3 door seat tilt and slide problem

[shariain]

I had this problem when I bought my 2004 3.2 hope fully someone might find this helpful

if you move your seat in to the fully up position using the handle on the side of your seat and then move your seat fully forward using the handle at the front. now if you look under your seat you will see a cable about 6-8" in length there is a plastic clip which should be attached to you seat this breaks and comes loose from the seat so when you tilt your seat forward the cable doesn’t have the pivot point to fully complete the movement of the component on the runner to allow the seat to slide forward and back.

Repair

trim on the back of the seat

here is the cable and you can see the broken part of the clip we are replacing

and the slide component on the runner in the locked position (will not slide)

and unlocked position (will slide)

i undone this part of the cable on the slide component as you need the seat in the tilt position to do the work and this just makes the cable slack and easier to work with. When taking the cable out you need to be careful with the locking part that connects to the clip.

And also the threaded part at the other end that has the yellow mark on it.

These can and will break if you are to ruff with it.


I used 2 cable ties to keep them in place so it wouldn’t happen again temp repair when I bought the car.

you can just see the plastic clip in the picture all I done was wrapped a cable tie around where the clip is to hold it in place and then put a cable tie up and down the way to hold the other cable tie in place as where the clip goes is rounded so the first cable tie tends to slip off and the clip will break off again ( you will not see the cable ties once you put the trim back on)

That was the temp repair I carried out now I have replaced the clip.

i phoned Stirling Audi to get a price for the clips that have broke. The clips are under a £1 , i didn't think they would sell just the clips but they do.

Part number 2004/2007 a3 Quattro 3door
1k0 881 132B passenger side
1k0 881 132C drivers side

But please check with the dealer before ordering.

 

[AndyA3170]

Just had a look at mine and the cable is the probably, the curved end is the part that's snapped, think I'd rather live with it than strip the seat down to replace the cable

 

[shariain]

It is a very easy job to replace the cable 30mins max start to finish if even that.

 

[AndyA3170]

Might have a go then, was looking at the plastic back on the seat but didn't want to be too rough with it

 

[shariain]

You don't need to remove the plastic back on the seat just the wee side tab as shown in the pics.

 

[AndyA3170]

Ah right ok, I'll nip into Audi tomorrow and get a price on the cable

 

[K3l HN]

My old man got some new seats for his a3 an this happened. Changed the clips from his old seats to his new ones abit fiddley but not difficult an really worth it's a pain when they don't go back. Need some for mine now even better you'v found the part numbers bonus

 

[mitalm]

Thank you for this! Exactly the problem I had but on my passenger side. Just ordered new clips and should be in and fixed at the weekend!

Clips are currently priced at a shocking 60p each!! :O Kidding of course!

 

[Tempy]

Didn't spot this first time around. Nice write-up mate :icon_thumright: I love a good guide with decent pictures.

 

[khalil]

very helpful

 

[vulturesquad]

Both mine are broken so i'm gonna give this a go ....thanks for guide

 

[vulturesquad]

Having so much trouble with this , ive got the cable out attatched the new clip to it but have no idea where the clip clips onto, to make it work !! .....so frustrating !

 

[shariain]

^^^ see pm

 

[vulturesquad]

Thanks for all your help shariain ....

 

[yankov]

Hi Shariain. Congrats for the usefull topic I have to repair mines too, but can't fiture it out how to remove the textile cover on the back - which covers the cables. I tried with pulling up and then down and etc it won't loose.
I have another question if you have been dealing with - my leveling function has stopped working properly on the driver's seat. I can level up the seat but not down. The handle just dont go down. Do you have an idea what is hapening.
thanks in advance

 

[Lukeyb]

You have to peel the bottom corner up and it'll come off, then push it up and the next flap will come away, then I put my fingers in behind the plastic seat back and peeled the long plastic flap off the tab and then the side long bit could come right out like in the top pics

 

[AudiA3JJ]

Just ordered mine...

Fyi...the guy i spoke to in parts department at my local audi said the code has been superseded with 1k3 at the beginning.

 

[Lukeyb]

Yes it has cos I just ordered 2 for mine too lol

 

[a3-205gti]

Very helpful thanks. Time to get mine sorted.

 

[Lukeyb]

Yes indeedy glad I found this thread as mine both didn't work, these 2 little clips and they now both work properly.

 

[yankov]

I can't loose on the back trim - textile cover, i tried to pull it out but did't work. Can you give me an advice or some pics?

 

[jordann]

I had this problem when I bought my 2004 3.2 hope fully someone might find this helpful.

I've got a feeling i'm having the same issue. My passenger seat works in the sense it moves on the rails using the lever under the seat but it doesn't slide forwards/backwards when i've got it tilted foward to either let someone out or get something from the back of the car. Is your fix for this issue or is it only for completely broken seats? Thank you.

 

[Lukeyb]

You have to peel the bottom corner up and it'll come off, then push it up and the next flap will come away, then I put my fingers in behind the plastic seat back and peeled the long plastic flap off the tab and then the side long bit could come right out like in the top pics

I can't loose on the back trim - textile cover, i tried to pull it out but did't work. Can you give me an advice or some pics?

 

[S3DUST]

I did this ''temporary fix'' on mine over 6 months ago and its still perfect. Our kids are in and out the back of the car everyday too so gets well used

 

[AudiA3JJ]

Just loosen the bottom. I did mine without the top undone as I couldn't get hang if it either.

 

[BishBosh]

Where are the pictures? They are showing as not found.
Any idea why they are not showing? I have seen them before but now i've got a few days off and want to have a crack at fixing the problem.

 

[jdp1962]

Where are the pictures? They are showing as not found.
Any idea why they are not showing? I have seen them before but now i've got a few days off and want to have a crack at fixing the problem.

If the original poster has removed the pics from the hosting site, they won't appear.

 

[BishBosh]

Arghhh....I've found some i think are related on a google search. I will upload them here to see if anyone can enlighten me. Some may not be related to the issue or the instructions but i recognised some. They may help someone if not me in this instance.

 

[Jp.]

Anyone know the part number or name of the whole cable? I have my drivers side which is broken and won't stay attached the replacement clips which are mentioned above.

 

[plutopants]

Just done the repair to both seats on my 3 door A3 2007. It was fiddly, but worth it.
Having read all I could, I still didn't realise I didn't need to remove the seat back. All is achieved by lifting off the flap at the bottom rear corner of the the seat. As I said, it's fiddly, but possible. The broken clip simply hooks over the bottom edge and then clips in to the same bracket, striding a circular fulcrum-type hinge.
One tricky issue I had was that there was debris left by the previous clip in the hole the new one was trying to clip into. Once I had cleared this (with a mixture of blind noodling and luck with a small screwdriver, it all made more sense.
Once you work out the physics of the mechansim, both the seat tilt and the seat foward and back, it is easier.
On my car, it seems the clip is partially held in its housing by the tension of the cable. Once everything was connected, all was well.
My passenger seat had actually got its levers swapped round for some reason, so the seat tilt was below the seat sliding lever. Forcing them around each other sorted this out - but my clip was still broken and, after doing the other one in 2 hours, it took me 5 minutes.
Much of my wasted time was simply due to not realising all could be done in-situ under the flap, and not messing around trying to prise the seat back off - which still seems to be awkward.
It makes such a difference having sliding seats again!!

 

[DJ_26]

I used this guide recently also to fix my driver seat, once you look at how the seat is supposed to work on the other side, it all makes sense. The seat clip component has a three pronged clip on one side of it which slots into a square-shaped hole on the metal frame. On my clip, one of the prongs was broken, so the entire clip was not stable. The hook part of the clip was not broken on mine, but the tension of the cable kept making the clip component burst out of it's correct position, meaning the lever on the seat rail was not being lifted and therefore the seat remained locked <--- The problem. The new clip is stronger and slots in securely. If anyone needs a hand with this particular repair, let me know!

 

[mattlfc09]

I used this guide recently also to fix my driver seat, once you look at how the seat is supposed to work on the other side, it all makes sense. The seat clip component has a three pronged clip on one side of it which slots into a square-shaped hole on the metal frame. On my clip, one of the prongs was broken, so the entire clip was not stable. The hook part of the clip was not broken on mine, but the tension of the cable kept making the clip component burst out of it's correct position, meaning the lever on the seat rail was not being lifted and therefore the seat remained locked <--- The problem. The new clip is stronger and slots in securely. If anyone needs a hand with this particular repair, let me know!

 

[mattlfc09]

hi guys any got any pics on how to do this cheers

 

[poopot]

Try this...

http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,37400.0.html?PHPSESSID=p6550np73gi8quh4ci4dr3i067