Hi, I have a 10 year old 2 Door Fiat Punto in excellent condition but the seat release cable on the passenger chair has broken so the back of the chair will not release and push forward. Can anyone tell me how to get access to the cable? There is one large screw at the bottom of the seat catch housing under the lever, but taking this out doesn't free the housing. I can't find any way to undo the cloth back of the chair - I thought this might enable me to get inside to the cable. The Haynes manual doesn't mention the seat catch. I've run out of ideas but I'm sure some bright spark out there will have solved this problem - Please let me in on the secret!

Hi welcome to the forum
i have never had to do this job but have a 3 door out side will look tomorrow and try to work it out for you

had a look it looks like you have to remove the plastic side on bottom of seat.

you can get to the bottom of the cable by removing the plastic on the bottom right of the seat (near the seatbelt)

you can then pull the cable (should be able to see it like a bike break cable) and move the seat forward.

This is where i'm stuck though, the handle on the side of the seat appears to be stuck on with some kinda of force field.

Any ideas??

you have 2 screws holding on the release handle
one is under the handle when you pull it up and the second is typical fiat when the handle is in the normal (down) pos the inside bit that slides up pulls out its a flap that covers the screw heah . it goes up into the chair so get a thin screw driver and pull it out
hope this helps feel free to mail me if you get stuck as i have changed passanger and drivers side
Richie

cheers i'll go try that right now

you must be the only person in the world that knows this!!

i've asked so many people this weekend.

now just gotta figure out how to get a wire to go through there and also get hold of a wire

***EDIT***
just read your other post, and will try and find my local fiat place.

cheers for all the help, will let you know how i get on

use the old cable to pull throgh the new one ,
I tried to use a bike brake cable but got one from fiats in the end and went on ok . if you can take the seat out of the car it will be the best way
good luck
Richie

cheers thats worked great, for getting the handle off.

just for othe peoples info it goes as follows.

1. get screwdriver under the top bit of the handle that goes off up into the seat, try and push downwards a bit so the plastic bends enabling you to get your finger under it and pull it all the way out.
Its not that big and looks a bit like this





2. Unsrew the screw that is now visable on the moving handle piece and remove.

3. Unsrew the screw at the bottom of the outside piece of the handle you have been able to see all along.

4. Unscrew the screw that is now visable at the top of the outside piece of the handle and remove.

5. You can now get at the black bit of metal that holds the cable.

6. Goto local fiat dealer and get ripped off for a cable (will post price later)

7. Try and fit the cable, with lots of time and paitents i imagine!!

£6.99 + VAT for the cable

I had a problem with the front passenger seat release cable as well and as major part of my cable had been pulled out I needed to pull up the upholstery on the upper part of the seat. Like others I had found the upholstery seemingly impenetrable but then discovered that the plastic runners at the foot of the rear of each of the front seats were actually a pair of interlocking plastic runners , one attached to the fabric that had been pulled underneath and to the back from the front and one runner attached to the fabric that hung down from the top of the back of the seat. They are quite closely linked together but I did manage to undo them using a pair of flat screwdrivers, carefully. Started at one end losening the the interlock at one end and then sliding down releasing the interlock along the length of the runner.

I've included below a diagram which hopefully indicates how the runners lock together.




The blue represents the lower part of the upholstery and the green the upper part. The lower runner rises up inside the upper runner and its outer lip links in to the inner lip of the outer runner (hope that makes sense). You can feel this with your finger at the either end of nthe pair of interlocked runners.

Once released you can the roll-up the upholstery and when all the work's done roll back and with a little effort relock the two plastic runners back together again.

I've got this problem as well, classic punto craftsmanship, not long ago it was my wiper linkage that went - another common occurence, repaired them rather than replace.

I managed to get into the cable a few weeks back when I noticed the problem - but the cable has detached from the hook at the bottom which catches the lever, how do I replace this - or does anyone have a make-shift idea? Tying a knot in wire isn't the easiest to stop it coming back through.

David

On the driver's seat of the Mk2B punto, the runner release cable runs past the seat beat anchor. To get at it, the best way is to remove the seat.

Undo the four allen bolts and take the seat out. You need to remove the plastic guard on the left hand side of the seat. The angle adjust knob will pull off, then remove the small torx srew and the 17 mm bolt holding on the seat belt anchor. The plastic trim then comes off.

The release cable is secured to the bottom of the seat hinge, is treaded through two guides and attaches to a heavy duty spring. The spring hooks around the runner release catch. So, as the seat tilts forward, this cable disengages the runner catch.

Chances are that the spring hook has broken. Repair is probably not possible - not sure if the cable is available in the Dealers, but seems to be from replies above.

The release cable is available from the dealers.

It is part number 10 on the ePER diagram 47302453 - BOWDEN ASSY for seat components

And the price - just under £32 for about 10" of bike brake cable, a small piece of plastic and a spring! What an absolute disgrace!

Interestingly, ePER says that the price is about £20 - does that mean that dealers are adding about 50% markup?

Hi my drive side seat won't hold back any advice on how to fix the spring

I'm just sorting out a passenger seat with similar issue of the catches not engaging when put back in to it's normal position. I've just finished cleaning and regreasing the catches up but I think the springs have gone a little slack. if i get the oppurtunity i can get up some pics.

basically you need to get the backrest cover undone and raised up. there is a guide to doing this on the forum.
3x t20 head screws hold lower plastics on each side and adjusters carefully pull off. you will see something like this around the bottom of the back rest. clean with alittle brake cleaner on a cloth and regrease. try to free them up with a small screwdriver in the holes on the moving latch piece by moving hem up and down.
I f i get a chance to get pictures i will but it's under a cover with a ratchet strap around it

scarlets said:

Hi my drive side seat won't hold back any advice on how to fix the spring

Click to expand...

Have you fixed your seat?

I've made some little inserts to get some more tension on spring and all is good with the new lube