Broken lumbar support of C5

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martinwiseman2000
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Broken lumbar support of C5

Post by martinwiseman2000 »

Hi,

I've recently bought a 57 reg C5 2.0 HDi VTR. The other day I was fiddling with the lumbar support and something went twang and now I have no lumbar support which isn't doing my back any good.

Does anyone know how easy this is to fix? I'm prepared to tackle pretty much anything but it would be handy to know where the job sits on a scale of "straightforward, you can do it in an hour", "a bit tricky, best leave it to the weekend" or "don't even try, just buy a new seat".

Also, can I do the job with the seat in the vehicle, or is it best to remove it?

Thanks,
Martin.
addo
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Post by addo »

Hello Martin, you will have to remove the seat and "skin" it - meaning, remove the upper cover after clipping the hog rings. You'll also have to remove the foam.

Only really sneaky bits are:
(1) Headrest ferrules - twist 90 degrees after removing headrest, to disengage fromtheir locking points and pull up/out.
(2) Adjuster knobs - you have to ease off the three-sided clips that hold them to their triangular metal bases. A flat blade screwdriver with bent/angled tip might help you here.

On reassembly you'll need new hog rings and these are installed with the special pliers - quite a satisfying DIY escapade...

Cheers, Adam.
martinwiseman2000
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Joined: 15 Sep 2009, 22:19
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Post by martinwiseman2000 »

Well I've now done the job and can report that on my seats it was considerably easier than suggested. There were no hog rings to cut and replace on my seat and it wasn't necessary to completely skin it or remove any of the adjuster knobs. It would actually be possible to do the job without removing the seat from the vehicle, although removing it does make it a lot easier to see what you need to do.

Access to the mechanism only required the rear section of the seat cover (the part that holds the seat back pocket) to be unclipped. The clip consists of a plastic rail and unclipping it can be achieved by running a screwdriver up the inside edge of it whilst pulling it gently.

The lumbar support mechanism is now visible and consists of a plastic panel attached with a spring at one side and a bowden cable at the other.

The problem was actually at the operating lever end of the bowden cable. The bowden cable clips into a flimsy plastic clip on the back of the operating lever and it was this clip which had broken. Fortunately the mechanism has provision for two bowden cables to be attached so this time it was a simple case of swapping the cable to the unbroken clip. It it happens again then the mechanism will probably have to be replaced (or at least removed for more substantial repair) which is likely to require a partial stripping of the seat cover, removal of the operating lever and the drilling out of two rivets.

The whole job was done in a less than hour and a half including removing and refitting the seat from the vehicle.

Martin.
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