Hey all,

 

We're having a lot of troubles with the drivers side automatic seatbelt on our 1990 Legacy.

 

When we bought the car, the seatbelt motor was unplugged, so we assumed it was broken. I grabbed a new one from pull-a-part and swapped it in there, but it didn't help it. Both motors WORK fine, when they decide to work.

 

What happens, is that the seatbelt will always "close" (meaning, it never fails to move back and cover the person with the belt) but it only "opens" maybe 1/3 of the time. You open the door, and the seatbelt doesn't move. Sometimes, it "shudders" as it slowly moves forward.

 

Also, the Seatbelt light on the dash constanly blinks. I thought at first it did this because the old motor was unplugged, but it still blinks.

 

Another oddity I see, is that I found a couple cut wires up in the A-pillar. The seatbelt motor works fine (when it chooses to work) so I assumed they were unrelated, but now I'm not sure.

 

Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this problem?

my 91 did the same think,the cable had ate into the liner that guides the cable,have yet to replace mine. i did take motor out and just fasten chest belt by hand. ed

my 91 did the same think,the cable had ate into the liner that guides the cable,have yet to replace mine. i did take motor out and just fasten chest belt by hand. ed

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to avoid.

 

The thing that makes me think the motor is good is that sometimes the seatbelt works flawlessly, it's just the majority of the time, it doesnt even budge (the motor doesn't even try to move).

 

Another odd thing it does is that sometimes it has a "delayed reaction". You'll open the door, and maybe 15-20 seconds later the seat-belt opens. It really makes me think there's some weird wiring issue.

Sounds like a cable drive problem

 

 

nipper

Might be one of the limit switches.

 

I have diagnostic procedures to check the computer, but my server is down now. Shoot me an email, and I can email you the scans.