Posting this in case it may help someone in the future.
My larger 2/3 rear seat wouldn't release from its base and roll over, which is one of those problems that you really don't want to spend much time solving but after 3 cups of coffee I was not going to let it win.
As I eventually discovered, the main seat lever pulls a cable that goes directly under the seat base to an under-seat mechanism that then pulls another cable, which then releases the seat base. The under-seat mechanism changes the direction of the cable pull -- but it also has two springs in it that resets it back to its starting position. For mine, the mechanism was dry and a bit rusted, and not resetting back, which was why the entire seat would not release. Once the seat was put back, it would lock into place to forever not release again.
So the fix for this was to remove the (leather) seat cover by sitting on it which compresses the whole thing down and removing the clips holding the seat cover on. This gets you some access to the under-seat mechanism. I then sprayed it with lube and manually manipulated it to free it up. I also added some lithium grease to it. Once this was done, it worked like a charm.
Given how relatively easy this is to get at (assuming you can get the seat base off), this would be my first stop to repair a stuck rear seat.
My larger 2/3 rear seat wouldn't release from its base and roll over, which is one of those problems that you really don't want to spend much time solving but after 3 cups of coffee I was not going to let it win.
As I eventually discovered, the main seat lever pulls a cable that goes directly under the seat base to an under-seat mechanism that then pulls another cable, which then releases the seat base. The under-seat mechanism changes the direction of the cable pull -- but it also has two springs in it that resets it back to its starting position. For mine, the mechanism was dry and a bit rusted, and not resetting back, which was why the entire seat would not release. Once the seat was put back, it would lock into place to forever not release again.
So the fix for this was to remove the (leather) seat cover by sitting on it which compresses the whole thing down and removing the clips holding the seat cover on. This gets you some access to the under-seat mechanism. I then sprayed it with lube and manually manipulated it to free it up. I also added some lithium grease to it. Once this was done, it worked like a charm.
Given how relatively easy this is to get at (assuming you can get the seat base off), this would be my first stop to repair a stuck rear seat.
