W124 interior questions - Coupe

[JeremyG]

Hi All,

Just bought a '96 E320 Coupe - nice!

Anyway, a couple of questions on dismantling the interiors of these cars before I start trashing things:

1) How do I remove the grilles over the rear speakers on the parcel shelf?

2) How do I remove the rear seats?

3) The seatbelt extenders don't work. Interior lights work as expected, but there is no movement and no motor noise from either of the extenders. Fuses look OK (Fuses B and 1) so I guess I need to remove the rear trim panels and take a look. I'm assuming this is easy once you've done 2) above, but can anyone provide any guidance on this and more general troubleshooting on these things???

Cheers,

Jeremy

 

[jibcl500]

Sounds to me like you have some weekends ahead of you, rear seats, the bottom part should have a red tab sticking out at the front that releases the bottom part. The back part will have two 10mm nuts or bolts behind the centre arm rest, once the rest is in the down position the will be a cover the same as the seat material, they are behind that. The seat them lifts up towards the roof and unhooks.

The speaker grills will have screws which will be visible once the seat is out, the seat also need to be removed to remove the door cards in the rear, remove the wood trim (press fit) and some scews jotted about on the base of the card and middle and the card then lifts up away from the side.

The butler mech is behind the card so remove the seat belt from the floor end.

Make sure the door interior light switches are clean, they are easy to remove and take apart, they get mucky inside and the belts take a signal from them.

jib

 

[JeremyG]

Thanks for the reply - am hearing a click from behind the rear door cards when pressing the door light switches so assume electrics are working OK for the seatbelt extenders as far as the motor solenoids. I'm guessing the motors have gone - but will remove the cards tomorrow to investigate further.

Next thing - can anyone tell me how to remove the front door cards? I can see clips round the edges of the card - but are there any screws/bolts hidden away?

 

[JeremyG]

Resolved my problem with seatbelt extenders. After removing and testing the extenders I found the motors worked fine, and the cog wheels in the drive mechanism were also fine. Given the interior lights were also working correctly, I removed the interior light switches (two for each door) to find the upper switches were wired as normal (these control the lights themselves) whereas the lower switches had been bypassed with their wires shorted together. I reconnected the wires to the switches and bingo, working seatbelt extenders. In other words, looks like the seatbelt extenders had been intentionally disabled.

As a precaution, I'm keeping the cables used to short out the switches in case the extenders turn out to be really annoying...

 

[tivoliman]

Yes - but to I pull, push or tug?

the bottom part should have a red tab sticking out at the front that releases the bottom part.

jib

Agreed - saw them there (the red tabs) but didn't know what to do with them.

The red tabs point out and down. Do I push them down, and pull up on the seat?

Your help is appreciated.

My goal is to "fix" a spring that seems broken and ready to puncture my leather.

 

[BillN_33]

Agreed - saw them there (the red tabs) but didn't know what to do with them.

The red tabs point out and down. Do I push them down, and pull up on the seat?

They can stick if they have not been out for some time

I cannot remember if you press the red tab in or what......but it is normal straightforward as there are only a few possibilities.......and you should find that they come out OK...just press and twiddle and pull up - no too much effort needed - you will then see the true colour of the leather

 

[wireman]

124 Front door card,

Little force is needed dont be to hasty with the tugging and pushing.

Remove the trim adjacent to the lock, 1 no2 phillips screw.

Pull the chrome trim around the door release handle, remove the 10mm hex head bolt (M6) that was hidden by the handle, its recessed so a small socket or cranked/offset ring spanner is needed to get at it. Slide the handle assembly forwards and the handle will come free, disconect the rod from behind the handle (its easy to reconnect it afterwards).

Next the mirror control handle comes off, slide the little plastic peg that is on the front side of the control lever towards the door and the handle will detach from the lever that sticks through the door from your mirror, remove the triangular piece of trim pulling/peeling it away carefully since its on some slightly vulnerable pins that engage in clips in the door frame and door card.

Lift the card up about 20mm (lift it by the bottom edge or door pocket) and remove from the door, the inside window seal comes with the card and may be a little reluctant to lift so open the window fully and you can grab it to pull it upwards if needed. If you get too violent here a sticky card might rise suddenly and shear off some of the retaining hooks.

Refitting it is the reverse of the above but you need to get all the hooks on the cards rear into all the holes in the door and get the lock button up through its hole before you slide it back down into place, remove the little bush from around the lock button and fit it back after the card is back in place. Dont forget to place/tape the damp sheet in its correct place before you fit the card. A piece of rolled up paper over the lock button will guide it into its hole.

Takes about 5 mins.

The rear seat clips push in to release the seat.