Seat recliner issues

[Grrrmachine]

I let the girlfriend drive the E30 for all of 5 minutes, and when she gave it back the driver's seat won't lock the backrest.

Depending on where you put the adjustment handle, you can hear the ratchets slipping as the seat moves back and forth, but it won't lock in place. I've done the two things in the Wiki (lots of WD40, and tightening the rear screws) and all they did was remove the ratchet sound.

The rear screws were pretty tight already, so I doubt anything's broken - more likely something's seized in the -15 degrees we have here, but I have no idea what

[daimlerman]

Probably the seat hinge mech on one or both sides has siezed/jammed/failed.

We used to have a guide in the wiki for stripping/re-building seats,for this purpose sport and comfort seats come to bits in much the same way,written by 'jam' or some-one with a similar name.

[Grrrmachine]

The rebuild page is still there:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... ring_Seats

but it doesn't really explain how the mechanisms work, and I can't get my head round it from the pictures.

The seat doesn't rock or twist, so I don't think the frame has cracked.

[daimlerman]

The usual advice is to locate/swap in a better hinge mech....the spring is present and in one piece,of course?
The unit it's self is rivetted together,so will be a mission to dismantle!

[Brianmoooore]

Hinge mechs. are all pretty visible with the seat out and the hinge covers off, so shouldn't be too difficult to see what's happening.
Usual thing is that the two sides are out of sync., because of a cracking frame that has begun to twist.

[Grrrmachine]

Well, the WD40 trick worked in the end, I presume it just needed time to penetrate.