Sport Seats and Lumbar Support

[Huckleberry]

Hi all!

My first post here.

I have a 1993 Ruby Red Coupe. I like the car, despite the money I've sunk into repairs, but I've never really been able to get comfortable in the seats. One problem is the placement of the
controls for the lumbar support on the seats. It really tends to bother my leg on anything over a 20 minute drive. Has anybody else had this problem? I've thought about taking it out of the seat and putting some foam in its place. Another problem with the lumbar support is that only the middle section inflates. I hear the motor running, but nothing really happens except in the middle section. Are there holes in it and how can I get the seatback apart to look?

I'm not really mechanically inclined, but I'm trying to learn, mainly out of necessity to keep down the cost of repairs. The car has been expensive to maintain. I may be asking some stupid questions in the future, so bear with me.

Thanks

 

[6 Shooter]

Welcome to CAC

Sorry I don't know the answers to your seat questions.

 

[Baldie88]

Welcome.

Don't know about your car but on my 88 the motor for the lumbar pads is located under the seat. My problem was that the diaphram in the motor was shot and they weren't inflating at all. If one is inflating your problem could be as simple as a line pulled off the bladder. I'd check there first. Sorry I can't help with the location of the controls.

You might want to do a search on lumbar pads. There's probably been a lot of posts on it. Good Luck.

 

[Rob]

Hi all!

My first post here.

I have a 1993 Ruby Red Coupe. I like the car, despite the money I've sunk into repairs, but I've never really been able to get comfortable in the seats. One problem is the placement of the
controls for the lumbar support on the seats. It really tends to bother my leg on anything over a 20 minute drive. Has anybody else had this problem? I've thought about taking it out of the seat and putting some foam in its place. Another problem with the lumbar support is that only the middle section inflates. I hear the motor running, but nothing really happens except in the middle section. Are there holes in it and how can I get the seatback apart to look?

I'm not really mechanically inclined, but I'm trying to learn, mainly out of necessity to keep down the cost of repairs. The car has been expensive to maintain. I may be asking some stupid questions in the future, so bear with me.

Thanks

Welcome to the Corvette Action Center.

I can't answer your question about removing the lumbar support controls from the seat, but I can tell you that chances are, the rubber diaphragm in the pump has a leak in it. Refer here for more information: http://corvetteactioncenter.com/kb/question.php?qstId=163

Check of Inflatable Lumbar Support and click the "Answer" button.

 

[Huckleberry]

Thanks, but I already did that. The latex glove solution works great. The lumbar wasn't working on either seat when I bought the car. Like I said, it's partially working on the driver side with the middle lumbar able to inflate.

 

[vigman]

I had that SAME problem!

The foam supporting your tush has suffered a sever case of F.A.D.

( Fat A$$ Disease )

To prove this... sit in the passengers seat...better?

Now I remember correctly the new bottom seat foam was 108.00 out of Mid America and my local tuck & roll shop charged me 80.00 to pull the OLD seat cover off & re install it.

I had done new seat covers a few months ago.


WARNING

If you have the orig seat leather... don't do it.. it will come apart..... the seams will split
( depending on age etc )

Next option

Get some flat foam ( thick ) ...
Pop the bottom seat cushion.
Stuff it till happy.


Vig!

 

[Huckleberry]

That's a great idea. I guess I never attributed it to my weight. I just thought it was a stupid place to put those controls and couldn't understand why other people didn't have the same problem. The guy who owned it before me was around 260 lbs., so I'm sure the foam took a beating from him too.

I'm 6'4", so hopefully I won't lose too much headroom when I put in the new foam.

Any ideas where I can get some flat foam?

Thanks

 

[vigman]

Out here

There are stores like "Foam mart".. that do nothing but that....

I would start @ the local tuck & roll shop.... or a BIG hardware store


Or raid the trash cans of an electronics store.


Vig!

 

[searay270]

Lumbar pump and side switch fixed on Ruby!

Well, thanks to all the posts about the rubber gloves, I ventured under the seats to see what could be done. I started with the driver's side - sure enough, the motor would click, but not run. I undid the two little phillips screws, and the 1-inch square (almost 1-inch cube) pump came right out along with the plunger - the rubber diaphram was rotten and falling out in small pieces.

The little pump disassembled easily. The wife donated her left glove and I cut a circular piece by tracing through the pump body hole, then adding about 3/16 inch for the sealing surface as I cut. I punched a small hole for the center screw - here is where I did smething slightly different than what I read on all the posts - the old diaphram piece is under a plastic washer, which I did not remove. I left this intact to provide a little more support for the glove piece.

I reassembled, and had the pump working within 30 minutes. The other side took a total of 15 minutes, even though I dropped one of the phillips screws down the seat frame!

In checking the side lumbar support switch, the passenger side rocked, but only worked intermittently. The driver's side would not rock, and "stuck" in the direction actuated and no electricity flowed. I took out the switch, and figured out how to pick it appart. Watch out for the little spring inside the rocker switch actuator shaft behind the little ball stud. When prying the bottom apart and exposing the slider, all I found was corrosion on all contact surfaces. I brushed this away with elctronic tuner cleaner and a toothbrush, then burnished the slider a little with some steel wool. I lubricated the moving parts and contacts with a little silicon grease, then reassembled. The switch works fine now. Ran out of time for the other side.

Many thanks to this forum and to others who share their experiences. This certainly is a way to build confidence in attempting repairs rather than paying through the nose at a dealership, where half the parts probably do not need replacement to begin with.

Jack
Sarfasota, FL