Saturday, March 26, 2011

Squeaky driver seat



Anyone ever try to get to the foam/seat area under the upholstery? My seat has developed a serious squeak sounds like and old squeaky bed

Reply 1 : Squeaky driver seat



My driver's seat squeaks slightly when I over a speed bump. Reminds me of an old bus . I actually have a spare seat in the garage which has the rail removed (the spare one I bought for my electric seat conversion) so I might take the fabric and cushion off to see what would cause the squeak. I'll post pics if I find anything useful

Reply 2 : Squeaky driver seat



Cool, yeah I might try to see if the seats from my wife's 98 corolla fit my 94..if they do, I may go to a junkyard and find a pair.

Reply 3 : Squeaky driver seat



^Direct bolt on. I've got the 01 S seats.

Reply 4 : Squeaky driver seat



I had some time on my hands so I decided to pull my spare seat apart and I think I may have figured out what would cause the squeaking



Underneath the seat there are 3 springs. Two of them have nylon spacers/clips around them to prevent metal-on-metal contact which would cause squeaking, however the third spring is held in by a metal clip on each side that holds it tightly against the metal frame of the seat base. My guess is that the top clips become loose over the years which causes the spring to rub against the metal, which then scrapes the paint off the spring and causes the annoying squeak. That's the only thing I could see which could potentially cause the squeak (my spare seat doesn't squeak so I couldn't replicate the exact problem).



To fix the problem, you could put a packer around the end of the spring to stop the metal-on-metal contact, or press the tab so it closes tighter (if it's loose in the first place). If you go for the packer idea then you could use a thin tubular piece of plastic (such as what you get on the end of an electrical plug when you buy a new TV etc), or just try wrapping it in electrical tape. I can't guarantee that either of these methods will fix the problem, but I can't see any other parts that would cause the squeaking.



In order to get to the frame off the seat base, you'll have to un-clip the fabric. There are 5 metal clips holding it against the frame at the front which easily pry back with a small flat-head screwdriver. There are also a number of circular clips (a bit like a miniature keyring) on the back-end of the seat base. You'll have to either pry these out (they're quite flexible) or unhook them like you would with a keyring. After that the frame will come off the bottom (there's no need to remove the fabric from the cushion, which I found out is actually glued in place).



Here's some photos I took:


























































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