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GT Seat Cable Broken

38K views 58 replies 23 participants last post by  fcurrie21 
#1 ·
Has anyone successfully managed to relace a seat cable on a GT? Mine has just gone and I am fairly sure I should be able to do this myself?

I am assuming its like a bicycle brake cable with a nipple at one end, and "all" I need to do is run the new down a conduit (?) and reconnect it at the handle end?

Any thoughts/pictures/advice gratefully recieved.
 
#2 ·
Yes I did mine, firstly i went to the helpful dearship parts manager, Quote; 'Yes the bits are about £20, the workshop techs hate doing them,its a seat out and removal of the complete seat cover.
After having a good look I concur with them, however I did fix my own, Take seat out its easy, remove the various trim bit and upolstry clips and peel/tease up the seat back cover partially to expose the mechanism, at the end of the cable there was a cast alloy crank shape that engages/disengages the seat mech. This had snapped off on mine, After thorough investigation, I decided that it would be extremly difficult if not impossible to replace the entire cable without completely removing the seat back cover. Instead I fabricated a new crankshape and joined it with an electrical chocky block,then soldered it all together as well. Tricky, but worthwhile and it has lasted, I would have liked a complete new cable but this was an option worth trying for me.
 
#7 ·
Right chaps, here goes;

This is the problem, it's the actual lever itself thats snapped, but I'm going to renew the cable too.

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The seat needs to come out, so the four allen head bolts need to be removed

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The battery needs to be disconnected before un plugging the airbag connector (although I didn't bother!) The other plug is for the heated seat.

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Once liberated from the car, take the seat indoors where it's warm and dry!

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#8 ·
Pull the leather from the securing chanel at the base of the seat

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Using a suitable implement, unclip the backing from the seat (I used my trusty, if a bit rusty) pry bar.

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The four securing clips and flap at the base (which tucks into chanel)

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And you're left with this;

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This needs to come off next;

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#9 ·
I used a stanley knife (carefully!) to un-pop the center. Once removed the knob just pulls off.

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The torx head screws need removing from both sides on the plastic side sections.

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The 17mm head bolt needs to be un-done to allow the removal of the seat belt clip.

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The chanel securing the front of seat leather needs to be pulled from the seat frame.

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The two halfs of the seat need to be seperated, this is done by disconnecting a couple of elecrical plugs and removing the four T40 torx head bolts (two each side)

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#10 ·
Removing the seat belt clip.

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A couple of cables and springs need disconnecting here.

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Now in half.

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There is some tensioning springs that attach to the frame from the cover, these just pull out of the groove.

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That strange looking fabric thing on the left is the mat for the heated seats.

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There are about ten or so upholsterers staples that need to be split. I just a pair of long nose pliers.

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#11 ·
There are these small folds in the seat backing plate which hold the seat leather in shape, I had to unfold them and release the steel rods that they retain.

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You need to gently pull the material back over the seat, undoing any staples as you go.

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Once you finally access the seat fold handle you will find, two torx head screws holding it in place.

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The cable needs unclipping from the mechanism at the bottom.

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Once released, tie a bit of string around the end, to use as a draw wire to feed the new cable back through the same route (I'll give you that tip for free ;) )

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In goes the new lever and cable.

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#12 ·
Feeding the new cable through, with my draw wire.

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Fitting the handle back the frame.

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I gave the mechanisms a good greasing whilst I was there.

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The retaining clip and metal rods I mentioned earlier

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This bit is fiddly; getting the bloody shaped rod back into lugs on the seat back.

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Starting to look like a seat again!

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#15 ·
A word of warning to anyone thinking about taking this on themselves. There are at least two different types of connectors on the end of this cable. One is a bent "L" shaped rod, like in this guide, the other is a closed loop connector.

Make sure Alfa supply you with the part relevant to your car. I found this out the hard way. Looks like I'll find out just how good Alfa's after sales is when I take it back on monday. :mad:
 
#17 ·
I'm no expert but when I was taking my seat apart I noticed the mechanism that the release cable attaches to is on the opposite side of the seat. It is covered by the round black plastic cover that runs under the seatbelt clip. I assume that greasing this would help with the sticking. Problem is I'm not sure you could remove this black plastic cover without first removing the seat. Sorry I can't be much more help.
 
#19 ·
PeakTorque you are a gentleman. That's got to be the best "how to" guide ever. Many thanks.

It looks like the sort of job that has "disaster" written all over it :)

I will have to have a think about having a go at it.

£350 at a stealers is way too much to pay for it to be fixed, the little one will have to get used to getting in from the other side...
 
#20 ·
That is a mega write up but not all required in my opinion. I did mine at the weekend and didn't have to go to quite the extreme.

I took out the seat, And I did disconnect the battery for 20 mins first, no point trying to save money if you have to pay a fortune co the airbags went off IMO

removed the back of the seat using long nose pliers to give the clips a squeeze

Unclipped the 4 staples that run up the back to expose the cable tie that holds the cable in place (stupid idea alfa)

Took the handle cover off and gently moved the leather and padding enough to get the handle out with a torx bit.

Removed the trim cover by the seat belt clip

I separated the pull handle from the cable cover (being careful not to lose the cable in to the seat back)

Then I used electrical tape to attach the hooked end of the new cable to the top of the old cable, removed the cable tie and fed the new cable through using the old one

Attached the cable at the bottom (this involved uncoupling the cable from the handle at the top to allow just enough play at the bottom, then once located the long nose pliers come in handy for coupling back up again.

Then put everything back together and refitted the seat.

Whole job took about two hours but I have a bad back at the moment which slowed me down considerably.

Good luck, not worth £350 quid in my opinion!
 
#21 ·
Thank you, Peaktorque, for one of the best walkthrough's I've seen.
The cable on my passenger seat has gone too - at least, I'm hoping it's the cable. Had something similar happen on my partner's SmartCar door release, but it was actually the wire cable sawing through the plastic door release handle over time. I am tempted to do it myself as I was able to tackle the Smart job, but am hoping that this is covered under the warranty that came with my used 56 plate GT. Fingers crossed on that one!
I'll try thebrindo's abridged version first, but your illustrated guide will be of great help.
Before I have to start it, I'd have to say that there still appears to be tension in the cable, making me think that the problem may actually lie with the plastic release handle rather than cable being broken. Is there a quick way of telling, to anyone's knowledge?
 
#22 ·
It's doable for sure. But by no means a doddle. Patience is the order of the day and watch your knuckles, when you get down to the metal it is pretty clear that Alfa never intended you to be there are the have not de burred any of the edges.
 
#23 ·
I probably over did the strip down of the seat to be honest, but I had the intention of writing it up on here after, so it was in someways deliberate.

You could get away with less of a strip down of the seat, but worst case senerio you can see how far you need to go ;)

It isn't too bad a job, you just need to be brave and take your time.

:)
 
#27 ·
That's what happened to mine.

You can't buy the handle on it's own from the stealers, but you may get one second hand.

If you do end up buying a new one then there is no reason why you can't just renew the handle and use the original cable (keep the new cable for one of those 'Alfa moments')

I only changed the whole thing because it came complete and I know that cables can snap so did them both in one hit (the GT is our 'practical family car' so the back seats get a lot of use ;) )
 
#32 ·
I replaced the passenger seat fold lever, but not the cable as it was only the lever that was broken. Although a little fiddly, it was less than half an hour's work.

BUT, the cable sems to have grown in length because now, there's about 1/8" too much slack in the cable and the cable won't operate the seat fold mechanism fully. Does anyone know if there's any adjustment, or have I dislodged something? (the cable still operates the seat fold if I pull it with pliers).
 
#34 ·
Hello, I have the same problem with the cable and i need to do it my self, the only problem is that the dealer doesn't have it in stock and it will take up to a month to get me one. Anyone knows what is the part number for the cable so I can check online if I can get it faster?
 
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