Seat belt doesn't click

[91PGL]

Hi, I am new to this forum. I am pertaining to my mom's 96 Explorer Sport. The driver side seat belt doesn't click in anymore. The part that is broke is the latching mechanism which bolts to the seat. When looking at it, I have also seen that the the two wires leading to the latch (dash light seat belt indicator) are completely disconnected from where they enter the floor. It looks as if the wires were caught up in the track and they snapped. I did cap off the ends to prevent any shorts. Does anyone know if the latch is available at a local Autozone and about how much they cost? If not, I'll just try a junkyard and see if I can find a good latch but something like this is best new IMO because I don't know how much wear a used one has. Thanks alot.

*EDIT* I did a search and came up with THIS I guess I'll ask some local yards.

 

[410Fortune]

You can try cleaning out your latch with some brake parts cleaner, then follow up with compressed air and WD-40

usually they get so much gunk in there they will no longer click.

be careful with juml yard replacements, in 97 I believe they changed the metal part of the belt on you so your 96 belt wont fit a 97+ style seat adapter.

Also your seat clicker adapter can be swapped from drivers to pass side seats, its held on with one bolt....

the wires are simply a signal to the seat belt dash light...dont worry about shorting it out, it is only a ground signal....a ground signal up to the latch, then back out to the dash,....when the metal part of the belt is clicked in it makes up the connection..

 

[91PGL]

I don't think it is gunked up because it doesn't take any force to latch, it just inserts and is very loose. I think the spring on the latch inside wore out or just popped out of place. I'll have to check it out for sure though. Will I be able to use one of the clickers from the rear seats until I purchase another one. We hardly ever use the rear seats, but both of the fronts are used almost everyday. Thanks for the reply.

 

[410Fortune]

I do not believe you can use the rear seat one's they are too short and mounted a bit differently.....I recently had mine all apart.........I put 98 seats in my 96 and had to swap seat belt parts to keep my 96 belts.

All the ones I have seen that would either not latch or not release were due to being completely filled with lint and gunk....I bought myself alot of time by cleaning them out as I described above, but I removed them from the vehicle and SOAKED them several times in the parts cleaner

 

[96ExplorerXL4x4]

I had the same issue. I just went to a local car wrecking yard, pulled one outta another explorer. Takes some time but it's fairly easy to do.

 

[91PGL]

I do not believe you can use the rear seat one's they are too short and mounted a bit differently.....I recently had mine all apart.........I put 98 seats in my 96 and had to swap seat belt parts to keep my 96 belts.

All the ones I have seen that would either not latch or not release were due to being completely filled with lint and gunk....I bought myself alot of time by cleaning them out as I described above, but I removed them from the vehicle and SOAKED them several times in the parts cleaner

I guess it won't hurt to clean it before buying a replacement. I guess I'll use the front passenger one for now while I let the broken one soak up.

 

[snocross1985]

Send a PM to kbabiak here on the forum. He has all sorts of parts. Got the same part your looking for from him. He is in Folsom, PA don't know how close that is to you. He is a vendor here and has awesome customer service and great prices on parts.

 

[91PGL]

Send a PM to kbabiak here on the forum. He has all sorts of parts. Got the same part your looking for from him. He is in Folsom, PA don't know how close that is to you. He is a vendor here and has awesome customer service and great prices on parts.

Will do.

 

[MONMIX]

never, ever, never, ever buy a seat belt from a junk yard if it has been involved in a hard front collision.

Reasons should be obvious.

 

[91PGL]

never, ever, never, ever buy a seat belt from a junk yard if it has been involved in a hard front collision.

Reasons should be obvious.

Yeah, I was thinking about that too, the internals could have been put under high amounts of stress during impact.

 

[EXROB97]

Hey! I had the same problem...I found a seat belt latch on EBAY for 9.95 and 8.00 for shipping. The seller said it had never been wrecked and the engine blew and he is selling it for parts. You might want to search them out there. 1997 Explorer XLT 161000 miles and still going! Rob

 

[scheki]

I posted 2 months ago or so, I also posted the part #.
Have fun installing.

 

[rikguy]

I replaced mine about 3 months ago. I removed the center console to get easier access and took advantage of the removal to clean all the nooks and crannies of the console.

 

[Alan]

Is it easier to remove the console, or take the seats out. There doesn't seem to be any other way. The manual refers to a "special bit" to remove the female potion of the seat belt. Are they referring to a Turx bit?

 

[rikguy]

I took out the console. The seats aren't that hard to remove but, I wanted to do some cleaning while I had the console out. Either way will help with the installation.

 

[Alan]

I'm trying to find a diagram, or directions to get the console out. What did you use as a guide? Any assistance would be appreciated.

 

[rikguy]

I just started taking out screws & bolts til it came out. There was one part that "snaps" out. You have to remove some fasteners from under the inside of the armrest too.

 

[Alan]

Done and working. It took a 1/2 hour. This included disconnecting the negative post of the battery, pulling the center console, persuading the T50 torx bolt out, installing everything and vacuuming the X. I wish all of the fixes were this easy.

The trick was confidently pulling the storage area just under the dash and the area around the cup holder out. There is no trick here. Just grab it and pull it. Once removed there were four bolts (two under the dash and two under what was the cup holder). With these four bolts out I had to slide the console towards the rear seat. This had to be done to get the console off of the rail / slide it was mounted to. With the console resting on the passenger seat I was able to focus on the female portion of the seat belt.

 

[rikguy]

way to go Alan. If your Ex is like mine, you'll have something else that needs to be fixed very soon.

 

[Alan]

Funny you should say that. I did an oil change today, and will be replacing the a door latch switch this weekend. I've been putting it off, but since I was at Ford for the seat belt I picked up the switch also. About a year ago I ran into dificulty getting the window to work. In playing with the latch it stopped working altogether. Thanks to the Forum I found a thread where I was able to power the window from the positive battery post. Since its working, the latch became a back burner project. Basically, the door latch switch tells the X if the door is closed or not. If the X thinks its open, it doesn't let the windows work, or tell you when you leave the lights on. I'll pull the interior panel Saturday morning and take care of it. I have to, I bought the door latch switch. After that I'll start troubleshooting why the Xs passenger power seat can move forwards and backwards, up and down in the rear, but not up and down in the front. All electric motors and switches are working.