[moonklash]

Hello there,

We have a late-nineties 2 door Golf Mk4 GTI with Recaro seats. The mechanism that lifts/folds the seats up and down to allow somebody into the back has broken on the passenger side. The seat no longer locks into position (it still locks so it doesn't slide forward and backwards, it doesn't lock when you lift the seat up to let somebody in the back).

I've already found what's wrong; beneath the seat, there is a spring that seems to lock the it in place. The spring has come off, and the part that would hold the spring and arm in place is missing. I've been able to push the spring back on and lock the seat down, but it's only time until it comes off again.

Can anybody recommend how this should be fixed in position? I've tried touring my local scrapyard but none of the other VWs there had the up/down mechanism, only forward and backwards. Is it possible to order the bits I need online? I'm hoping to fix it up with original-style parts as we transport our baby behind the passenger seat so I want him to be safe. I've attached photographs to try and demonstrate what I mean.

 

[ttg4l]

Looks like it just needs a circlip to hold the black bar onto the shaft that has the spring on it, with the black bar pushing up against that loose bit of spring that's hanging down.

 

[moonklash]

Looks like it just needs a circlip to hold the black bar onto the shaft that has the spring on it, with the black bar pushing up against that loose bit of spring that's hanging down.

That's amazing, thank you! I felt silly asking as I thought this must be something simple, but i had no idea what a circlip was or if I'd need something special. Now I know what to look for. I'll report back if it works!

 

[ttg4l]

That's amazing, thank you! I felt silly asking as I thought this must be something simple, but i had no idea what a circlip was or if I'd need something special. Now I know what to look for. I'll report back if it works!

No worries. Be careful when installing it, circlips are sprung so it might ping off upon installation.

Just had a look on eBay - plenty of kits available with all sorts of sizes, they must have the right size in one of them. Search for "circlips", or "C clips", or "E clips".