Very odd but discovered my rarely used passenger seat had some bad movement on the right corner. I tracked it down to a loose bolt, however tightening did nothing but spin it. The seat rails are a complete part - so there's no replacement parts available. I had to tear into it to diagnose the problem.
I finally pulled the seat out and took a look. It was indeed a loose bolt. It spun freely because it mounts into the cavity of another. So in the photo below (red circle) picture another bolt on the opposite side. One must be locked while tightening. It must have loosened up over time and caused the excessive play (the rail will flop around oddly if not tightened)
There are 2 thin nylon washers used to prevent galling. Replace with similar if you can find it.
Seat side panel: 2 screws and electrical loom for the tilt switch. Once screws are removed, you will have to pull it apart from the snap fit into another seat plastic. It's a bit tricky since you have to work it over the height adjuster gear and away from the seat bottom cushion. It's doable. Just be patient and careful. You can opt to remove the loom from the clips so that the panel can be set aside. Otherwise it will have to dangle as you work on the seat.
Seat rail plastic cover (not pictured) 3 screws. Front, rear, and rear middle. Easy. It may seem tricky to slide it out of the way, feels like it gets stuck. But it will remove quickly just swiveling it and guiding it through.
Seat controls
Tilt switch pulls off - used a cable tie to slide under it and pop it free, it may go flying so block it.
The height adjuster handle has a cover plate, gently pry it off. Then a center mounted bolt. The handle may feel stuck but it should come off with a slight amount of force. It's keyed into adjustment gear so it fits only one way.
You could probably do this without completely removing the seat from the car (leave the seat loose and tilt upwards) but it's easier if you do take the heavy thing outside.
Jeff, thank you for your post and great advice. Today I visited my
Porsche
Dealer in NY--
Porsche
of Huntington--with the same problem. I have a 2008 RS60
Spyder
Boxster
. Mint and serviced regularly. The dealer service manager informed me I am missing two bolts and that to fix the problem, I would have to buy the entire seat adjustment mechanism. The two bolts cannot be bought separately. "ADVISED THE CUSTOMER THE BOLTS ARE ONLY AVAILABLE AS PART OF THE SEAT ADJUSTMENT MECHANISM." Price? "APROX (sic) REPLACEMENT $2279 PLUS TAX." The document I was asked to sign added "CUSTOMER DECLINED REPAIRS AND WIL (sic) CHECK WITH CAR WASH FOR MISSING BOLTS." For further dialogue about the issue, the service manager advised me to call 1-800-
PORSCHE
, and he said they would do their best to address my grievance. All I can say is good luck Klaus Zellner, the recently appointed President/CEO of
Porsche
NA. Shame on you,
Porsche
, for further tarnishing your brand, forcing your customers to buy an overpriced mechanism for an otherwise mint car just to obtain two critical bolts. I'm on my third
Porsche
at this point and was planning a fourth, but now
Porsche
can forget it. I will have this fixed elsewhere, and will not give them a second chance. Btw, one of my other cars is a VW Diesel, and we all know that story. Bad judgement it seems runs rampant through VW Group! And now for the punchline: I visited another shop, run by a former
Porsche
Tech and a very talented group, and guess what, they checked my seat and told me it is only missing ONE bolt. The other was still there but loose. And they said they can fix it no doubt for a fair price. Again, SHAME ON YOU
PORSCHE
!
