hseiff

The mechanical passenger seat on our 2011 Equinox quit sliding back and forth. Looking underneath while moving the lever showed no problem. I tried to remove the six bolts holding the seat but found they had a round head (!) which turned when the nut was turned.


Took the car to the friendly Chevy dealer who charged me $125 for a diagnosis. He said seat track wasn't working and he couldn't see the specific problem, nor could he get the seat out. Said it would cost $967 (additional) for a new seat track and that he'd have to use imagination to get the old one out (i.e. cut it out, I assume). Can anyone (esp GM) help or do I have to live with it or pay up? <!-- / message -->

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oldchevy

There are many small shops that can take out the seat for less than $967.00. Once the seat is out then a determination can be made as to what is needed. Do a search on the internet for the seat track.

ruley73

Exactly which passenger seat are you having trouble with? The front passenger seat or the rear bench seat? It sounds like the rear bench seat, but I would like you to confirm this. For now I'll assume it's the rear bench seat you're referring to.

I agree that you should remove the rear bench seat to inspect it. There are only four bolts (which screw into the frame) that need to be remove the rear seat. It is super easy and only takes 10-15 minutes. If that dealership can't figure this out and remove the seat, I'd never go back there again because that means they are really incompetent.

Personally, I would just get a used seat from a junkyard for around $100 and replace it myself. I've attached pics of instructions below. It is in two separate parts because the original PDF file is too large to post.



I'd definitely go to a different dealership if for some reason I couldn't do it myself. There is no absolutely reason why they shouldn't be able to get it out.

hseiff

1. I'm sure a shop could remove the seat. The question is how should one go about taking the nuts of bolts with round heads? I'm hoping GM will chime in with their magic trick.
2. It's the RF passenger seat, held in place by six bolts, which turn when the nut is turned since I can't get a wrench on the round head GM saw fit to put on the bolt!

oldchevy

On a rounded off bolt or nut, I would use a pair of vise grips if there is enough room to get it in there.

hseiff

The frustrating thing is that it's not a rounded off bolt head - it came from the factory with a rounded off head! And there's no room to get vise grips in there. My only bright idea is to get a MIG welder tip in there and weld the volt head onto the bottom of the seat track. I'm hoping someone else has a better and safer idea.

ruley73

Can you post pictures of the bolts? Every newer GM vehicle I've seen uses regular 15mm hex head bolts for the seats. There should be one in the back of each seat track. The front of each track has a pair hooks that latch into the frame. After the two bolts are removed, you pivot the seat forward to disengage the hooks and lift the seat out. I've attached instructions below.



You'll also need to disconnect the seat belt anchor from the seat. You just need to use a flatblade screwdriver to release the locking tab.

hseiff

I've been trying to get the seat off the seat track, not the total assembly (incl. track) out of the car. I can't slide the seat forward (or backward) to allow access to bolts to get the assembly out of the car, but I would be able to get the seat off the track if it weren't for the round bolt heads. I've attached a photo, taken from the rear floor behind the RF passenger seat, with the round bolt heads circled.

ruley73

Those are rivets, not bolts. It's virtually impossible to remove those without damaging the tracks because they need to be drilled out or ground off with a disc grinder.

I'd try to look for obstructions in the track such as loose change or wires under the seat if you haven't done so already.

You may have tried this already too, but I'm just throwing it out there. I've seen seats that somehow get turned in such a manner that the tracks get slightly out of sync with each other. I've had good luck jerking the seat back & forth while holding the lever up and wiggling my butt around on the seat to free it up and get the tracks back in sync. Don't be afraid to be forceful because the seat mechanisms are very robust.

hseiff

Unfortunately, they're bolts, not rivets. They have a nut on the top end which I turned with a socket wrench. Only the entire bolt turned, not just the nut.

I tried wiggling the seat with the handle up, but to no avail. Any other ideas?