1972 Eldorado six way seat question

[Bill Young]

I am replacing the seat covers on My Eldorado convertible and My friend who is a trim specialist and I removed the seats yesterday from the Car. The problem I have is My Car has the split 60/40 front seat and the passenger side only goes back and forth, no problem we could reach all the bolts to remove them. However on the drivers side when you actuate the seat power all you hear is the seat motor working and the seat will not move at all. This made it really hard to access the bolts to remove the seat. I have a real limited budget, what can I do to get the drivers side seat to at least move back and forth like the passenger side does?.

[Ralph Messina CLC 4937]

Bill,

It sounds like the transmission (a case with three solenoids), coupling, or relay is bad. The coupling is easiest as it’s a rubber cylinder that connects the motor to the transmission. Check that it’s present. Then check that the wires connecting  the transmission to the relay are making good contact. I believe the relay activates both the motor and transmission. I would doubt the relay is bad given that the motor turns. I suspect the transmission (looks like three cylinders attached side by side) is the problem. Remove and open the case  and clean and replace grease in the gear section. You can then reinstall or  hot wire it  and listen for the click of the individual solenoids moving. If the transmission is bad, they are available on ebay or contact Cadillac Tim: tagroves@wctel.net for a replacement.

Ralph

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I had a similar problem and found that one of the solenoids in the transmission was burnt out.

Bruce.

[Bill Young]

Thanks Guys, However I screwed up the whole thing. In short I found you cannot get the transmission out without taking the two bolts that hold the motor to the seat frame out also. You can't get at them without removing the seat from the frame but you can't get at the 4 bolts to remove the seat from the frame if the frame is collapsed all the way down so I had to pull the cables away from the transmission enough to manually operate the cables with a pair of pliers and un collapse apart the seat frame so I could get to those four seat bolts , it's a mess now. So in short I need a whole 1972 Cadillac drivers side split seat 6 way frame with the works complete , so tomorrow I got to find one somewhere.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Do you need a picture of how it all goes back together?

What turned out to be wrong?

Bruce.

[Bill Young]

Thanks Bruce, In short I had to mangle the ends of the drive cables with pliers to unscrew open the seat frame to get at those four seat bolts because there is not enough play to remove them from the transmission body with the seat motor bolted in place still even with the two screws removed from each side cable securing plate. Also since I am not a professional mechanic I am not sure if I can actually repair this thing piece by piece and repairing it piece by piece might be more expensive in the long run than just changing out the whole thing.

[Ralph Messina CLC 4937]

Bill,

I have a set of power seat cables on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/221787377629?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649
The short black cable is missing.  I believe they are for a bench seat but may be useable for a split seat. There are no bids yet so I can take the auction down if you can use them.

Ralph

[Bill Young]

Thank you Ralph,
I bought the whole thing working /tested from Arizona classic Cadillac parts for $200.00 plus $40.00 shipping. This way now I know I have a non botched working device.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

In hindsight, when things like this happen, a Battery Drill is your best friend.   And if you don't have the cable to operate the jack screw, a flattened/squared-off 4" nail to suit the hole will work every time.   Just turn each jack a bit till you have the clearance.

Bruce.

[Bill Young]

Thanks Bruce, The problem is when you cannot reach those 2 bolts that hold the seat motor in you cannot get enough distance on the cables to get the cable ends clear of the transmission to work with the ends. You are forced to move them while the ends are still just inside the edge of the transmission holes because even if you remove both the phillips screws from the cable retainer you cannot remove the cable retainer plate with the transmission in place and you cannot remove the transmission with the motor in place due to it's coupling to the transmission. In short if the seat mechenism brakes in the down position good luck in not destroying the mechenism to get it off the seat itself.