Hello All!!

Hopefully, this works out, first time trying to post pictures, so bear with me!!

Here goes nothing!!

I spoke about this before under the seat belt button recall thread, about how to repair a non-retracting seat belt, well here are the photos to show you all the "fix"!!


The problem, slack seat belt, won't retract!!


The problem, slack seat belt, won't retract, different angle!!


To fix the problem, start by removing the four screws holding the rear headliner trim!!


Remove the screw from the side panel!!


Remove the screw from the speaker trim panel!!


Remove the seat belt escutcheon, be careful, do not break the retaining tabs!!!


The seat belt retractor, be careful with the headliner, be gentle!!


The seat belt retractor, again!!!


Now begins the fix, remove the plastic cover on the right hand side, with a flat tipped screw driver!! There are four holes that locate it properly, it just pops off!!


The culprit!!! The spring loaded arm is jammed in it's slot!! This is what makes the seat belt not retract!!!


Use a flat tipped screw driver to lift the spring loaded arm out of it's slot!! This will release the seat belt, and should result in your seat belt retracting back into the retractor at a high rate of speed!!!

If your seat belt doesn't retract, try to lift up on the inertia lock, this may have jammed it's self also!!

A little WD-40 sprayed into the spool shaft ends will also help, de-gum the seat belt!!

If all this still fails to retract your seat belt, you may have a broken clock spring on the left hand side!!

That will be another "fix" to do!!


The spring loaded arm moved out of it's slot!!


Success!! The seat belt retracted!!!!


To fix it permanently, place the spring loaded arm down underneath the retractor frame!!

You may also have had the gray gear come off it's pinion gear, don't worry, take it out also!!!

The spring loaded arm will be retained in the down position by the cover once it's replaced on the retractor!!!


Another view of the position of the spring loaded arm's final resting place!!!


The cover re-installed, the spring loaded arm retained outside of the retractor, not able to get jammed into it's slot again!!


Another view of the "fix"!!


Doesn't that look better!!! A fully functional seat belt!! The only thing this seat belt doesn't do now, that it did before, is it won't stay slack!! There will always be some tension against your chest from the seat belt, the "comfort feature" has been disabled!!

Now, go out and fix your thirdgen!!!

Total time approx. 15 minutes!!!

 

Just yank on it from different angles... it eventually will click and retract... or hit up a junkyard, or buy a 3 point seat belt...

 

Hello KNBlazer!!

Yanking on it takes all the fun out of taking it apart, and fixing it!!!

 

Thanks for showing that! Was able to get my passenger seatbelt to retract.

 

Nice - should be made into a tech article!

 

Hello Mange99!!

This is what these boards are for, helping others!!!



P.S. Pass this around to as many thirdgen owners that you know!! It may just come in handy to them, down the road!!!

 

Hello camaronewbie!!

Check out the FAQ board!!!

Close enough to a tech article!!

 

Hello all!!

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank "JT" the administrator/mod for fixing up my photos on this thread, without him, my thread would only have been a re-direction to my photo album for the "fix"!!

Thanks JT

 

Great info and pics.

I had mine go bad about a month ago but was kinda hesitant.

Now with the pics and great writeup, that is Sundays job on the Z.

Very good job!

 

Hello topduarte!!



Spread the word, there is a jammed seat belt retractor "fix"!!

 

Wow, great write-up! Now I know what to do if that ever happens in my camaro. What does that little spring loaded arm that u moved out of the way do? What's it's purpose?

 

It's called the inertia lock...

OP, you do realize that your "permanent fix" is illegal, right? (any competent shop and tech is supposed to pull on the belt to see if it will lock and no lock is an automatic failure) And that now you will be seriously hurt in the event of a collision, since the seatbelt will NEVER lock again?

 

Whether Dan61's fix is legal or not, I don't know. However, if I understand correctly, the feature that is being overridden locks the belt from retracting not extending. It's the extending of the seat belt that must stop (or "lock") during an accident, and as near as I can tell this fix in no way affects or disables that functionality.

 

Hello Maverick H1L!!

The seat belt is not supposed to "lock" by pulling out on it with your hand!!

The inertia lock has nothing to do with the mod that I show, as the inertia lock is a whole separate mech, and it is located to the rear of the retractor, not the side!!

As per the service manual: "The shoulder belt remains unlocked to allow the occupants to move freely while the vehicle is being operated. When the vehicle decelerates or changes direction abruptly, the shoulder belt is locked in positon by a pendulum that causes a locking bar to engage a cog of the retractor mechanism." (This is the inertia lock)

decelerates or changes direction abruptly, to me, this implies motion, and you don't get vehicle motion to actuate the inertia lock by pulling out the seat belt with your hand!!

The mod is done to the "Comfort Lock" feature!! As per the service manual: "The retractor has a comfort lock feature that allows the occupant to adjust the shoulder belt for proper fit and comfort. When engaged, the comfort lock prevents full retraction of the webbing to eliminate occupant discomfort due to the webbing load on the shoulder."

This "Comfort Lock" feature is what prevents the seat belt from retracting, as you can see in my photos, once I remove the jammed "Comfort Lock" feature's spring loaded wire from the slot, the seat belt retracts fully!!

The grey gear that is also seen in the photos, is what "lifts" the spring loaded wire from it's slot. If the wire stays in the slot at end of the seat belts travel, and the grey gear has "slipped", the wire gets stuck into the slot, and you cannot pull the seat belt out any more to get the grey gear to lift the spring loaded wire out of the slot, this results in a jammed, fully extended seat belt!!

(The inertia lock prevents forward movement of the seat belt, keeping you in your seat, the comfort lock feature (when broken) prevents the seat belt from going backwards into the retractor!!)

The mod on the "Comfort Lock" feature makes the seat belt retractor behave like a second generation Camaro seat belt, it will move with the occupant, and it will lock up in the event the vehicle decelerates, or changes direction abruptly!!



Take one apart, and you will quickly see what I mean!!

 

Hello DerrenZ!!

Exactly!!!

 

Hello chevydrvr!!

It gives you a means for keeping the seat belt a little slack against your chest.

Think of a roll up blind, and how that works, same deal, just a different way of acheiving it.

The spring loaded arm has a wire at the end of it, which rides in a groove with some hooks at set points.

There is a grey gear that has a raised area, that when rotated, lifts the spring loaded arm up, and releases the seat belt back into the retractor.

When the grey gear malfunctions, it causes the wire to stay in the groove until you have pulled the seat belt all the way out.

This in turn prevents the seat belt from being able to be retracted.

Once you lift the spring loaded arm out of its hook in the groove, the seat belt retracts perfectly.

To prevent this from happening again, moving the spring loaded arm to the place that you see in my photos, works!!

 

I have taken mine apart... Had to lube it to get it to work right as mine would never retract right. Watched how the belt mechanism worked as I made sure that nothing was binding and holding the belt from retracting at proper speed (used to be ungodly slow and hang halfway retracted... Said "comfort lock" still hangs and leaves my belt loose on my shoulder). Go out and yank yours nice and hard and then tell me it's not supposed to lock when pulled by hand. The procedure is as is described in the NYSI (NY safety inspection) guide CR79... "All seatbelts must be checked for proper locking by being pulled by hand. Any belt that fails to lock is an automatic failure of the vehicle."

And then there is the morality of the issue... I know I would NEVER want to step into a vehicle that I knew the seatbelts had been modified in and that I would NEVER modify the seatbelts in my own not knowing what said modification may do in the event of a collision and whether I'd live to tell about it or not. Aside from a 4 or 5-point harness with a safety cage, of course.

 

Hello Maverick H1L!!

First Point: I searched out your NY State DMV Motor Vehicle Inspection regulations, CR -79 (03/08) Art 79.21 (k) and I found nothing that states "All seatbelts must be checked for proper locking by being pulled by hand. Any belt that fails to lock is an automatic failure of the vehicle." See the attachments for what I did find.

Point me to your quote!!

Second Point: How would the inertia lock be activated by pulling out the belt by hand, if there is no mechanical or electrical attachment of the two systems in this particular retractor?

Explain it to me!!





Third Point: The morality issue.......!!!! How could you even let someone in your car, knowing that you did nothing to actually help keep them safe???? 15 minutes to remove/replace 6 screws, and fix a seat belt that could actually save their life in the event of a mishap!! When the seat belt retractor is stuck in the fully extended position, they have no chance of being restrained, with the seat belt in the fully retracted position, once the inertia lock, locks up, they will be afforded the chance of being a survivor!!

The device that I have disabled is not the inertia lock, that piece of wire is strong enough to prevent the retractor from winding back up, but not strong enough to prevent a person from flying forward in the event of a sudden impact. If you "really" looked at the retractor, you would see this, and also the fact that the wire would become disengaged from the hook in the slot as the retractor would spool outwards/forwards!!!



P.S. I also have a white 1987 Camaro IROC-Z, with perfectly functioning seat belts, and I tried your suggestion about yanking my seat belts nice and hard. I couldn't get them to lock up!! I never have and never will be able to get them to lock up doing that, as they are not designed to work that way!!

I can get them to lock up when I jump on the brakes nice and hard, as the inertia lock reacts to the abrupt deceleration!!

 

No luck for me, I believe it is the broken clock spring as the seat belt never retracted.

I believe I have to remove the whole assembly to replace the clock spring, is that correct?

 

I'm just glad mine are working fine so I don't have to find out the hard way if this fix works or not. Thanks anyway guys, very informative.

 

Hello topduarte!!

The inertia lock may have been activated, and jammed!! Once the comfort lock wire has been removed, and placed in the disabled position, use a longer screw driver inside the rear of the retractor, and lift the inertia lock bar upwards, this should release it from the ratchet!!

If that doesn't retract the seat belt, then it's possible that the clock spring has broken, and yes, you will have to remove the retractor from the roof to fix that properly!!



P.S. Of the three that I have done this fix to, one of them, a drivers side did the same as you have described, and didn't retract once the comfort lock wire was removed, but using the screw driver to lift the inertia lock worked!!

 

Hello topduarte!!

Does your retractor have a spring wire on the outside of the clock spring side, and/or is your clock spring cover held on by two screws???

The reason that I ask is, there is a recall for 1985 Camaros/Firebirds for this problem, 85V169000 is the recall campain number!!!

What the recall says basically is that the clock spring cover needs to be held tightly to the retractor body, or else it will move away from the body preventing the belt from retracting. They fix it by putting a spring wire from the front to the back of the retractor along the clock spring cover, but if your clock spring cover is held on by two screws, you don't get the spring wire, but you should get a new retractor!!

 

Hello Davidgou!!

Since you say your seat belts are working fine, I have a question to ask, If you pull your seat belts fast out of the roof retractor do they lock up???

P.S The car must be sitting on level ground!!!



I can see possibly the 4th gens doing the lock up, but not the third gens, unless it's late in the run like 1990 -1992, and that's a bit of a stretch backwards!!!

 

Hello Davidgou!!

What is the hard way?????

 

cool thanks......

 

Hello 83C_CamAroZ28!!

 

I will look at it again this evening. I did try messing with the inertia lock, or at least what I thought was the inertia lock with a longer skinnier screwdriver unless I was not close to the inertia lock.

Do you have a pick of the location of the inertia lock?

Thanks alot!

 

Hello topduarte!!

I don't have any real good pictures other than the ones on this "fix", however, if you insert your long skinny screw driver in from the rear keeping to the right hand side of the retractor, you will contact the ratchet wheel, you should be able to lift up on one of the teeth of the ratchet wheel, and that should free up the inertia locking bar!!

"or"

Same side, and entrance location, you can put the skinny screw driver over the inertia lock's pendulum hanging bar, and over the spool, and lift up the inertia locking bar it's self!!



That's the best that I can do, without a picture!!



Try this, see the picture below, try unlatching the tabs (circled in red) at the back of the retractor, this will undo the bottom cover, then you can get right up inside the retractor, without removing it!!

Push the screw driver up against the inertia locking bar, and/or the teeth on the ratchet wheel, this should free up the ratchet wheel!!

Spray the pivot points with some WD-40 to free up the mechanism!!!

 

Ok well i need help alot of it the black plastic piece snapped out i dont know how to get it back into place.

 

Got it took me two hours to snap the black plastic piece in both inserts that killed me seriously. It was horrible.

 

Hello xxCamaroXX09!!

Depending on the colour of your interior, you could have three black plastic pieces, which one was it??

1. The guide that sits outside of the headliner

2. The guide that sits at the bottom of the retractor

3. The black plastic cover on top



I'm guessing that it was # 2

?

 

Hello xxCamaroXX09!!

How did you do it?

 

Hello All!!

Anybody got any questions about this "fix", I thought that this would be a good topic for a real long discussion!!

 

Hello triska!!

Send me a picture of your problem!!



As for the auto repair link that you have linked to above, it is not the same seat belt set up as in a thirdgen, therefore it would probably only give you a vague solution!!

 

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to swap the old belts with new ones if you have a ceiling retractor like this? I have an 82 Firebird and the car is not with me this winter but I have been told my retractor is like the ones pictured, not on the floor like most of the 3rd gens. I'm redoing my interior with new belts but I only see floor retractors available from the numerous belt vendors (seatbeltsplus, ssnake-oyl, etc). My initial thought was to remove the old belt from the retractor and simply put the new belt through it but I've read on here about the nightmare involved in that process. Where would one go to have new belts professionally installed into them?

 

Hello LoneCrusader!!

You could have your seatbelts re-webbed by one of the places that you mentioned, as I do believe that they will do that for you!!

Are your retractors still functional??

I do believe the same places can also repair your retractors, but I'm not 100% sure on that!!



The best bet is to e-mail them, or call them and ask!!

The worst answer you could get is NO, and that would be free!!

 

my drivers side seatbelt in my 84 z28 is malfuntioning, it wont retract, but everthing seems to be okay, the plastic cap is still on, its pulled right out, and will not go back in the pasengers is fine. what can i do?

 

Ive done what i can and it will not retract i beleive my spring on the left side is broken what can i do?

 

Hello 84Camarodriver!!

Have you done/tried the "fix" like the pictures show?

If so, and you still have no joy, try releasing the inertia lock bar as decribed in this thread, as it may have locked into place.

If you have done all this and still no joy, you may possibly have a broken clock spring, this will require you to remove/replace it at your own risk.

If your not comfortable doing any of this, you can always buy a seat belt assembly on ebay, you might not get your colour choice, but at least it should work!!

You could also PM me some pictures of your retractor while your doing the "fix", and maybe I can help you out that way!!

 

Hey its great to see other canadians on the board!, i see you have a nice line up of third gens!, i ended up picking up some belts from a 83' that were brown witch is perfect but after installing the new retractor and belt, i noticed the 83 belt wouldnt "click" into the stock 84 seatbelt receiver so i had to put in the 83 receiver to make it work, its slightly diffrent but works well thanks!

 

Hello 84 Camarodriver!!

Thanks for noticing the line up!!!



Now that you have removed your old seat belt, it's easier to work on it!!!

Check out the pics at the beginning of this thread, and maybe you can "fix" your seat belt!!

Start with the comfort lock feature!!!

 

Hello!

If the belts go back really slowly, but other way works ok, its possibly have problem with the comfort lift or with the main retractor spring (called clock spring). Some says i must have to pry off its housing (do not remove just, to let its 3 small leg free) and rotate back a few to get more tension. I fear to do it, because its plastic and later the spring can push it off.

So what is the logical way to fix a working, just very slowly retracting belt (it takes 35-40 second or more to retract.

 

Hello zuhi !!!

I don't believe it's your clock spring, as you said it does retract, but very slowly, try putting a squirt of WD-40 at the ends of the retractor spool !!!

After 22 - 32 years (depending on which year of thirdgen you have) of collecting hair, etc, and the factory grease just getting gummed up, a little WD-40 should work !!!

Give that a try, and let me know how it turns out for you !!!

 

OK i just want to skip removing the carpet. But it looks like i must, to have access to the screws.. But when its in my hand i will lube the moving parts with it.

 

DONE!
The WD did its job. No secret why favorite since 1953
I had to remove the carpet (back side lowered) (removed just the A b pillars (hardtop) and upper trim and roof lamp and belt covers. Removed the unit, and get off the cap (black part) and lubricated the ratchet. The belt is immediately run back as i rolled over the gear one rotation. But basically was no mess in the unit. Jut looks loosed the factory slipping formula. So hope fully it will done for a while. Thanks for the info!

Others users do not forget to do it when the units are accessible! Highly Recommended!

 

Hello zuhi !!!

I'm glad that it all worked out for you !!!



While you have it out, you could fix the comfort lock fixture so that you wouldn't have to worry about that at a later date, but if that feature is working fine for you at this time, you could just leave it !!!!

 

Not was necessary belt working as it should. Lock end retracts moves freely for tyne movements As i understand from prev. post. If that latch fails the belt wont retract. But mine did so possibly no problem. Also no one was taking apart previously so the cam again possibly still in the original position near be the gear.

 

Hello zuhi !!!

 

Awesome, I just did this and fixed my seat belt!

 

Hello 84Z28dude !!!!

Glad that it worked for you !!!!!!