hey all,

i have a 88AE. the seatbelts are ..well.. limp. when you pull on them, they come out and the work normally, but i think the tensioner to retract them isn't what it used to be.

How would i go about fixing that? some wd40? limp seatbelts on both sides, not just the driver side.

thanks.

 

i dont know about wd-40 but you might be able to grease em up a lil and see if that helps.. if not you might just need to replace the assembly. but im not quite sure on whether or not youd have to replace the whole thing or not

 

I had this problem recently too. As I still have a 4 point in my car, it wasn't a big deal if I broke it since I could use that temporarily, so I tried to fix it. Spraying it in wd-40 doesn't do much and you can't get any grease in there to lube it up (there's probably plenty anyway). After trying those, I disassembled the whole thing.

WARNING: If a mazda part says DO NOT REMOVE, I recommend not removing it.

I took off the coil that retracts the seat belt (the thing providing the tension) and it immediately uncoiled completely. Shitty. It is near impossible to preload this as much as the factory does. In the process of trying I cut (deep) into many of my fingers, if you look at the assembly you'll see how; that coil is sharp on the edges. Anyway, I finally got it to preload by completely retracting the seat belt, installing the coil, and then pulling the seat belt out. It worked somewhat, but still doesn't have the tension needed.

Long story short, you'll need to replace the assembly. Just find one at a junkyard that works (check the FSM for things that mean it's working) and use that. Fixing them is not really an option and now my belt is somewhat worse off.

Good luck.

Redwood

 

Hmm...I'm curious as to how much they cost to replace since I have black S4 seatbelts out of a 10th AE and they too don't retract all the way back.

 

That's funny because it isn't me. Actually I've done similar things. Recoil springs can be horrible to work with.

 

i have a manual miata seatbelt in my car (damn auto belts, rights?). i hate it. it would retract fine, but the angle is so off it doesnt retract. i have to pull it up a lil near the top (near the 'assembly') to make it retract. it'd work great if it were meant for the car. i'd have to rig it to work properly, but i aim to just replace it (and the passenger side) with junkyard RX7 manual belts..

as pointless as my story was.. good luck!

 

You should be able to take it to a dealer and get it fixed for free since it's a safety item. That's how I got my automatic belts fixed (the cables or something screwed up to where they wouldn't move) - they fixed them under a recall. It may be a little harder for you since that's not part of the recall.