Creaky seat in old Merc!

[Eggman]

Hi all,

My 1984 W123 has a really creaky driver's seat.... it creaks when i accelerate/brake. Not sure if its the springs inside the bolster or the floor fixings, but it would be great to eliminate it somehow. Has anyone else experienced this in an old Merc?

Cheers.

 

[w123robbo]

The seat base can be a weak spot and they rust and can snap .Take it out and have a look its only 4 bolts

 

[outsmartsmart]

Also the seat base is usually a wire 'mesh' affair (often now a rubber sheet on more modern cars). If the wire mesh type, probable on an 1984 car, they can 'dry' out and the metal creaks as it rubs across itself.

Once your seat is out to check the base squirt a bit of WD40, chain lube or even funiture polish onto it and it will be OK again. You may be able to squirt it up without removing seat for a simple/quick check?

 

[television]

WD40 dries and Silicon or PTFE does not and much better,WD40 is a release agent,,not a lubricant

 

[Eggman]

Thanks for the suggestions, hopefully i'll have a go at it at the weekend. Television, what is PTFE? Can you recommend a specific product?

 

[wireman]

PTFE, polytetraflouroethylene, aka teflon/fluolion
a soft white thermosetting plastic with extremly low coefficients of static and sliding friction, its almost as slipery as wet ice. Its electrical properties are outstanding as an insulator. It comes in several forms and flavours but as a lubricant it is very (<1 micron) small particles in a suspension fluid.

There are cans of teflon grease, oils and dry lube available, use the dry product for your job not the oil/grease with ptfe/teflon.

DO NOT SMOKE WHILST USING IT!

The polymer will begin to decompose at 250C upwards, at 400C it will decompose immediately and emit hydrogen flouride, one of the most nasty chemicals on earth which will rot glass or anything else it gets on. HF is used to make among other things silicon integrated circuits and nuclear fuels and was used to etch the glass in those nice victorian pub windows, it is hygroscopic and requires at least one million times its own volume of water to even start to reduce its agrresion. If hot vapors are breathed in it may be close to your last breath. Very few materials can resist its agression and then only temporarily.

At temperatures below 250 it is quite harmless.

HF is also used to make flexible brake hoses so dont burn them either.

 

[Eggman]

Ulp, sounds thoroughly unpleasant! Can i buy this toxic waste in Halfords, or do i need to contact the KGB? And once i have some of the dry stuff, how do i apply it to my seat?

 

[Dosco]

Ulp, sounds thoroughly unpleasant! Can i buy this toxic waste in Halfords, or do i need to contact the KGB? And once i have some of the dry stuff, how do i apply it to my seat?

By the sound of it in bl**dy freezing conditions and as an extra 'elf an safety caution keep your air con permanently on the coldest setting

 

[television]

Good description by wireman,, its also used on router cutters to stop them from burning, available from tool shops as well

 

[Merco34]

Are you sure its the seat not the seatbelt where it comes out of the door pillar ? as mine squeaks and originally i thought it was the seat .

 

[television]

Are you sure its the seat not the seatbelt where it comes out of the door pillar ? as mine squeaks and originally i thought it was the seat .

Good thinking,, often good to have someone else sitting in the seat moving to make it squeak and you kneel down outside and listen

 

[outsmartsmart]

ooh er

Good thinking,, often good to have someone else sitting in the seat moving to make it squeak and you kneel down outside and listen

Isn't that what Gillian Taylforth used as an excuse when caught by the police in a compromising position in a layby......

 

[Eggman]

Thanks for all the advice, people. I bought some of that 'dry' lubricant in Halfords (can't really see what's so dry about it) and generally squirted it about on the seatbelt clips and where the two parts of the seat join, and bingo!.. no more creaking. Thankfully couldn't see any rust down there, but did discover that the four bolts holding the seat to the floorpan had been replaced with much longer cross-head screws with 4 nuts inserted on each to raise the seat by about one and a half inches! Not sure how safe that is, so i'm going to have to remove the seat anyway and replace the bolts.

 

[television]

Sorry that we do get carried away on some post, its our vivid imagination