards the right hand side you will find by feel a hook shaped part which should be spring loaded and lock onto part of the seat when you put it down . In my case this hook , which is hooked to a cable , had become stiff (or the cable had become stiff to move )and I had to pull the hook into place by hand , thus locking the other side of the seat. Once I do that the back comes up every time . I had spent a lot of time on a few occasions trying to get the back up by repeatedly lifting and dropping the seat into place - but if the hook doesn't engage the back won't come up .
Now it works every time - I may get around trying to free out the cable/hook sometime but as of now problem solved .
If you can't follow the above or make sense of it I will see if I can get a picture or two - but access is poor .
The hook on the LH seat is near the left hand side .

Thanks for the pointers Dooroy. .....

Initially looked underneath the seat squab with it finely balanced above my head, partly unfolded.

I located the bits you mention, but couldn't get any movement in anything around there until....

On the side of the seat (pointing towards the roof when it's stowed) is a triangular trim plate held on with 1 philips-type screw. Removed this and was able to see the Cam which is prevented from moving by a squared bolt. This bolt is supposed to swing out of the way when the seat locks into position (and I think that's what the cable allows it to do) . However, mine was absolutely solid. Did a little persuasion with me tap-ometer and managed to get the bolt to move sideways- it operates in a crescent-shaped slot, and swings out of the way of the Cam attached to the seat back to allow it to be raised.

Early days yet, but it works. I'll need to keep up the persuasion, back and forth lubricating as I go, but I have high hopes that with enough repeated use, normal service will be resumed.

Thanks Dooroy.

Ian
(Cheshire)

well tried this with mine and nothing worked does anyone have any more ideas at all both mine will not come up. also does anyone have any drawings or pictures of where the cables should go and what they do etc

I have had this problem from nearly new (2000). As mentioned above, first check seat base is firmly locked onto metal ring on floor. Take off the plastic trim on outside of seat (and keep off!). The using a short flat bladed screwdriver, push the square metal peg past the cam - you can see when you try to raise the seat back the metal disc gets stuck by the square metal peg, once the peg is moved up a mm the disc can turn and back rises fine. I don't think you can adjust the system, so keep the screwdriver handy!

Mine just did this, and I found that by wiggling the leg sideways after it had locked in the floor that I heard a click and everything worked as it should

Tried all thse to no avail does anyone have any more ideas or even a diagram of the working of how it works so i can trace where the cables go or should be to see if there working correct

When ever this happens with our 2000 Disco (taking the rear right seat as the example) all I have to do is apply pressure to, what would be the top of the back rest, on the right hand side, this normally seams to lock the chair into place, though i'v never looked into this problem in any more tecnical detail, a good thump always works!

any more fresh ideas on this both mine still wont come up

Last time I had the problem, I wiggled the seat to and fro, laterally and somethig clicked into place and I was able to raise the seat back.

On other occasions, it's just a case of moving that square peg out of the way (only a mm or two) to enable the seat to come up.

Hope this helps. It's so annoying. !!

I have tried and better tried wigigng and all sorts. Does anyone have any idea where the cables shoud go etc so i can check them

I've just solved this problem with my newly acquired TD5 ES - I removed the plastic end plate and lubed the square peg as already outlined by others, then got a pair of mole grips on the thing and turned it backwards and forwards until it was working perfectly but...I found the back wouldn't come up unless the foot was locked properly into the foot-slot on the floor so it may be your problem is the foot lock not the back release.

Cheers for that i have tried it but might give it another go must be something that will work sometime good job i dont needthem yet