Passenger Seat Height Adjustment Not Staying Locked In Place (Always at full height)

mah658

New member
Tried searching the forum for this issue, so please forgive me and direct me if there is an existing thread I couldn't find.

My issue is my passenger seat rear hight adjustment (middle switch I beleive) will not lock into place, thus acting like it is always released. Meaning, if you have weight in the seat, it will stay down. But any forward momentum (like braking) or getting up out of the seat, will result in the seat coming up to full height. You can hear the ratchet going as it seems it is not locking into place. I have unbolted the seats so know how to get that far, but any suggestions from there? Thanks
 

sailquik

Well-known member
mah658,
Do you have the factory suspension seats in your Sprinter, or something from the aftermarket.
What year and model is your Sprinter Cargo/Passenger, or do you have an RV?
The factory suspension seats in the 2014's are adjustable (by Kg weight) for different driver/passenger weights, and they can be locked in place or they can
float on the air suspension at the set occupant weight.
But they do not rise up when you get out. The do settle a little when you sit down but then the come back up to the balanced level.
Hope this helps,
Roger
 

mah658

New member
Sorry, I have a 2004 Dodge Sprinter 118 High Roof Passenger van. Seats are stock, not suspension seats.
 

Haasman

New member
My guess is there is debris/something preventing the latch to lock in and hold its position. Try view from an angle to see.
 

mah658

New member
Checked for debris, tried adjusting the seat every which way to see if I could make something click back into place, no luck. I have attached photos showing the underside of the seat. It is the adjustment for the height at the rear of the seat, height adjustment for the front of the seat works fine. I have an arrow pointing at the part that is supposed to move when using the handle, as the front one moves correctly.

It seems that there is a wheel with geared notches on it that is supposed to click into place when the handle is released to prevent the springs from pushing the seat all the way up. That handle will release the seat to let it down when it is all the way up, but locks nothing into place until the seat reaches max height again. The circle in the picture shows the catch when the seat is all the way up (metal circular knob). As you can see in the picture, the seat is all the way up.

I'm thinking the way the seat is spring loaded that taking it apart would be a mess. Anyone have any suggestions?

2nd picture shows the handles, counting from front to back it's the 3rd handle.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/15jthaun5hwupxg/IMG_2274.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tw2wx4jweb5qhoj/IMG_2277.JPG
 

hulagun

Haulin' A** since 1974
That's interesting. Obviously my cargo van got the cheap seats... no red handles (except the back tilt), and no fore/aft sliders on my van's passenger seat. :frown:

Less to break, I guess?
 

mah658

New member
The more I look at it, I'm thinking the metal bar (latch I guess) that the arrow points to should be parallel like the one located behind it. Which would make sense that is seems it is not locking into place. I just have no idea how to get in there as the seat unbolts as a whole unit. But I may be able to get a better view with the seat unbolted and upside down, so that will probably be my next step.
 
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mah658

New member
For anyone having this problem in the future, it was a very simple fix. After popping off the plastic cover on the outside of the seat, simply tightening the bolt that was exposed sandwiched the seat together, giving the ratchet on the switch traction once again. Glad I saw that before taking the time to remove the seat. I imagine the same scenario could happen with the front if the bolt came loose there as well.
 

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