Rear seatbelts stuck??

[Mike_O]

Hi folks, I'm slowly exploring the intricacies of my newly acquired 1986 Mercury Grand Marquis LS.

Tonight I discovered that 2 of the 3 rear seatbelts are "stuck" in their retracted positions. They will not pull out no matter how hard I tug; is this because they've never been used?

Thanks.
- Mike

[1987cp]

Difficult to say. I had a retractor on a Cavalier once simply locked up and wouldn't release no matter what, and the solution ended up being replacement. My Panther one rear seatbelt problem so far was one that had cracked the sleeve that keeps it from retracting too far; I was able to make a little metal clip to help with that problem.

Have you tried removing the retractors and fiddling with them? There are one or two parts visible without excessive disassembly that you would be able to poke at. If nothing else, you'd be able to squirt a little penetrant into the mechanism and jiggle things a bit.

[Mike_O]

Well I haven't done much digging so far. I don't really know much of what I'm doing.

Can you tell me how to get to the retractors?

[Mike_O]

Here's the pictures of the seatbelts stuck in their positions.

[1987cp]

Looks like the normal retracted position, so so far so good.

You remove the retractors by removing the seat base cushion (pull the rear straight up and it'll easily unhook from the floorpan) and removing a couple of 7/16-20 bolts with a T50 bit (IIRC). On a bad day you'll also need your propane torch and some PB Blaster like I did on one of my cars.

[Mike_O]

Well I had a friend help me lift the seat cushion out, but it's still connected by a piece of fabric.

He says that there's a metal horizontal bar on each device that is preventing the belt from coming out (as though it's locked). He says if I can get that bar snapped up the belts will work fine?

[Mike_O]

Couple of pictures (close up of the mechanisms) to help illustrate what I'm looking at:




Where are these 7/16 bolts in relation to the pictures?

Thanks.

[1987cp]

Unless there's something quite unexpected, the "metal bar" you refer to simply helps hold things in position, and things work fine either with or without them. The ones I've seen simply hold the center belt and its buckle up above the cushion, and have nothing directly to do with the side-position retractors - though IIRC only one of my vehicles had them. Though, do I see the wire in the first pic looping around something and back down next to the belt? If so, that would seem weird. I am surprised to see the one belt itself looking gummy and somewhat rust-colored. Worst case, the belts are easy to change out entirely once you locate suitable replacements.

Again, unless there's something quite unexpected, you can remove the bar(s) easily after removing the retractor-to-floorpan bolts. Should be no need for violence.

The 7/16 bolts are what hold the retractor assemblies to the floorpan. One is visible on the far right in the first picture, with your "metal bar" wrapped around it. As mentioned, you'll need a Torx bit to remove them conveniently, or you could see if you can't get a grip with gator-grip pliers.



No clue what "piece of fabric" would be holding the cushion in place. It's held in place in the back by being pinched under the top cushion, and in the front by a bit of springy rod that engages a couple of little hooks in the floorpan.

[Mike_O]

Thanks for your help, I'll go and get me a Torx wench sometime soon and replace those hillbillies.