How To Remove a Seat Adjustment Cable (Seat Won't Move)

How to remove a VW R32 seat, and replace a broken seat adjustment cable. If your seat doesn't move backward or forward and stuck in one spot, the cable may be broken, or need to be cleaned. Thank to 3-IN-ONE for partnering with me on this DIY. This seat removal will be very similar on many VWs including MK4 Golf, Beetle, Jetta, and B5, B5.5 Passat.


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[HumbleMechanic]

This will apply to the passenger side seat as well. Thank you guys for watching, links to everything including some tools are in the description.

[KirkNorton]

Dude. You are a lifesaver. Thank you for making these clear, concise, and generally awesome tutorials. Just fixed the seat in my GF's Jetta wagon in under 30 minutes.

[adamkiss]

Huge up for you mate! My cars passenger seat has the same problem. The plastic part was good, so I tried to clean the lock pin without removing the seat from the car. It was way harder because of the tiny place, but still could do it. I gave it a WD40 bath and put it back. Now smooth as F. Thank you for this awesome video! I wish I could give you 1000 like for this! Keep it up!

[josephinemary]

Thanks so much for a really clear video! My 2003 Golf seat wasn't locking into position and your tip to lubricate the pin was all I needed to do - without removing the seat :-)

[KeithHearnPlus]

Thanks for this video. You explained everything very well and it was very easy to see what you were doing. My wife's Beetle had a dirty plunger and wouldn't re-engage once you had the seat in position, rendering the car unusable. I had looked in there and seen that it was using a bowden cable, but needed your video to tell me how to get to it. I was barely able to pull it out of the tube, it was so dirty. A little WD-40 and it cleaned right up. I then used the cleaning rod from my 9mm pistol to clean the inside of the tube. A patch with Break-Free CLP that I use for the pistol, then a little scrubbing with the bore brush, then another patch to get the loosened dirt out. One more wet patch to lubricate it and then everything was nice and easy to slide.

[seandenning]

I had the issue with the pin not slotting back in on my 2003 1.4 golf, this video enabled me to sort it from seat out to seat in within 40 mins with no issues! Also managed to refurb the cable in there. Thanks alot!

[davidworsham]

I'm so glad I watched your video, otherwise I would have been spinning my wheels. Very helpful. The hardest part was putting the plastic cable guide back in its slot. Thank you.

[johnfribley]

Thank you so much. I was struggling with this repair. Your video helped me get it done. I liked you showing putting the shop rag over the battery post as the wire wants to reset it self on to the post. Cleaned up pin and applied lock lube. All is good, wife is happy.

[capnjimmy]

I found this very interesting. I work for an automotive supplier who makes several products for almost all oems. I specialize in seat structures. We do not do much seat business vw. These seat structures are somewhat different than a bout all other seat structures. Most systems seem to copy each other but this is quite different. I appreciate this videos.I often get new to me products which I'm ask to test, fix, or benchmark. Having no knowledge of that seat structure I often find my self on YouTube looking for videos just to see basically how it looks works and can be removed.

[gignaposixsix]

Dude, you are a pro. Thank you for this, the more I see these videos, the more I need to improve my tool set. 😀

[austinshupe]

Hahaha i just did this a week ago. I removed all the seats and cleaned my carpet on my 02 vr6 gti. I love your videos and i love how much detail goes into them. Keep up the amazing

[wyattoneable]

Thanks Charles. Your videos flow very nicely and the step by step instructions were spot on.

[robertherrera]

I have a '72 Beetle and while this in no way applies to my vehicle I still enjoyed this video as well as all your others. Keep it up, Charles. 😊

[ForgeAheadOriginal]

Best video, I've found on this procedure, so far.

[bates]

Thank you so much for making the best VW tutorials ever

[portagekix]

First, thanks for the video. The whole channel is an incredible resource. Kudos. Here's my issue: I have a 2007 Rabbit with 2 doors, which means that I have the handle/latch on the top left of the seat which is supposed to release the seat to bend the seat forward as well as slide it forward. for easier access to allow people/stuff into the back seat. In my car, the top latch bends to seat forward but doesn't slide it forward. Here's the weird part: the lever under the front of the seat still allows the seat to move forward fine when the seat is engaged in normal sitting position. This is on the drivers side. The passenger side works fine (except for the damn faulty airbag wire underneath...). If I didn't have kids that I had to get into and out of the back seat, I wouldn't care. Anyway, was hoping for some insight. Thanks for all you do!

[craig]

Thanks for your excellent video, I had the pin stuck open problem and thanks to your video I knew exactly where that WD40 had to go.

[VersaVoicePodcast]

Great video. If you got your pin stuck and the seat is not locking or unlocking try putting a lot of penetration oil like PB blaster on where the pin is. It immediately released my seat locking pin and I didn't remove my seat :)

[annecapellen]

You’re today’s hero! Thanks very much for this super informative video!

[Michace]

Great video as always, Charles! Love the r32 build!