Yesterday I went to get out of my car and my seat belt did not slide all the way open. About an hour later the (greasy!!) cable came out in a big loop, and is now stuck that way. I am not sure what happened here, but when I called the dealer they said it would cost $200-$600 to fix it , and they would need it for a couple of days. Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can take care of this myself? I have a 1993 Subaru Legacy L Wagon. I appreciate any help I can get.

 

I have looked through the forum and did find some info. but I guess I need some explanation. I am new to DIY'ing my car and want to save some money if I can.

Thank You

Wow the doesn't sound good. There was a service bulletin I think about slow seatbelt retraction, which involved putting a small piece of velcro I think on the guide somewhere, but it didn't say anything about a greasy cable.

 

The dealer probably wants it for a few days because they'd have to order the seatbelt unit if something busted in there getting grease everywhere. Not sure how hard it is to replace but maybe you get one from a salvage yard, you just don't want a seatbelt from a car that was in an accident 'cause it might have used up it's stretch already.

Your car would be a good candidate for a Canadian Seat Belt swap. I'd just rip out all that power belt stuff, find a Canadian person with a trashed car or a Canadian Spec car and pull all the belts out of it and replace them with yours.

Your car would be a good candidate for a Canadian Seat Belt swap. I'd just rip out all that power belt stuff, find a Canadian person with a trashed car or a Canadian Spec car and pull all the belts out of it and replace them with yours.

 

I went through all the other postings and tried to wind the cable back in, but it only goes about an inch and stops. I'm not sure if I need to replace the whole track or I should do as you suggested and just put in a regular seatbelt. If I could just get the cable to wind back in and the belt lock to slide all the way back and stay there that would be fine too. Does anyone have any suggestions besides taking it in to the dealer or auto repair place?

And why can't I find anything in my Chiltons on the automatic safety mechanism/motor....anything.

 

 

Yesterday I went to get out of my car and my seat belt did not slide all the way open. About an hour later the (greasy!!) cable came out in a big loop, and is now stuck that way. I am not sure what happened here, but when I called the dealer they said it would cost $200-$600 to fix it , and they would need it for a couple of days. Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can take care of this myself? I have a 1993 Subaru Legacy L Wagon. I appreciate any help I can get.

 

I have looked through the forum and did find some info. but I guess I need some explanation. I am new to DIY'ing my car and want to save some money if I can.

Thank You

And why can't I find anything in my Chiltons on the automatic safety mechanism/motor....anything.

Because Chilton and Hayes manuals are crap.

Get a factory service manual on ebay, they cover everything.