1998 1.9 seat electrical connections and movement

TriumphZ3

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Aug 2, 2023
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Could anyone please confirm the underseat connections on a 1998 1.9? I removed mine to fix the worn bush / seat sliding problem - driver's seat worked first time in all directions but passenger now very slow to move; it will move forward slowly, not backwards at all. Before removal it worked fine, so I suspect I've gotten the threads out of sync or otherwise mis-aligned the system. It works slightly faster if the seat bolts are removed and the nuts loosened. I also suspect the new bushes have been fitted too tightly so preventing any movement of the threaded adjusted block as the seat moves about.
Under the driver's seat there is a white plug-in connector and a yellow, with a black tied up and unused. Passenger seat has the same white connector and unused black but a very small yellow / red connector block, almost like an audio connection, much smaller than the one on the driver's seat.
Driver's seat moves forward / back and up / down. Does the passenger seat do the same? The switch appears to move up and down but there is no corresponding seat movement, and I don't know if it's meant to be height adjustable. I don't want to try to fix a fault that doesn't exist; the seat will be removed again shortly for adjustment and correction.
All help appreciated!
 

TriumphZ3

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Just as an update; I removed the seat yet again and found no problem with the two threaded rods or the new bushes, everything ran freely. I also cleaned up the electrical contacts under the seat and used contact cleaner on them. The seat now moves backwards and forwards slowly, slower than the driver's side, but more freely.
It does not move up or down, nor does the back tilt work with the manual lever. If I pull the side switch up or press it down I get a 'thump' as if the motor is engaging but something is stuck and not turning, so it seems the switch is working but something is stuck or seized, yet there's no sign of rust or dirt on the short central threads which I presume are the up / down winders. In the absence of any kind of easy fix - seat is now back in - I'll leave it as is although it seems to be quite high, at the top of adjustment.
 

NZ00Z3

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1) You need to wind the bushing blocks onto the thread by the same number of turns. I use 10 1/2 turns on each thread. If they are out of synch, then you get the slow movement or jamming. If the seat crabs and locks up. then you have the right hand thread on the left side of the seat etc.

2) Yes the passenger seat has up/down adjustment. The seat is probably locked in the fully down position. This is caused by the adjustment running block jamming on the end of the worm thread. Remove the bolt at the block end and give it a twist to un jam it.
 

TriumphZ3

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1) You need to wind the bushing blocks onto the thread by the same number of turns.
What I found was that the bushes were gone completely, so there was no point in measuring how many turns it took to remove. On replacement, with the threaded rod fully secured to the motor, pushing both seat rails fully forward meant there was only way the rods would fit - the end hole had to line up with the end Torx bolt and that was it. It couldn't line up any other way or the two holes in the adjusting block wouldn't match the runners. I did them singly so no chance of mixing them up.
I'm assuming :( there's no way to reach the bolt with the seat fitted? It's quite high so I assumed it was locked fully up?
 

TriumphZ3

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Latest update: got it fixed.
Lay down in the footwell with a torch, found that the motor goes into a right-angled 'gearbox' and then via threaded rod to the adjuster block, same as the forward / reverse movement. When the switch was activated for up / down this right-angled box moved slightly as if on worn mountings. I jammed it where I reckoned it should sit with a large screwdriver, tried the switch a few times then it suddenly started to move. I sprayed the threads with spray grease, tried it all the way up, all the way down, no problems so reckon it was just seized with lack of use. Now working perfectly. The backwards / forwards movement has also speeded up to that of the driver's side so it seems all is as it should be, my usual needless worrying aside mostly about the seat having to come out yet again...
 
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