Octavia I - Lumbar Support Repair

[trundlenut]

Thought this would be best in a new thread.

The lumber support on the drivers seat in my car broke and in order to avoid paying Skoda about £100 I decided to fix it myself.

If you are happy to fix it yourself and remove the seat from the car you can buy a kit from the dealer which is basically the lumber support frame and adjustment thingy.

I didn't want to mess with unplugging the airbag and removing the cover from the seat and I found that if I undid the bottom of the seat cover pushed it all the way forward and tilted the back as far forward as it would go I could lift the seat ocver up enough to see what is going on.

I found that the lumber support frame is constantly under tension even when relaxed and the wire that controls it is like a brake cable off a bike with part of it in a sheath. On my car the very end of the cable had snapped off, it is just a little round piece of metal cast on the end and is an obvious weak point. The adjustment wheel is supposed to come out of the side of the seat, but it wouldn't on mine, I managed to pull it out along with part of the adjustment mechanism by twisting all the way one way and then twist and pull but this wasn't a good idea as the frayed end of the wire was pulled back through the sheath and it was a right bugger to get back through.

I managed to find the broken end of the cable in the botom of the seat and found a brake cable at halfords that was the same diameter but it had a kind of collar which I had to file flat to fit the groove in the top of the frame. After a bit of trial and error I filed it to the right shape - you need to make sure the cable drops down into the groove in the top of the frame or it will pop out when you tension it.

After more mucking about I found that you need to join the cable with something that will hold it realy tight or it will just slip through. I found some small shackles in B&Q that are kind of U shaped with a plate that does up with two nuts.

You need to get the cable the right length and then the diffucult bit is to make sure the cable sheath is hooked into the arm at the bottom of the frame and then reach up inside the seat pull the top down while pushing the middle out and hook the cable over the top and make sure it locates in the groove correctly. And make sure the adjuster is wound all the way in first. Oh and you can't see what you are doing at this point and there are lots of sharp bits inside the seat.

Hope this helps no pictures I'm afraid though.

[mrmo]

Can you explain a bit more? i had a crack from my seat on the way home and the seat feels odd, lumbar doesn't seem to be doing anything now?

How do i get access to the mechanism, I haven't looked, but you talk about undoing the cover? is it poppers or a zip at the bottom?

[trundlenut]

There is a plastic strip along the bottom of the back of the seat, if you put a screwdriver in one end you can separate to the front and the back and peel them up a bit - watch out though as there is a cord or wire which runs up through the front of the seat which is fastened to the seat frame, you could rip it. If you pull the wheel for adjusting the seat back you can get it a bit higher but you'll still need to put your head in the back foot well and look up the seat, but if the cable is broken it should be flopping around in the bottom of the seat back.

[mrmo]

thanks, just rang the dealer, 100-200ish.

Will have a look later and see if i can do it myself.

What can actually break realistically? if it is a cable snapping then a bodge would be free. something more substantial would obviously involve more money.

[mrmo]

Managed to dismantle the seat enough to see.

Getting the seat cover fastener undo is a right pain, eventually open. and then able to feed one end through the gap between seat base and seat back.

The adjuster **** for the lumbar just pulled off, two screws then allow you to remove the cable and housing, there is a slot in the side of this housing so the cable can be taken out.

I happen to have a length of road bike brake cable complete with a pear nipple. Not quite the same shape as the original but it doesn't matter. i intend to use the remaining original nipple in place of the broken end and use the bike brake cable at the adjuster end, where nipple shape is less important.

Just have to find a clamp to hold the cables together securely.

[trundlenut]

I had problems with the cables slipping when I bodged it back together, in the end it got some little shackles from B&Q, the kind that have a U shaped piece which is threaded at both ends and then a flat plate slides over and it does together with two nuts. I used 3 or 4 to ensure it wouldn't slip. And they only cost a couple of quid.

[whitebakecase]

another idea for clamping the cables together, ive done this myself, is to pop down to B&Q and get some 30 amp electrical screw terminal connector strips. remove two screws and the connecting copper tube from one of the connectors in the PVC sheath to save on space, or leave it intact, whichecver, simply place two ends of cable into tube and clamp down using the copper screws

[whitebakecase]

just out of curiosity, has anybody gone to the trouble of providing photos for this repair, Im going to attempt it myself today

[trundlenut]

Couldn't take any photos as I couldn't pull the seat cover up enough.

I tried the electrical connectors myself but I found they didn't hold it and the cable gradually slipped through until the tension went completely. Even with the support wound down to minimum it is still tensioned and the act of sitting in the seat added too much pressure.

I also found if you tightened the electrical connectors up too tight they break.

[whitebakecase]

hm, i can see theres room for that sort of problem, i havent even attenpted mine today ive been desperately trying to find some sort of schematic or plan on the web so that i know what im looking for rather than trying blind and wrecking the chair, one for a rainy day i think

[trundlenut]

I will try and sketch something tonight. Your best bet is to separate the cover at the bottom of the back of the seat, roll the seat all the way forward, tip the back all the way forward and then peer up the inside of the seat.

[fahjo]

After lifting the cover up as far as I could to get a look, I discovered that the plastic sheath around the cable had slipped through the plastic retainer. As the adjuster handle was turned this just pulled the cable through the plastic retainer even further. To solve this, I pulled the cable back to its proper position in the retainer and used a P-clip to tighten the plastic enough to stop the cable from being pulled through.

[whitebakecase]

how does the seat come out? ive got to take both front seats out anyway so i can fetch the carpet up for a steam clean, and so far ive managed to undo a couple of 13mm nuts on the front underside of each chair..

I'm guessing theres more fixings under the plastic runner cover? I dont want to start pulling out the trims if theres no fixing to be found, made that mistake with the drivers door, so whereabouts are the rear fixings on the chairs, or am i missing something more obvious?

[cforehead]

Is this the most under-engineered system in living memory? The pivoting 'T' piece which holds the cable sheath had snapped on mine, along with the frame it clips into.

I 'repaired' it... and it looks to me like one of those cases where the repair might actually be stronger than the original design!

I broke it yesterday morning, have driven it for about an hour since without the Lumbar support and already have an awkward feeling back... thank god it's sorted.

Thanks for the info above though, I had a good idea of what I was going to find before I even peeled the seat cover back.

Chris

[Plantman]

Sorry to dig an old thread up...can the lumbar be 'increased' from it's original value?

How does it work exactly?

Cheers!

[trundlenut]

It's alive!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know if the mkII is the same as the mkI but basically it is a piece of plastic held in a curve by a cable which runs from the top of the support down through a rod which is attached to the bottom of the support. Even when turned down it is still curved and held under tension. You could probably put some spacers in to hold it tighter but given the quality materials I wouldn't count on it lasting too long.

Hope that helps.

[Plymouth Red]

Interesting.

Although slightly off topic I have not long bought my car from an approved dealer and on the test drives it was fine but having done a couple of long trips now I am getting severe, and I mean severe, back ache from the seat.

Tried experimenting positions ** but not yet found a good one ( ** seat )

There is a bar that runs across the seat that appears to be pressing into my lower back? Now that you have dismantled the seat do you think this could be causing me problems and would it be under warranty (Car still has 11 months to run?)

[trundlenut]

try comparing what the drivers seat feels like with the passenger side. I hadn't realised how bad the seat was in mine until one day SWMBO drove and I sat in the passenger seat.

After I fixed the lumbar support I realised that the bottom of the seat had collapsed so the back of the seat felt uncomfortable. I should take it back and get it checked/fixed if you find the passenger side is more comfortable.

[Vrs me]

Anyone ended up with a sketch or pictures for this?

My lumbar support is broken and really need it fixing.

Thanks

[Turbo_Boss]

I just fix my lumber support today and took pictures. I am going to put them here with some explication.

My car is a 2002 Octavia L&K 1.8T My seats dont have side airbags. They are factory leather with heated. Maybe yours are diferent. So maybe there are thing that are different.

In order to fix the lumbar support problem, I decide to remove the seat from the car. Is easier this way and you will not hurt your back because you will need to bend to see what you are doing. I strongly recommend that you take out the seat, put it on top of a work bench and from there it will be a piece of cake to fix it.

Its my understanding that Skoda sells a kit to fix the lumber support but in my case and I think most of the case are the same of mine is that the wire that controls is like a brake cable off a bike with part of it inside a black sheath/cover is broke. This is the only thing you need to put new.

The first thing is to remove the negative wire from the battery.

Push your seat all the way to the front.

Remove the plastic trim on the left and right. You need to remove the small round cover in order to take out a screw and them you can remove the trim.

After you remove these 2 trims out, then push back the seat in order that you have space to work under the front part of the seat. Remove 2 nuts that are in the front center under the seat.

After you take out these 2 nuts, you can till back the seat so you can remove the electrical connectors under the seat. In my case there were only 2 connectors since my car does not have side air bags. Maybe your car has more electrical connectors.

Here is a view of my seat on the work bench. You can see the electrical plugs connectors

Then slide the seat to the rear and you will see it has like some small wheels on the back on each side that ride on the channel were you remove the plastic trim and you can take out the seat from the car. Its a good idea to have a friend to help you since the seat is a little heavier and also to prevent that you scratch the interior of your car or the door covers when you are taking out the seat. So be careful here.

Put the seat on a work bench and on the rear part you will see that there is a black plastic strip along the bottom of the back of the seat (Check pics, green arrow showing the black plastic strip), they work like they are zippers. With a flat screwdriver in one end you can separate the both parts in order to pull up the seat cover and work.

You dont need to remove the entire seat cover, just remove it up a little bit so you can put your hand inside and work to put the new wire. What you only need is a little gap between the seat base and seat back so you can put your hand.

Red arrow shows the black sheath/cover. The wire runs inside this black sheath.

The following pic, show exactly were the end of the wire goes. Thats exactly were mine broke. I decide to pill up my seat cover. This is a pain in the azz and you dont need to do it. To pill up more the seat cover I need to remove some thin wires and springs. Again, this is a pain in the azz and I dont recommend you to remove does thin wires to see more . I do it because I did not know what the damage was and since nobody has place any pics.............Well I do it. But is that wire broke again, I will replace the wire without pilling up the seat cover.

Here are some pics were it shows the thin wires and springs that does not allow removing the seat cover more. AGAIN, you dont need to remove them.

This is the adjuster and you can see how one of the ends of the wires goes. I dont know how to call this ball so I will call ball/collar.

Do not try to take out the part that is mark with green. This part is factory glued. So dont try to take it out. You also dont need to take it out.

Ok, with your new cable of the right length, you put one of the end ball/collar on the part thats goes on the back support.

Here is a pic showing with a green arrow where the ball/collar goes. In the pictures this ball does not show because in my case the ball/collar was black.

What you do is with you hand, you reach inside between the seat cover and the seat and make sure to put the ball/collar in that hole/groove...... Make sure the cable ball/collar drops down into the hole/groove.

I dont have pics of the following but the other ends of the wire that also have a ball/collar have to exit thru the hole were the adjuster goes.

Then you attach the ball/collar to the adjuster and push the adjuster inside the hole.

I am pretty sure, there are some others members that has already fix this. So I really appreciated if they can also contribute with advises or things that maybe I forget to mention.

Also , maybe somebody knows the part reference of the Skoda kit to fix the lumber support, etc

Hope this help you guys,

Isaac

Edited 30 September, 2012 by Turbo_Boss

[RobClubley]

Excellent guide, thanks for taking the time to post it.

[trundlenut]

Spot on!

I didn't remove the seats which apart from making it harder to do made it really difficult to take any pictures, thanks for posting those pictures.

[DGW]

That's a really good addition to the original very useful guide, Isaac. Well done for adding a photographic step by step guide.

A lumbar support repair kit (a set for left and right seats) is available from Skoda dealers. The part number is 1J0 898 943A.

[Turbo_Boss]

That's a really good addition to the original very useful guide, Isaac. Well done for adding a photographic step by step guide.

A lumbar support repair kit (a set for left and right seats) is available from Skoda dealers. The part number is 1J0 898 943A.

Thank you Denis,

Regarding that part number. Its look like VAG have several references that says are Lumbar Repair Kit.

The one: "Repair Kit" P/N 1J0 898 943A Is just a package of 4 springs, probably for repair broken components of the seat that have lumbar support and in my case they was not the problem of lossing my lumber support. Its was the adjuster wire cable that broke.

So you can figured out were these springs goes inside the seat, here are some pics showing were they go:

So best idea it to make shure first what is the problem and then go and buy the parts you need. Maybe to check if the adjuster wire is broke, you dont need to remove the seat, just only get your hand inside and check it.

Isaac

Edited 30 September, 2012 by Turbo_Boss

[DGW]

Excellent advice, Isaac, and useful to know what the repair kit contains.