777ER

Hi,

I have a '91 Camaro RS and my driver's side seat mechanism isn't locking the seat back, as I can pull the seat foward towards the wheel without pulling up on the release tab behind it.

I have taken it out and found the spring that keeps the fold foward release lever either broken or came off...looks like a PITA to repair.

Been looking for a replacement one for the driver's side...have looked into Year One and Classic industries with no luck. None of the local junkyards has it.

Does anyone know where I can get one of these for the driver's side?

Thanks in advance!

tavert91

iTrader: (1)

I thought that these seatbacks only locked when they were in a crash situation (high forward inertia). Any other time, they were supposed to move freely and did not require the latch to be released. The latch was only there if it had to be manually released after a lock-up.

You might want to check this out further before searching for a replacement part you may not need. My 91 has worked that way since new and this is what the dealer told me when I bought it.

777ER

Apparently it doesn't seem to work that way.
That's the seatbelts doing it's job.

My '99 Z28 does lock into place and requires the lever to be pulled to unlock it to tilt foward, same thing for the '02 Firebird.

When I look into it, it appears there's a broken spring inside and when I put the screwdriver in there to put the spring into position, it locks into place until the lever is pulled.

The passenger side requires the lever to be pulled everytime to tilt the seat foward to get in the rear of the car.

tavert91

iTrader: (1)

Not so for the '91 Firebirds and, I suspect, the '91 Camaros. The text in the Owner's Manual specifically states that the only time you may need to use the latch is when the car is parked nose down on an incline. Otherwise just move the seat forward without touching the latch. I have attached a scan of the owners manual page. My car has the Optima seats but it makes no difference.

IROCKET4U

The seats are designed to flip forward without using the lever. Ive owned 2 IROC's and both worked the same as yours.

l_dis_travlr

777er:
I'm looking at the same situation on my resto project, and am resigning
myself to bustin open one of the hinges to see what the problem is.
Any way you can post a more detailed photo showing the spring you
refer to? And I take it that putting it back into place is only temporary,
that it pops back out again? How big is the spring? One might be able
to find a replacement at an honest-to-god hardware store (not Lowe's or
Home-Depot's) -- I have actually seen them.

ThePain

I keep hearing they're designed to open without the lever.. I just wonder then, why is it there?

tavert91

iTrader: (1)

See the pic of the owner's manual page in my other reply to this thread. It allowed you to release the seatback if you parked on a steep hill that would likely set the locking mechanism.

These seats were designed to move normally without having to release the latch - bad design but that's what it is.

spicy chicken

can anybody tell me if these seats will pass tech inspection at the strip i thought my seats where broken till i read this

82CrossFire Z28

iTrader: (1)

From the 1982 Camaro Service Manual

FRONT SEATS

"All styles have an inertia type front seat back lock system. This system allows the seat back to move freely without requiring the occupant to release a lock lever for access to the rear seat srea. During a sudden stop, deceleration, of if the front of the car is declined 20 degrees or more, the seat back inertia locking system locks the front seat backs in the upright position. A manual seat back lock release lever is provided to allow manual release of the inertia lock when the front of the car is declined 20 degrees or more."

FRONT SEAT BACK INERTIA LOCK CHECK

"The inertia lock is an integral part of the seat back recliner mechanism. If the inertia lock needs to be replaced, the entire recliner mechanism must be replaced."

So the locking mechanism appears to have worked the same from the 82 to the 91, and most likely the 92 model year.

The 82 Service manual information agrees with the information in the 91 Owner's manual pasted by tavert91.

The recliner mechanism is the entire metal assembly on the side of the seat in 777ER's photo.

Dave

82CrossFire Z28

iTrader: (1)

I am posting the inertial lock information from the 1982 Camaro Service Manual, as sambo88 requested it.

sambo88

Thanks heaps mate. Legend.

Also, would you know if the 4th gen reclining mechanisms are self locking or inertia locking?
Stupid government regulations dont allow the inertia locks...

Drew

iTrader: (58)

4th gens lock all the time. 3rd gens only lock when they need to lock. That **** exists for those conditions and scraping the hell out of back seat passengers shins.

sambo88

but physically they look the same in appearance? sorry to be a stickler but im in aus so parts are hard to come by so i gotto think twice about buying parts

sambo88

FYI: 4th Gen recliner mechanisms WILL fit the 3rd gen seat. hope this helps any other punters out there

z28m8

hey guys,
i have a '91 z28, my mates have an '86 iroc-z, '92 rs and a '91 rs . all our seats are the same, if you put the hinge mech in a vice slightly pointing down hill ,it does lock, i think its the same as a '80's mercedes coupe???

l_dis_travlr

For what its worth, if anybody is still interested,
here is a pic of the hinge opened up that exposes
the offending little widget.

The culprit is the little steel cyl. that rolls <forward>,
moving the arm, that trips the latch... blah blah blah.

I suspect the GM engineer that devised this, never got
to play "Mousetrap" as a child.

DaveyDug

iTrader: (3)

Ok, I have resurrected this old thread because it's the closest I've found in my extensive searches to actually being helpful.

I need some help figuring out a seat recliner problem.

Drivers seat from an 89 IROC is always reclined in the furthest rearward position. It moves freely back and forth, but will not stay in any position except fully rearward. The mechanism handle moves fine and returns completely to its resting position under spring tension exactly as it should, but it doesnt seem to actually control anything.

I pulled the recliner mechanism out and inspected it. The inertia locking feature seems to work fine, and releases as it should with the small handle on the back of the mechanism. The recliner handle, however, still seems to do nothing except move up when I pull it and move back down under spring tension.

I assumed that I had a bad recliner mechanism and ordered a used recliner on ebay that the seller claimed had been tested and was good. The part came in today.

The "new" part seems to be exactly like the one I just pulled out of the car. I installed it and I'm getting exactly the same problem. The seat only reclines all the way and does not lock in any other position.

So, I can only think of three possibilities here:

1. Both parts are bad and the seller of the ebay part was full of crap.

2. Neither part is bad, but there is some other factor at work here that I'm missing.

3. I'm ignorant as to how these seats function. I just bought the car last week, and haven't owned a 3rd gen in 20 years. I would consider this a remote possibility.

Can somebody point me in the right direction? This is getting very frustrating. I cant stand driving the car with the seat all the way back.

DaveyDug

iTrader: (3)

I need to clarify my last post a bit. Should the drivers side mechanism function exactly as the passengers side does?

When I stated that the drivers seat was in the fully reclined position I may have been incorrect. It is stuck about half as far back as the passenger side will go. The passenger side will recline pretty much until it's resting on the back seat. Should the drivers side recline that far back as well? If so, its stuck somewhere in the middle of the range and will neither recline backward or forward with either recliner mechanism.

The passenger side functions exactly as it should. The handle releases the seat back to recline and adjust backward or forward as needed.

tavert91

iTrader: (1)

Boy, you dug back a ways to find this thread! I have a '91 TA with the GTA interior seats. Both seats work the same way - pull the side lever and allow the seat to recline as far back as you want then release the lever and it holds that position until you pull the lever again and change the position. Sorry, but it does seem to tell me that there is something (I don't know what) not working properly. Good luck with the fix.

DaveyDug

iTrader: (3)

Ok, I thought so. Thanks for verifying. Does the drivers seat go all the way back until it's practically horizontal like the passengers side does?

I'm stumped because as I understand it, the recliner mechanism alone controls the seat back position, but both recliners are doing exactly the same thing. Could I really have two bad parts?

Ugh... frustrating

tavert91

iTrader: (1)

Yes, the driver's side goes back almost flat just like the passenger side. I doubt if you have gotten two "bad" parts. Remember, these are 30 year old parts. It is possible GM altered the design over the years to make them compatible with additional seats. It would reduce their cost and provide you with a part that fits but does not function exactly like the original.