willydog

i have a 2003 sl500 that took on sandy , it runs and starts but has a few issures
the power seats are not operating and i need to remove the seats
from the car they are in the partaily tilted toward the front postition
and i cannot move the seats along the track to get to the bolts
how do i remove the seat correctly now

i appreciate all help

nassau98

Any ideas on this? My 2008 SL550 has the same issue. The driver's side motor powering the seat to adjust forwards and backwards is dead. The seat is stuck as far back as I think it will go. Is there any way to get the seat to adjust manually? I can't even remove the seat, because I can't get to the rear bolts in the track!

I've taken out the passenger seat to get a better idea of how I could get to things on the drivers side, but haven't seen anything leading me to a solution. Is there a way to remove the seat cushions with the seat still in the car so that I can at least get better access to those rear track bolts?

Any advice surely appreciated, as now the car's basically not drivable.

benzmodz

It really needs to be checked for blown fuses and dead modules.

nassau98

Hi Benzmodz,

Thanks for your tips. I checked the fuses and they're all looking good. No issues in the fuse box.

What would a MB dealership do if someone brought in an R230 where the seat didn't move? I can't help to think that Mercedes surely built in a way to get the seat out or moved without being able to power the seat forward to access the rear bolts. Is there a way to put that power seat motor in "neutral" or disengage the seat motor from the cog track with the seat still in the car? That way I could move the seat and then access the rear bolts to then remove the seat and replace the damaged motor.

mbmwcmc

Did you discover how to remove your seat? I'm having the same problem. I'm guessing I can remove the seat from the rack but I am concerned with the rear right bolts. These appear to involve the reclining mechanism and not sure if removing these bolts will affect that system.

JR12

Hey guys, brand new sl owner here. So i truly have no clue what the problem is but my 840 has 8 seat motors, a few to move it, head rest motor and the lumbar. I have had problems with getting all 8 motor to work with each other. With your car being flooded I bet you could have a hand full of issues. Just a guess. Cheers

mercy-me

I don't have any personal direct knowledge to share but, you may be able to follow along with the attached files and remove the seat cushion to access and remove the drive motor. You may be able to either access the rear bolts then or figure out a way to wind the seat forward manually with motor removed to access those bolts.

There is also the possibility of applying 12 volts directly to the motor and bypass all the relays,switches etc to move the seat far enough to reach those rear bolts too. There very definitely is a way to remove the seat when everything is dead.

Note: If someone does figure out how to accomplish removing the seat with the motors dead, I hope that they will post their solution back into this thread to close it out!

Good Luck, Bob

cdk4219

You may be able to power up
The seats by removing the front seat storage compartments and powering up the module. This is assuming that the module will work.
The power leads going to the module are the thicker gauge brown green(negative) and the red positive. After that you may be able to use the tilt button on the top of the seat by the headrest to move the seat up. If the module is inoperable your next step is to remove the bottom cushion and access the forward aft motor leads that plug into the back of the module, unplug these and power them up moving them forward to access rear 3 bolts ( 1 indside and 2 outer) remember to remove the front bolts first before moving seat forward or you will need to move it back again to access these.

TopTech

SL series (230) seat motor diagram back/forth
The way to move the seat with external issues is to power probe motors directly. Question is, on my 2004 SL55 each seat motor is 4 wire, WIS does not make it clear what the brown and red thin wires do
Each motor has black and white thick awg wire and red and brown thin. Anyone know the requirement of the thin wires? Interlock coil, brake, motor clutch etc? You could brick a control element by aimlessly probing.