My daughter went to drive my wife's 2004 E320 Wagon and felt that she couldn't move the seat far enough forward to be safe. She rarely drives this car. She is about 5'8" and it does seem to be a few inches shy of being comfortable. I looked for any obstructions, removed the mats and looked underneath to see if anything was hanging it up. All was free and clear. It doesn't groan at the end when you move it all the way forward ....it just stops. We had the seat cover replaced a few years ago and I'm wondering if there is a limit switch or re-sync that needs to be done. All the controls work it just seems like it is being limited by the electronics. Any ideas?

 

There could be something blocking the rails. I've found it to usually be a coin such as a penny or dime. However, it could be the control module.

 

Tks, I'll check the track again. That was my thought but I would also expect it to make a strange noise when it ran into the coin/object...or move oddly if one side was blocked vs the other.

I'm ruling out control module since everything works but the last few inches forward.

Does anybody have any detail on how the seat works ie: is the forward/backward limit set or tripped?

 

Raise seat completely upward, remove plug (see attachment) to seat fore/aft adjustment motor for a minute or so then reinsert. If in fact the seat does not move forward as far as it once did and removing this plug does not resolve the matter, you may need to have the dealer or an independent check with SDS that the seat is normalized in both directions.

 

I had this exact problem. Had to use SDS to update the seat control module.

 

Konigstiger,

Thanks as always. I did remove the plug earlier and did not change. I also tries moving it all the way back then removing the plug and activating the seat switch but w/o change. I thought maybe the limit is set by a start position like the windows are. Oh well.

I suspect it has been this way for some time (since the seat cover was replaced).

 

I took the seat out and manually positioned the seat motor so that the seat was further forward. I did not know how far to manually move the seat forward so I did it such that the underlying frame that the seat rest on was even with the front bolts that are used to secure the seat to the floor of the car. I reinstalled everything and it worked! The driver seat now moves forward to the point where I had manually positioned it and of course it moves all the way back. I think I could have moved it further up but this did the trick. I have roughed out what I did in the directions below (all disclaimers apply ie:at your own risk):

I'm not certain what activates the airbag so 'please be careful' and make certain you remove power. If there are any folks that read this that have additional advise or stories...please chime in.

You need to first get the seat in the right position. Position the seat bottom all the way up (height) in the front and back. I also put the headrest all the way down and moved the seat back so it was as far forward as possible (this is more about balance for a later step...you want the balance point to be near the middle of the seat).

You will need a 13mm box wrench.

I disconnected the battery and removed the back seat (bottom). Since I have a wagon removing the back seat bottom is not a big deal. I later put the drivers seat on this area so if you are removing the seat out of the car then you do not need this step.

Remove the (2) front bolts that hold the seat to the frame. These are NOT the bolts that hold the seat to the floor. I suppose I could have removed the seat from the floor but since the seat did not move all the way up so I did not have access to all four floor bolts.

I removed the (2) back bolts that hold the seat to the frame. At this point the seat might want to fall back if you didn't have the seat back 'forward' enough. CAUTION. If the seat falls back you run the risk of putting too much tension on the wires that are still attached to the seat. It's good to have a second person to keep the seat from falling all the way back or put a heavy book on the seat to keep it from falling back.

From the front, let the seat lean back enough so tht you can get better access to the wire connectors. Don't put too much pressure/tension on these wires. Some are of a very small gauge. I removed all of them since I could not tell which ones were connected to the seat vs. the frame.

Now you should be able to remove or in my case, push the seat back and out of the way.

The motor has a short and long shaft coming out either side. The long side has a black sheath and rubber cup that protect it from the elements. The motor, rubber cup and sheath covering the long shaft come out easily and I just slipped the sheath off and pushed the motor back in place. I then manually twisted the long shaft (covered in a cloth or ???) until the frame had reached what I thought was "far enough forward". Both the short and long shafts have to be inserted into the worm gear area in order to move both sides evenly.

Reassembled everything and then restored power.

Adjusted the seat all the way back then forward.
Synced the windows, sunroof and ESP.

Total time was about two hours.

 

An update. This happened again. I think all that you have to do is unplug the seat controls (under the seat) on both the front and back for a few minutes. Plug them back in and run the seat all the way forward then back. I had some upholstery work done so I had to remove the seat but I think this would have done the trick. Don't remove the yellow airbag wiring group.

 

1995 E320 Passenger seat won't move forward or backward...

I recently inherited a 95 e320. The passenger seat moves upward and downward, but it doesn't move forward or backward. And the headrest doesn't move either.

I hear this faint and weak motor noise when i push the switch, but the seat just stays put.

Please help!

Theo

 

Theo,

Do you hear the noise for both motors (head rest and seat)? Sounds like since you can hear a noise that the motor is bad or the seat is jammed/stuck. I don't see a relationship between the headrest motor and the seat motor unless it is a grounding issue. Does the 95 have airbags in the seat? If not maybe you can pull the seat. If it does, be careful, you can sometimes trigger airbag light then it costs $90 to reset.

Joe

 

I am having driver seat issues, it moves forward and then stops. I unplugged the front cables except for the yellow group but not the back cables. Seat issue remains the same. Should all the cables on the rear module be removed and what is the SDS mentioned in another post?

 

Remove electrical connectors (4) shown here: http://workshop-manuals.com/mercedes...it/page_22258/ if this does not work have someone normalize functions using SDS (MB diagnostic equipment).

 

I've had my driver seat just stop in the all they way forward position. Much like re-synchronizing your windows and sunroof, you can hold the button to go all the way back and hold for 3-5 seconds after it stopped moving. Then do the same to all the positions working in an opposing manner. For example: fully forward, then fully backwards, then fully up and fully down, etc. It should re-synchronize the motor limits. Worked for me.

it also works for side-mirrors, windows, sunroof. My passenger side mirror has a tendency to stop returning to exact driving position after parking. I do this method and then it works for another 3 months.

Worth a shot.

 

Yes my driver seat also had that issue 3 years ago and that to solved it.
Now my side mirror does the same thing all if sudden like urs weird will test the sync method forgot so about it thanks for the reminder

 

1. Disconnect battery power.
2. Disconnect all wire connectors from power seat control module.
3. Locate the F/R motor which had four wires. 2 large gauge wires (use to power the motor) and 2 small wires (data .....)
4. Jump 12 volt from battery directly to 2 large gauge wires to move the seat further forward. (switch the positive and negative lead for desired seat movement).
5. Keep the driver side door open, and reconnect all connctors to control module.
6. Reconnect battery and set the seat memory to button 3. (use this memory to bring the seat forward if we need it in the future).
Notes: my 2 large gauge wires are solid green and solid yellow.

 

This worked for me. The back part, not the part you sit on, was not coming forward all the way. After I did this it started coming forward again.