Fixing B4 Front Seat Guides / Wobbly Seats

kooyajerms

grocery getter
Joined
May 5, 2004
Location
Pomona, Southern California
TDI
97 B4V (mine), 11 x5 35d (hers) 04 V10 (that one you want), 2014 Q7 (mom's) 74 Shasta 1400
*I'm sure this would apply to an A3 but someone should confirm that for me.*

Does your seat wobble? Does it topple to the side as you take a tight corner? Does it shift up and down as you hit the brakes hard? Check your guides.
As I would take some hard turns my seat would shift, and make the sensation that my suspension was crappier than it actually was. Made turns feel so loose and wobbly. No bueno! After replacing the inner guide, my sharp turns feel so much stiffer, so much more solid. It makes a difference in the drive.

Here are your part numbers. Fairly cheap still at about $15-20 for all 3. Buy them from your local dealer or 1stvwparts.com. The inner and outer guides are interchangeable from driverside to passenger side seats (just reverse them).
front guide
435881203a
retail $9.87 or $5.12
inner seat guide piece
191881213 909
retail $9.87 or $5.12
outside seat guide
171881213 b 2vk
retail $6.98 or $3.62

*First step is not necessary for the job afterall* First take off the cowling with 3 phillips screws (front, 2 that hold the adjusting handles) and pulling the adjusting knob.

Pull the cowling off away from the adjusting knob, and then on the front/side under the seat there is a black clip holding it to the metal frame. Get ready for some possible plastic breakage.

Here is your front guide for you wobbly folks that go front to back.

On the front of the seat, remove the lock by squeeze the end and pushing it through. (this lock keeps the seat from pulling back all the way on the guides)


In the rear, take off the caps of the guide rails so you can pull the seat all the way out (allowing you to attach the plastic guides)

Outside, use a screwdriver, press through the rail and then pull the cap off

Inside, pull the long cap out by hand

Seat is pulled all the way back past the rails and you replace the missing or chewed up guides. (Only my inner guide was missing)
outer

inner


Grease the rails with a dry lube.

Put the seat back into the rails with your new guides. Put the rear caps back on, slide the lock back in and put the cowling back on.


Enjoy your solid feeling front seats again.
 
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TonyJetta

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 15, 2005
Location
Tucson, Az
TDI
'15 Jetta TDI SE / '06 Jetta TDI DSG Pkg0 / '96 Passat TDI
J-
Thanks for posting this!

I have been considering replacing the bushings for the last several months. I just keep having larger problems creep up.

Tony
 

Jetter_Sprinta

Veteran Member - TDIClub Contributor
Joined
Nov 7, 2002
Location
Boston, Massachusetts
TDI
2 Peeps sharing 1 UseYerName//an array of cars
*I'm sure this would apply to an A3 but someone should confirm that for me.*
.
.
First take off the cowling with 3 phillips screws (front, 2 that hold the adjusting handles) and pulling the adjusting knob.


Here is your front guide for you wobbly folks that go front to back.


Enjoy your solid feeling front seats again.
Good info, cheap fix too:cool:.They DO make a big difference. My comments are:
1.) Is the above step necessary? I don't think so and would simply leave all that intact.
2.) While you are at it, remove the seat entirely (requires only unplugging the seat belt connector underneath, unless you have heated seat then there's an additional connection) If you recline the seat about 1/2 way, it will come out the rear door fairly easily! This gives you full access to the seat tracks themselves. If your seat does not slide front to rear easily, the likely cause is the worn plastic guides, and a bunch of built up crap in the channels. A quick cleaning and light greasing (I recommend Super Lube:)) ...will make a BIG difference:).

 

GTiTDi

TDIClub Enthusiast, Macht Schnell! Vendor , w/Busi
Joined
Oct 18, 2010
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3 Spruce st Wareham, gateway to Cape Cod Massachus
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'91 GTI CJAA swap,'02 Jetta wagon ALH swap, '03 GTI 1.8T rally car, '03 Sprinter 3500
Good info, cheap fix too:cool:.They DO make a big difference. My comments are:
1.) Is the above step necessary? I don't think so and would simply leave all that intact.
2.) While you are at it, remove the seat entirely (requires only unplugging the seat belt connector underneath, unless you have heated seat then there's an additional connection) If you recline the seat about 1/2 way, it will come out the rear door fairly easily! This gives you full access to the seat tracks themselves. If your seat does not slide front to rear easily, the likely cause is the worn plastic guides, and a bunch of built up crap in the channels. A quick cleaning and light greasing (I recommend Super Lube:)) ...will make a BIG difference:).

Exactly!
 

kooyajerms

grocery getter
Joined
May 5, 2004
Location
Pomona, Southern California
TDI
97 B4V (mine), 11 x5 35d (hers) 04 V10 (that one you want), 2014 Q7 (mom's) 74 Shasta 1400
Good points, after doing the job, that makes sense.

I did lube the rails, let me fix that.
 

john.jackson9213

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 14, 2007
Location
Miramar, Ca. (Think Top Gun)
TDI
1996 B4V
Jeremy,

Very nice write up with great pictures. Thanks for all the part numbers!

One issue. Lug_Nut posted NOT to lubricate the seat rails because 1 -that holds grit and dirt, and 2 - the guides are self lubricating.

But I do think using a dry lubricant would be a good thing and not hold any dirt or grit on the seat rails.

When I find his old post, I will edit with the link.

See post #4: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=290809&highlight=lubricating
 
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TonyJetta

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 15, 2005
Location
Tucson, Az
TDI
'15 Jetta TDI SE / '06 Jetta TDI DSG Pkg0 / '96 Passat TDI
Speaking of lubrication...what about using a dry silicone lube? I found some a couple years ago at the RV store. It's dry, and specifically mentioned to be odorless.

Tony
 

john.jackson9213

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 14, 2007
Location
Miramar, Ca. (Think Top Gun)
TDI
1996 B4V
Any dry lube sounds good to me.

Graphite powder was the first to my mind. Might be a bit messy and wastefull to apply. Silicon spray sounds easy to me, but not sure how long it will last. I like the idea of a dry silicon lube. I will check out a couple of RV supply houses on the weekend.

Cleaning seat rails and polishing the seat glides made very little difference when I did it. Will try the dry lube if I find it this weekend. If that does not help, I'll order new glides for both seats from 1stvwparts.
 

kooyajerms

grocery getter
Joined
May 5, 2004
Location
Pomona, Southern California
TDI
97 B4V (mine), 11 x5 35d (hers) 04 V10 (that one you want), 2014 Q7 (mom's) 74 Shasta 1400
You just gotta think, they were gliding around in there without all this lube we're adding to it for hmmm 12 years? It's all in the glides.
 

Jetter_Sprinta

Veteran Member - TDIClub Contributor
Joined
Nov 7, 2002
Location
Boston, Massachusetts
TDI
2 Peeps sharing 1 UseYerName//an array of cars
You just gotta think, they were gliding around in there without all this lube we're adding to it for hmmm 12 years? It's all in the glides.
..and the glides wore out! Maybe they'd still be good if there were some lubrication? Eh, probably not, IDK.
Good point on grease attracting dirt though. It's the big and sometimes sticky stuff dropped/spilled etc that make their way into the tracks that cause a lot of the problems though. I've seen some pretty rough ones:eek:...french fries seem to gravitate there!
Of course, if you are the sole driver of your B4, this seat track/glide ease is not so much of an issue. Jetter & I are swapping cars often enough where smooth running seats are worth the minor effort. (I think she would be happier if I never moved the seat from her far closer and higher position ;))

PS: Super Lube also available in spray form:cool:.
 
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Abacus

That helpful B4 guy
Joined
Nov 10, 2007
Location
Relocated from Maine to Dewey, AZ
TDI
Only the B4V left
I found 53¢ in Terry's B4, most of it embedded hard into the floor coating so they were a pain to remove.

Her seat tracks were so rusty the seat still barely moves even after I cleaned them.
 

RIP TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 16, 2000
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
TDI
'15 GSW SE 6MT...... '01 Golf GLS 5MT.... '96 Passat Variant....
I'm amazed that for the last 10 years on this site, I haven't seen a single post about broken B4 lumbar adjusters. Both of my B4s' adjustors broke early on in their life and I can't believe I'm the only one. It was one of the first things I noticed after acquiring them and one of the first things I fixed.

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but figured since it doesn't really seem to be an issue for anybody it doesn't deserve its own thread.
 

RIP TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 16, 2000
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
TDI
'15 GSW SE 6MT...... '01 Golf GLS 5MT.... '96 Passat Variant....
Jeremy, I thought the logical time to install the gloveboxes was when I replaced the climate control door foam, which is due pretty soon.
 

Jetter_Sprinta

Veteran Member - TDIClub Contributor
Joined
Nov 7, 2002
Location
Boston, Massachusetts
TDI
2 Peeps sharing 1 UseYerName//an array of cars
I found 53¢ in Terry's B4, most of it embedded hard into the floor coating so they were a pain to remove......
had to laugh...as us Diesel people are so cheap, we'll actually go through the effort:D:D


I'm amazed that for the last 10 years on this site, I haven't seen a single post about broken B4 lumbar adjusters. Both of my B4s' adjustors broke early on in their life and I can't believe I'm the only one. It was one of the first things I noticed after acquiring them and one of the first things I fixed.
None here and I've had quite few pass through. Mostly just missing knobs and many more broken cowlings(as called in post one)
 
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