My God these cars are all over the place but there's not much info on the net is there ?
Hopefully some of you guys can help. I've got a 1996 model 1.5 323 with 2 problems. One major and one just annoying as hell. Any advice or pointers at all would be great. Bear in mind I'm not the most mechanically minded person in the world - give me a PC and I'll fix it... give me a car and I'll break it.
OK .... my problems in order of importance :

1. The drivers seat. The front right corner of the seat has broken away from the runner. By the looks of it the seat has a bolt coming from it which SHOULD fasten through a metal runner. The last inch or so of the metal runner has snapped off where the bolt should attach so the front right of the seat is completely detached and the seat rocks back and forward really badly. What the HELL do I do to fix this ? I might have more chance if I could remove the seat but I'm not all that sure how to. Do I need special tools ? Brute force ? A new car ? I know it's quite a basic question probably but I'm really not that great with cars unless someone can give me a step by step. Seriously - ANY help at all is appreciated. I can imagine this could be repaired cheaply but a garage would charge a fortune.

2. This isn't particularly important - more just annoying. My blowers are crap. They do blow air and the temp changes according to the slider. The fan does operate at all four speeds but there is very little air coming through. On speed 3 and 4 the air is barely noticeable but the noise is VERY noticeable. I've removed the fan housing from under the passenger dash and the fan spins no problem and virtually silently. After putting the fan back in place it's quite noisy again but not as bad but there's still virtually no air flow. I've disconnected the small plastic black pipe running from the fan housing and there is quite a strong air flow coming from it (although I don't know how strong it should be). Even if I close off all but one of the vents there is virtually no airflow. Any ideas what I could check and more importantly HOW do I check it ? If it makes any difference the aircon doesn't work as far as I know... don't know if this would affect the blowers in any way.

Please ... anyone ? Help !? I'm getting quite desparate particularly about the seat.

Cheers for taking the time to read all that...

Hi mate, Welcome to the Club, and Enjoy your stay.....

Here you will find a wealth of information which has been built up over time by our members...

Not sure Re the Seat, but with regard to the blowers- Have you checked the Pollen Filters...... these sometimes reduce the air flow if they get clogged.... It happened to me with my car once.


Just a thought!

Damn that's a quick response - I was just coming to edit my post.

The edit was going to be ...

by the way the green light on the A/C switch does come on.



Anyway - the whole Pollen Filters thing. Where are they ? How do I get to them ? Can they just be cleaned or would they need replaced ?
Thanks for the suggestions mate

filters located, passenger side under cubby hole compartment thing! #;o)

Re the Air con light, You'd need to make sure your car does actually have A/C..

All models were fitted with the Button, but not all cars had it....

Look for the A/C piping under the bonnet, or alternativley look on the plate inside the door- Should tell you there as well.

As for the Filters, If this is anything to do with it, then You can take them out. Ideally I would replace them, as they stop dirt and dust etc comming through the system, but some people have removed them with no problems...... As far as I know.

Location is a lot easier on the F then

Mine wasUnder the plastic grill where the wipers sit.... I had to take the wipers off- motors and the lot to get at mine and it was a pain in the Rear!

Cheers

[quote="fil_auto"]filters located, passenger side under cubby hole compartment thing! #;o)[/quote]

lol....

Umm.... where exactly is that ? You mean under the glove box near the fan ? Thanks.. I'll have a look to see what I can find there.

[quote="JAM"]
All models were fitted with the Button, but not all cars had it....
[/quote]

If the light comes on when I press the button is that a good sign ? I'll have a look on the plate.
Are the filters obvious when I find them ? Knowing me I'll spend 2 weeks breaking various parts around and about the wipers and then discover it was under the glove box bit all along and I just didn't know I was looking at them.

If Phil says there under the the glove compartment, then thats where they'll be mate

His knowledge is way greater than mine - I was having a guess to be honest, I thought maybe they'd be in the same place as mine

Go with Phils advice

The light will always come on, whether you have A/C or not mate, so Check for the piping and also on the plate in the drivers door...

Not really a good or bad sign, although If you find you have aircon, then obviously its a good sign

Thanks to both of you for the advice.
Much appreciated - especially the speed of the replies.

Phil... I'm assuming you mean the glove box. Is it behind the glove box (in other words do I need to remove the flip down door ?) or is it below the glove box (i.e. beside the blower fan housing ?)

And anyone out there got any suggestions on the seat thing ? Even just a step by step guide to removing the seat would be handy.

Welcome chap, just to confirm woth Phil, the pollen filter is under the passeger side of the dash, nearer the centre of the car, held in with 2 screws :D

As for the seats, my advice would be get a replacement from a scrappy, should be about £30 - £50, you'll need to if the subframe is snapped off as you say, as for getting said seat out of the car, cOULDN'T be simpler my friend :D Each one is held on by 4 bolts, takes more time undo them than lift the seat out, couldn't believe how easy it was when i saw it done on mine :D:D

The aircon button, right, you'll know you have aircon if you lift the bonnet, you will have 2 radiators, and 2 fans side by side, the button works even on cars that don't havethe aircon, all the cars without had a small black sticker put over thelight as JAM says, its just some unscrulpulus dealers take it off and tell people its got aircon, hope all that helps :D

stick your head underneath it, shine a torch and see what you can find mate......

Shouldn't be any need to remove it, should be sufficient access there.......

OK I'll try and tackle the pollen filters in the limited light after work tonight to see what I can do. Must be good to know what you're talking about.

The seat I think I'll have to try and put off till the weekend... no garage to work in and probably not the easiest thing to do in the dark.

i'd say the seats the easier of the two actually, the best way i found to get the damn filter out is to lie on your back, with your head under the dash, not very comfy i have to say :D

[quote="andym323"]i'd say the seats the easier of the two actually, the best way i found to get the damn filter out is to lie on your back, with your head under the dash, not very comfy i have to say :D[/quote]

Already done that to remove the fan from the assembly .... ended up lying on my back on the passenger seat with my legs bent over the headrest. The neighbours probably think I was drunk.

That's nothin chap, my niegbours are convinced i'm insane :D:D

[quote="andym323"]That's nothin chap, my niegbours are convinced i'm insane :D:D[/quote]
And they wouldn't be far wrong would they Andy

just a note ... I was a "bit" drunk when I pulled out my pollen filters or so I thought ... it turned out to be the closing vent that circulates air inside the cabin , so it's "fresh" air all the time ... silly silly mistake.

Christ. Now I'm worried. I bet I rip out something vital by accident.

deat can be welded up, but its a mission - mine went too - nightmare - best to get a replacement from a scrappy - theres a place in London with a big range, who can match your interior - nice and usefully i've completely forgotten the name of the co.......

Damn. Tried looking for the pollen filter under the passenger side last night and don't think it's there. Difficult in the dark right enough but can't see anything it might be.... of course I could well be missing it. Anyone know what sort of size shape and colour the cover I need to remove is ?
There's a big white thing but I get the feeling it's not that. Didn't want to remove it not knowing what it is.

I take it this is the bit that has broken ?

[img]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/gogobroom1/Stuff/11092005004.jpg[/img] [img]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/gogobroom1/Stuff/T-brokenseat1.jpg[/img]

This happened on Tasha's car, seat was rocking all over the place, mate of mine welded it up. Best bet is to take it off the seat first lol.

Anyway when I was last at a scrapyard a picked up another one in good nick for only a couple of quid

psychofly

the white thing is the cover which stops the pollen filters from falling out. it should be held on with two cross head screws.

put a mat underneath the white thing so that when you undo it any bits of crap fall on to the mat and not your carpet! (i took mine out just after spending an hour cleaning my car and dropped crap all over my nice clean carpet, doh!)

undo the 2 screws and take the white cover off. feel around and you will be able to pull out the first filter, then feel around abit more to the front and rear of the opening and you should find that there are two more filters in there (3 in total) all the same size.

have a look at them and one side should be clean and the other will have dust, leaves, seeds from flowers etc all over it.

i took mine out in the summer and havent noticed any problems with regards to more dust etc in the car.

the fans are in my opinion crap anyway but i did noticed that there was a bit more power coming from themwith out the filters. have wonderd about replacing the fan motor with a bigger more powerfull one. what do people think? possible?

as for the seat, replace it, its not safe and if you are in an accidanet it wont do what its supposed to do which is stop you from being stuffed into the dash/ windscreen!

hope this helps!

Will

[quote="will"]if you are in an accidanet it wont do what its supposed to do which is stop you from being stuffed into the dash/ windscreen![/quote]
I thought that's what the seat belt did

It may fail to stop you ending up in the backseat though


Mark

will... the bit that's broken on mine looks a bit different but I think it's the basically the same thing. I'm going to try and remove my seat at the weekend and have a better look. If I can get the seat out easily enough I'll hit the scrappies of Stirling and Fife and see what I can find.
Going back to the pollen filters the white cover I've found probably more than a foot long and bends up from the back of the footwell and under the dash on the passenger side.... does this sound right or is it too big ? I'll try and remember and get a photo of it when I get home if that helps anyone. Damn I wish I had a garage.

the pollen filters, I agree with you psychofly, it's just one big white box and there are no screws, other than the fan motor. That's why I took out the fan (2 screws by the way .. lol) and pulled out what felt and looked like a filter, of course it was the wrong thing.

I can't imagine them to be anywhere else, but like JAM said, he's was under the wipers. Surely all the BA's will have it in the same location (Unless the BA's in South Africa don't have filters?)

Maybe I should borrow a scope from a hospital and put it down the vents and see where I end up

Please note that My car IS NOT AN F, hence it being in a different Location

Mine is under the glove box as sugested. I took them out years ago with no problems (just some bits on the dash now and then). I believe the later BA's didn't have access to the pollen filters in the same way. You may have to ask at a dealer


Mark

Thanks for that. I'll ask a local dealer and see what they can come up with.

please do and let me know, cause I asked the dealer "where are the pollen filters" ? and he pointed to the AIR FILTER ! - I left immediately.

[quote="elesar"]please do and let me know, cause I asked the dealer "where are the pollen filters" ? and he pointed to the AIR FILTER ! - I left immediately.[/quote]