Repair headrest mechanism

E28 technical advice asked and given! Troubleshooting, modifications and more.
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VZehn
Posts: 73
Joined: Apr 23, 2010
Location: Chicago IL / Naples FL

Repair headrest mechanism

Post by VZehn »

I know this has been covered in several other posts, but I didn't find one with photos to support dummies like me... so here's some pics of the proceedure (passenger side headrest).

I slid the passenger seat as far forward and as high up as it could go, and then leaned the seat back as far forward as it could go. At the bottom of the backside of the seatback are two screws holding the rear panel in place.
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Remove the seat rear panel by lifting it away from the base at the bottom and shove it upwards to release the two spring clips hooked in at the top of the seat back.
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Here's what you will see ... headrest motor on the outside edge of the seat ... non-moving headrest mechanism in the middle.
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The motor is held in place on a bracket by two 8mm screws
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It's a tight space and it takes some fiddling to get the screws lose and removed. Wiggle the cable and power wires out from around the back of the bracket. The cable just pulls straight out of the motor.
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I went with the simple solution of putting a piece of wire in the motor to "lengthen" the cable. I used heavy duty garden training wire. 3/8" of wire goes in and sits about flush within the motor sleeve
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Shove the cable back into the motor sleave. Slide the cable and power wiring back behind the bracket and seat the cable with the notch at the end of the cable above the bracket. Mount the motor back on top of the bracketwith the two screws.

You are all set to run the headrest up and down again!
John in VA
Posts: 5366
Joined: Feb 12, 2006
Location: Leesburg, VA

Re: Repair headrest mechanism

Post by John in VA »

Thanks for taking the time to do this!
Bonsaibacker
Posts: 979
Joined: Oct 26, 2017
Location: Fleming Island FL

Re: Repair headrest mechanism

Post by Bonsaibacker »

John in VA wrote:Thanks for taking the time to do this!
+1
Very helpful and inspiring for those of us who might live with it instead of doing the simple repair
dsmith
Posts: 2363
Joined: Jan 20, 2012
Location: Charleston, SC

Re: Repair headrest mechanism

Post by dsmith »

Metal coat hanger works very well.
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