Seatbelt removal

[John_B]

This weekend (weather depending) I plan to strip my interior to dry out the carpets and investigate the various common water ingress routes.

While it's all out, I've got a few other jobs planned, such as fitting heated seat switches, a USB cable, an FM antenna (prev owner deleted the OEM one) and a fire extinguisher. But since I'll have dismantled the whole rear trim I'm also considering cleaning/servicing the seatbelts. The retraction is terrible and I expect the black fabric is hiding 25yrs of grime!

Has anyone completely removed the seatbelt 'unit' from the car before to clean? Is it a straight forward unbolting or are there funny bolts/electrical connectors to negotiate? on RealOEM it just looks like a couple of bolts securing it.

Any tips or advice always welcome!

Cheers
John

 

[t-tony]

With poor retraction of seat belts is usually cured by washing them with hot soapy water, allow to thoroughly dry and spray them with silicone spray.
Will likely save you the bother of removing the reels from the car.

Tony.

 

[John_B]

With poor retraction of seat belts is usually cured by washing them with hot soapy water, allow to thoroughly dry and spray them with silicone spray.
Will likely save you the bother of removing the reels from the car.

Tony.

Thanks Tony, yeah the hot soapy water was going to be my approach - didn't know about the silicone spray though, nice one!

The reason I was interested in removing them from the car was I have seen good results hitting them with the pressure washer after letting them soak, and I was imagining building a little jig ("jig" = a long piece of tongue & groove with a couple of nails in each end ) to hold them at full extension during the process. Also if they're still on the car I'm not going to be able to get to the last few inches or the reel itself. I had the trim apart last weekend to fit the roll hoops and they did look a bit grubby.

 

[the Nefyn cat]

The last few inches probably don't get much exposure (unless you're a seriously large type) so may not be particularly dirty in the first place. For anyone offended by "seriously large", you only have yourself to blame.

 

[ExMX5owner]

This weekend (weather depending) I plan to strip my interior to dry out the carpets and investigate the various common water ingress routes.

While it's all out, I've got a few other jobs planned, such as fitting heated seat switches, a USB cable, an FM antenna (prev owner deleted the OEM one) and a fire extinguisher. But since I'll have dismantled the whole rear trim I'm also considering cleaning/servicing the seatbelts. The retraction is terrible and I expect the black fabric is hiding 25yrs of grime!

Has anyone completely removed the seatbelt 'unit' from the car before to clean? Is it a straight forward unbolting or are there funny bolts/electrical connectors to negotiate? on RealOEM it just looks like a couple of bolts securing it.

Any tips or advice always welcome!

Cheers
John

There is a small pyro on the clasp end of the belt assembly one should be weary of, if removing that. At least on my 99, not sure if this is true of all. I told my wife it was part of her ejection seat mechanism, but its actually a seat belt pre-tensioner. Pretty safe allegedly, and in the unlikely event of it going off for any reason, might only result in the urgent need to change your trousers.