Hi gents!

My drivers seat cushion is toast. Really, really toast. Has a hole in a corner and seams coming undone. This is the only car in my stable that was used and not family owned, so I can only assume the previous owner was a full sized gent or lady. It’s been like this since the day I got it but gotten progressively worse:






I found this on eBay :



the eBay cushion price works, but only if I can do it myself.

I just got thru having my XJ-J reupholstered in genuine Connolly leather, and I just can’t afford to pay for the X TYPE. Plus the X is a daily driver and needs to look presentable but not concours.

Has anybody taken the seat apart? Is it challenging? Is there an airbag in there and can it blow up in my face?

thanks for any help !

 

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ushion-169218/

Former member iownme states he didn't have to remove the entire seat to get the bottom cushion out. If you do want to remove the entire seat as discussed initially in this thread, here is another explanation with pics of removing the seat for another problem (fixing seat adjusters).


https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...repair-102358/

 

I recently did this to swap the standard seats to the sport seats in my wagon project. Hopefully some my experiences are helpful:

• You need to have the car powered up to get the base bolts out (moving the seat back and forth) but you definitely want to disconnect the battery and wait several minutes before pulling the harness connectors.
  • There is debate about this but I'm in the camp of not playing with live bombs (the seat has an airbag in the backrest and there is a pyro charge in the seatbelt clip) if I can help it. Once the airbag capacitor has discharged, they should be neutralized but due care is always a good idea when handling them.
• There are two harness connectors on the bottom of the seat that are fiddly but will come apart easily enough. Tip the whole seat back into the rear seat to get better access (there should be enough slack in the cables).
• The seatbelt bolts to the seat chassis through the side of the seat, the panel that covers it just snaps on. Be careful as it is 15 year old plastic and is fragile.
  • The seatbelt bolts in with a 45 or 50 torx bit, make sure to try not twist the fabric of the belt when you reinstall.
• The whole seat can then lift out, you may want to move the steering wheel as well to make more space. Its not terribly heavy but it's bulky and there aren't very good places to grab it.
  • Wear Gloves! The bottom edge of the seat base is unfinished, razor sharp metal and will cut you if you're not careful, Its also very greasy under there.
• The side covers (that hold the buttons) just screw on in a couple of places (some torx, some Phillips to my memory) and then you can swing them out of the way without disconnecting the harness.
• You will need to unbolt the backrest from the seat base so that you can remove the bottom leather. There are two obvious bolts on either side of the backrest hinges that come out. You should be able to just lay it out of the way and leave the power cables and the heater connected. It is heavy (the backrest motor and airbag live there) so be careful once the last bolt comes out. Support it and lay it down slowly so you don't damage it.
• Lift the seat base up and you will see the fasteners that hold the cushion on. There are black or gray plastic edges that wrap around the metal of the seat stitched to the leather. Inside the plastic edging (to my memory, someone please correct me if I am wrong) are metal "teeth" that grip the seat base and hold it in tension. You should also be wearing gloves here as the metal in these spaces has an edge to it.
• Find an edge and start working the edging off, putting some downward pressure from the top of the seat cushion foam to make it easier. Work around all the edges until it's free.
  • There is probably a heater element under the seat cover. Be careful not to damage it and realign it before you install the new leather.
• The new leather goes back on the same way but understand that it isn't as pliable and will require some work to stretch into place. A little(!) heat from a hairdryer or a heat gun may help.
• It may not be prefect at first and may require some tweaks, be patient and don't rush as you can easily damage the new piece.
• Once it's in place and your happy with it, bolt the seat back together and reinstall. The bolts that hold the seat together don't require massive torque but should be as tight as before. You don't want it coming apart in an accident later. They also align the motors so they work correctly so don't wail on them.
  • This also a good opportunity to clean and re-grease the slides and motors as it hasn't been done probably since it was installed.
• Put on clean gloves and reinstall in the car. Connect the harnesses before you reconnect the battery and run the seat through all of it's motions to check that nothing is binding or misaligned. You may need to loosen / tweak the chassis bolts to square the seat back to the dashboard or body.

I may still have some photos and will post if I can grab them. Hope this helps.