Hi All, I don't know what I did wrong, but when I refitted the front seats after the interior deep clean, I find that they now won't travel backwards on the rail as much as they did, prior to seat removal - what am I missing here?

Guesses -

something under the seat or on a rail preventing full range of moving back,

rails wrong way round or on wrong sides to seat or floor,

that's all.

ETA: I expect you fully cleaned and lubricated the rails and release mechanism.

1 minute ago, nta16 said:

Guesses -

something under the seat or on a rail preventing full range of moving back,

rails wrong way round or on wrong sides to seat or floor,

that's all.

Thanks, but both seats? They went back the way they went in, same side, nothing blocking either seat, rails weren't removed.

I don't know the seats so just generalised guessing.

You have them both facing the windscreen and not in conference facing. 😁

If you left the four rails bolted to the floor it only leaves the seats so perhaps you didn't locate the seats in the correct slot(s)/position to the sliding parts of the rails.

3 minutes ago, nta16 said:

I don't know the seats so just generalised guessing.

You have them both facing the windscreen and not in conference facing. 😁

If you left the four rails bolted to the floor it only leaves the seats so perhaps you didn't locate the seats in the correct slot(s)/position to the sliding parts of the rails.

Thanks, will check again - I thought there might have been some sort of restraint lever that I've tripped, which allows the rearwards range of movement to be limited (for shorter people) :-)

For all I know there might be but I doubt it, I've got very short legs but always move the seat fully back to get out and make it easy to get back in, unless I want to have a bit of fun with the next person.

If no one else is about take a photo and zoom in on it, post it up here if yopu can't spot the issue.

More thoughts -

does your driver's seat have height adjustment, if so this will make a difference?

did you look at, refer to, and read the 'Owner's Manual' about seats?

12 hours ago, nta16 said:

More thoughts -

does your driver's seat have height adjustment, if so this will make a difference?

did you look at, refer to, and read the 'Owner's Manual' about seats?

No seat height adjustment on the car, and the owner's manual doesn't mention anything about the topic in question :-)

12 hours ago, nta16 said:

For all I know there might be but I doubt it, I've got very short legs but always move the seat fully back to get out and make it easy to get back in, unless I want to have a bit of fun with the next person.

If no one else is about take a photo and zoom in on it, post it up here if yopu can't spot the issue.

Not sure how I can take a picture of this - what would I be aiming for?

Does it reach hard stop or just seizes on the way to the back?

If the latter, I'd try loosen the bolts a bit, move the seat back and forth and tighten again.

3 hours ago, TonyW1967 said:

No seat height adjustment on the car, and the owner's manual doesn't mention anything about the topic in question :-)

I just meant that's where I found the height adjustment for the drivers seat, obviously this didn't relate to your car, or the seat has been changed.

3 hours ago, TonyW1967 said:

Not sure how I can take a picture of this - what would I be aiming for?

Just to see the mechanism and be able to perhaps zoom in and see any faults or jams there. I can't think the seat frame is so close to the floor and you have deep enough carpet pile to restrict or make difficult the seat movement as I've experienced in a display car and my mates when he had it reuopholstered.

You've a good suggestion of trying to loosen the bolts and see if that free things up, perhaps there is some sort of twist in the frame(s) or rail(s) or you introduced one. Driver's seat tends to be most worn for obvious reasons.

As you put it was fine before so I'm sure it can be again. Good luck.

6 hours ago, Papez said:

Does it reach hard stop or just seizes on the way to the back?

If the latter, I'd try loosen the bolts a bit, move the seat back and forth and tighten again.

Hard stop - a definite clunk! :-)

Have you added anything, even thicker washer or higher head bolts or something like that.

You could measure the distance between the back of the seat base to the front of whatever's under the rear seat and see if that's the same measurement as other owners (with same seats and perhaps trim level and year of car if there was variations). Mine thinking there is perhaps the seat(s) weren't fitted correctly before you took them out and now are but I have no idea of front to rear movement of these seats as normal.

ETA: when you can see the car in the metal (and plastic) you can see sometimes when something isn't same as factory hence photos often being useful now, unless it's an obvious fault I'd not know as I couldn't identify a Felicia seat or its rails if they fell on my head both others can.

Edited 29 January29 Jan by nta16
ETA:

18 hours ago, TonyW1967 said:

Hard stop - a definite clunk! :-)

Then the only thing I can think of is, that screws in the rear part of the rail aren't seated properly and seat rail stops on them.

Or, but I'm not sure if it's correct, I think that rails are moving on bearing balls. Maybe the balls moved around when the seats were out of the car and now they act as a stop.. have you tried to move them back without any weight on them?

@TonyW1967 You have the stock seat covers of aftermarket?

19 hours ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

@TonyW1967 You have the stock seat covers of aftermarket?

Stock - however, the problem appears to have fixed itself, I forcefully moved the seat back, and it did so without impediment! :-)

As Bruce McLaren was saying ''hit it'' (when something refuse to fit).

1 hour ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

As Bruce McLaren was saying ''hit it'' (when something refuse to fit).

Yep - 'if it doesn't fit, use a bigger hammer', was a saying when I was an engineer in the military, although, reality was slightly different! 😄

My brother has the same attitude but usually the end is bad because he destroys the item that he pushes to fit. 😆

I asked you about aftermarket seats because sometimes an elastic strap or a S hook blocks the rail.