Since I bought my car, the rear seatbelt buckles (receivers) never worked. Nor could I see the buckle for the centre seatbelt. Obviously it was hidden underneath the seat. However, this evening I was bored and decided...
...to investigate![[Image: smiley-think005.gif]]()
Removing the rear seat bottom was pretty easy. All you do is grab a front corner and pull up. It's a metal on metal clip, so it won't break. Actually the force of the clip is held on by the actual foam. Loosen each corner, and then simply pull the seat forward and the whole thing comes out from under the centre arm rest, leaving the seatbelt buckles behind.
This is what it looks like under the seat:
![[Image: IMG-20140411-WA0025_zps1c3f8126.jpg]]()
I immediately become disgusted by the dirt and amount of beach sand... But anyway, that was later's worry. And I found the centre passenger's buckle. Yay me.
Holding the belt buckles to the car is a simple size 17 bolt that can be undone with a normal socket, hidden under the rubber mat thing. At this point I was far too stuck in to take pictures. The left buckle's bolt also holds the centre buckle, whilst the right buckle's bolt also holds the centre passenger's belt strap. Remember this when removing. I removed the bolts and found that two of the buckles were simply stuck from dirt, and so I blasted the insides with Q20 and jiggled the button loose with a flat screwdriver. The Q20 will leak out the bottom of the buckle, so be careful.
Those two came right without hassle. The third belt buckle, ie. the right rear passenger buckle, had a piece of broken glass stuck inside. I immediately checked all my windows, and it turns out that the right rear passenger window has been replaced, but not the small triangular one. So I believe my car was broken into at some stage before my ownership. This was not pleasant news, but moving on.
I blasted the inside of this buckle with Q20 as well, and jiggled the button in and out repeatedly, holding the buckle in all sorts of positions in order to let gravity assist. Eventually I spotted the piece of glass and removed it with a pair of long nose pliers. That was all. Three working buckles again. Replacement was the exact opposite of removal.
Just to give an idea of the type of dirt that got trapped down there:
![[Image: IMG-20140411-WA0039_zps3033f16b.jpg]]()
Yes, that's a needle. And there's some more broken glass shards. And some Mossel Bay.
And I'm guessing the car went to some larny concert of sorts:
![[Image: IMG-20140411-WA0035_zps1c0a9ecf.jpg]]()
I gave the floor and the seat itself a decent clean and wipe-down with a wet rag. The tricky part was replacing the seat itself. You need to position it so that you can, from underneath, align the buckles with the corresponding holes in the seat. Once aligned, you need to either push the buckle up through the hole whilst pushing the seat back into place, or try and pull the buckle up through the hole, also whilst getting the seat back into original position. Remember to also lift the centre passenger's buckle while putting the seat back so that it's not lost.
Once all is in place, simply push down on both front corners to clip back onto the body.
Voila.
No replacement parts needed. Total time... Probably 45 minutes.
![Ty]( "Ty")
...to investigate
![[Image: smiley-think005.gif]](http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x92/coachbob6811/smiley-think005.gif)
Removing the rear seat bottom was pretty easy. All you do is grab a front corner and pull up. It's a metal on metal clip, so it won't break. Actually the force of the clip is held on by the actual foam. Loosen each corner, and then simply pull the seat forward and the whole thing comes out from under the centre arm rest, leaving the seatbelt buckles behind.
This is what it looks like under the seat:
![[Image: IMG-20140411-WA0025_zps1c3f8126.jpg]](http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o703/ChefDJ/BMW%20530d/IMG-20140411-WA0025_zps1c3f8126.jpg)
I immediately become disgusted by the dirt and amount of beach sand... But anyway, that was later's worry. And I found the centre passenger's buckle. Yay me.
Holding the belt buckles to the car is a simple size 17 bolt that can be undone with a normal socket, hidden under the rubber mat thing. At this point I was far too stuck in to take pictures. The left buckle's bolt also holds the centre buckle, whilst the right buckle's bolt also holds the centre passenger's belt strap. Remember this when removing. I removed the bolts and found that two of the buckles were simply stuck from dirt, and so I blasted the insides with Q20 and jiggled the button loose with a flat screwdriver. The Q20 will leak out the bottom of the buckle, so be careful.
Those two came right without hassle. The third belt buckle, ie. the right rear passenger buckle, had a piece of broken glass stuck inside. I immediately checked all my windows, and it turns out that the right rear passenger window has been replaced, but not the small triangular one. So I believe my car was broken into at some stage before my ownership. This was not pleasant news, but moving on.
I blasted the inside of this buckle with Q20 as well, and jiggled the button in and out repeatedly, holding the buckle in all sorts of positions in order to let gravity assist. Eventually I spotted the piece of glass and removed it with a pair of long nose pliers. That was all. Three working buckles again. Replacement was the exact opposite of removal.
Just to give an idea of the type of dirt that got trapped down there:
![[Image: IMG-20140411-WA0039_zps3033f16b.jpg]](http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o703/ChefDJ/BMW%20530d/IMG-20140411-WA0039_zps3033f16b.jpg)
Yes, that's a needle. And there's some more broken glass shards. And some Mossel Bay.
And I'm guessing the car went to some larny concert of sorts:
![[Image: IMG-20140411-WA0035_zps1c0a9ecf.jpg]](http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o703/ChefDJ/BMW%20530d/IMG-20140411-WA0035_zps1c0a9ecf.jpg)
I gave the floor and the seat itself a decent clean and wipe-down with a wet rag. The tricky part was replacing the seat itself. You need to position it so that you can, from underneath, align the buckles with the corresponding holes in the seat. Once aligned, you need to either push the buckle up through the hole whilst pushing the seat back into place, or try and pull the buckle up through the hole, also whilst getting the seat back into original position. Remember to also lift the centre passenger's buckle while putting the seat back so that it's not lost.
Once all is in place, simply push down on both front corners to clip back onto the body.
Voila.
No replacement parts needed. Total time... Probably 45 minutes.
