Cr4ppy Bl00dy PITA Passnger seat belt - Help

[Zippee]

I Went to pick up my Dad today in order to show him a house I'm thinking of buying, all was well until he got in and went to belt up. Could we move the bloody crappy belt? No! No matter how much we tried the fking thing just locked and wouldn't budge a fking inch!! After 10 minutes I gave up and came home without him. Get home and the fking thing moves freely.

What causes this? Any solutions as I was just about ready to take a sledge hammer to the fking thing!!!!

PS - Sorry for the swearing but it's nothing to what I was saying earlier!

[Hoolio]

Were you parked on an incline (no matter how slight)? Up down, left right, my old T350 used to do this all the time, was a right PITA.

I remember the day I picked it up, I drove down the previous owners drive and tried to put the belt, wouldn't budge, so had to reverse up the drive again and asked him was this normal, to which he replied yes, you need it on the flat to put the belts on. I felt like a right idiot.

Hope it's an easy fix for you Zippee, your run of bad luck must run out soon.

Hoolio

[Don1]

Yep, slight incline does it every time for the Sag.

[Chimjunkie]

Now you are getting paranoid Tony!! I can relate to your woes. Sounds as though you need to fall in love with the car again. My plans have changed for next weekend, so may organise another long run-in to the Herts and Beds meet. Would love to finally see her in the flesh.

Jon.

[Zippee]

Chimjunkie said:

Now you are getting paranoid Tony!! I can relate to your woes. Sounds as though you need to fall in love with the car again. My plans have changed for next weekend, so may organise another long run-in to the Herts and Beds meet. Would love to finally see her in the flesh.

Jon.

Hi Jon,

Not paranoid - just annoyed. It meant I couldn't take my Dad out and I'd travelled 30 miles to go and see him, something so damned simple there has to be a reason for it and a solution????

I had a great drive today though despite the rain and I'm really starting to get a feel for the car, just so many damned niggles. Like for instance today I was seeing my temp guauge hit 102 (should sit 90-95) in traffic, most likely an air lock in the system but still a pain.

I WILL get these sorted though and finally start to enjoy her. As for next weekend I'll check on plans but hopefully should be free.

[tail slide]

Zippee appreciate that was annoying. I'm sure was due to parking on an incline, which makes the reel lock as others said, but nothing to be done other than drive off and put belt on when on flat again - can't be modified without compromising safety. It's not an issue once you know about it.

The water temp is quite likely to be an oversensitive sensor, as long as you water levels ok & both fans are coming on by 94C. A new one can be screwed into place without losing much water, it's by the alternator, but airbox has to be removed.

[shep1001]

Zippee said:

I Went to pick up my Dad today in order to show him a house I'm thinking of buying, all was well until he got in and went to belt up. Could we move the bloody crappy belt? No! No matter how much we tried the fking thing just locked and wouldn't budge a fking inch!! After 10 minutes I gave up and came home without him. Get home and the fking thing moves freely.

What causes this? Any solutions as I was just about ready to take a sledge hammer to the fking thing!!!!

PS - Sorry for the swearing but it's nothing to what I was saying earlier!

Also worth checking belt is not trapped OR pulled tight over the seat. On my Tam the belt sticks solid if its pulled taught over the (passanger) seat or trapped between the seat and the body. Reclining the seat has sorted this several times for me. It also has locked when on a hill too as my drive slopes but this is not normally the problem.

Shep

[Oat$y]

There is a solution but the belt wont work properly if you roll the car! inside the seat belt mechanaism is a brass bobble thing remove this and it works fine unless you roll the car. also if you dont want to do this the mechanism can be rotated slightly to increase the incline the belt wont jam. Unfortunately TVR didn't make the pocket for the belt mechanism big enough to allow much movement for setting the belt.

[buckster]

Hey...

I had the same problem with my drivers belt which is obviously worse than the passanger side, drove me mental.

I ended up having the belt replaced (about £150) but the replacement did the same, learned to live with it, one of those TVR things.

Previous post was spot on, even the smallest incline (for me it was nose down) would do it, jut had to drive off and wait a few secs....

Not ideal but hope it helps...

[mhg]

I have the same problem with mine - doesn't even have to be in a slope!

However it never sticks if I put the belt on before starting the car - does that make any sort of sense?

Mark

[Chimjunkie]

Vibration I would have thought..

[tuscan_al]

Yep vibbration too I would say, like has been said, just tilt the belt on its barcket around 20 deg this seems to be the natural place for the inner inertia bobble to sit square in its seat, without locking on every incline. I think what ever car TVR ripped these from, they were meant to be mounted at an angle. The just get fitted with the bracket 90 deg to the chassis and its causing them to lock too easy. Would not recommend taking out the brass bobble, as thats how the inertia reel locks on off, unless you like tvr steering wheels in your face..

[Oat$y]

The brass bobble is not for the inertia, that works off a "fly off" mechanism. It still locks when pulled fast without it in. what it is for is to lock the belt if the car rolls or tilts too much hence why it locks without pulling on it. it will pass the mot without it in. As said before it is perfectly safe as long as the car doesn't roll over. But only do this as a last resort until you can fix it properly.