Any "how tos" showing how to fix the 1998 A3 seats?

[luckymacy]

I have a new to me 1998 Audi A3 which has no shortage of surprises to date. I still haven't found the source(s) of the rear leaks per a different thread... My passenger seat, without anyone sitting in it, can freely move forward/backwards a few inches over a center pivot under the seat. It seems unsafe to be able to that anytime it wants and I was wondering if that was actally the result of something broken in the seat which is allowing this to happen. I'm pretty sure that's the case since the driver's side won't do the same maneuver until the seat lever is depressed to facilitate people getting in and out of the back.

But I haven't been able to figure out how the two seats are 'wired' differently. I think whatever is broken that I'm looking for is buried out of plain sight. I'm reluctant to take them out and further compare until I can find some pictures or a video that describes what to look for...anyone have a link to what I need?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Tcrichton]

The seat movement to get people in the back is pretty nifty!

I removed my drivers seat in order to replace the seat belt buckle... it really wasn't that hard to remove (haynes helped).

I already had the ABS light on my dash so I wasn't fussed about unplugging the seat, I assume that if you disconnect the battery it won't notice, maybe it won't notice as long as you don't turn the ignition on...

Once I had my seat out it was pretty easy to understand the mechanism so I'm sure you'd be able to see what was missing, or compare it to the other seat, it is probably a spring or latch...

Good luck!

 

[luckymacy]

What's the ABS light? anti lock braking system is the only thing that comes to mind and that surely isn't it. Sounds duh on my part but I'm having a hard time deciphering that acronym taking in to account it has something to do with the drivers seat of a '98 Audi A3!!!!

Also take into account I have no real books for this car and Haynes doesn't sell this in the US. The car wasn't brought into the county on this platform so I'm 'unique'. My stupid dash LCD no longer really works well enough to read anything intelligible if you are referring to that...

 

[luckymacy]

Just a follow up. I found the problem and fixed it. There's an odd shaped piece of metal on the door side, rear area of the lower seat (seat pan) that just kind of sticks up out into nowhere when the top half of the seat is bent over forward. It rests under the top half of the seat when the top half is in the full upright position. Something in the top half of the seat much catch it and prevent the seat from rotating forward. Don't understand how but when I bent the metal to match the drivers side piece of metal, it suddenly work as designed! Whew, I avoided taking the seat apart!!! This piece is rather poorly designed and exposed to everyone trying to crawl in and out of the back and it's easily stepped on or otherwise twised/bent.