Seat Belt Tensioner

[wwest]

Our '95 LS400's front seat belts are always "slack" and will not retract. Tensioner fuse seems to be okay as you can feel a change, slight change, when the ignition is switched on.

Anyone with a solution/experience.

Owners manual has several cautions about working on belt retractors.

210,000 miles.

[nc211]

west, mine was the same way. There is no simple fix, you have to have the tensioner replaced. However, if you grease the wheels a littlebit at your dealership, they'll most likely cut you a decent deal. I think they did mine for like $65 bucks. Mine was the passenger side. I wouldn't do this one yourself though, simply for liability reasons in that worst case scenario. This is one of those things you want someone that can back up the work, if need be, but hopefully never will...

[tofu]

I thought this is safety issue and they should have lifetime guarantee ???

I used to own an 99 Acura RL 3.5, the safety belt and the buckle gone bad so I brought the car to Acura dealership and they replaced them for free. The only thing they told me that does not have lifetime is the SRS computer unit.

[wwest]

The more common, most common, driver informed me this morning that if you depress the seat belt release button the belts will retract and then you can fasten them and they will act "normally".

I suspect that means that the pre-tensioner mode, 12 volt to the solenoid, is always dis-engaged due to a shorted/failed switch inside the release buckle.

Depressing the button forces the switch open, I guess.

Will check this evening and advise.

[90LS400Lexus]

Mines the same way on the driverside... I have to "feed" it back into the reel. I have had Honda Accords the same way, as was my Toyota Tundra.

Now my 1985 Mercedes 380SE had nearly 300K and was 23 years old and it wheeled back in lightning fast. :whistles:

Whats even funnier, my 1972 and 1973 General Motors cars wheel in quickly and easily as well.

[wwest]

Got overly brave last night but then discovered there is a way, built in, to disable/disarm the gas generator, explosive.

So I completely disassembled the tensioner and discovered that the clock-spring center shaft was broken. Super-glued it back together, cleaned and lubed the components and reassembled.

Same problem.

Except the procedure of depressing the buckle release "button" now results in the belt retracting provided the ignition is on.

So now I guess I get to disassemble the buckle side to see if the switches are working correctly.

[wwest]

Mines the same way on the driverside... I have to "feed" it back into the reel. I have had Honda Accords the same way, as was my Toyota Tundra.

Now my 1985 Mercedes 380SE had nearly 300K and was 23 years old and it wheeled back in lightning fast. :whistles:

Whats even funnier, my 1972 and 1973 General Motors cars wheel in quickly and easily as well.

I suspect this all has something to do with the higher complexity, more technology, of the later models.

Our '95 has "pre-tensioning" front seat belts. Apparently the tension is supposed to be fairly light until fastened and the ignition is on and only then is there enough tension to really pull the belt snug. Additionally the owners manual indicates an airbag-like explosive device to rapidly TIGHTEN the seatbelts upon a front end collision.

[SKperformance]

clean the belt with warm soapy water then silicone lub the upper anchor and it will start to slide back in with ease.

[eatingupblacktop]

Never tried the buckle release button that WW mentioned (you learn something every day), but I did as SK mentioned (you can find it posted in another thread as well) and it's as good as new. I had the same problem with my Volvo. There I had to clean out the roll up tensioner. It was full of dust and hair (I've got a retriever that loves riding in cars).

[wwest]

Damn!

Superglue did not hold up and passenger side retractor had exactly the same problem.

Lexus of Bellevue wants $210 each.

Other parts sources that someone recommends?

[eatingupblacktop]

Damn!

Superglue did not hold up and passenger side retractor had exactly the same problem.

Lexus of Bellevue wants $210 each.

Other parts sources that someone recommends?

BOSTIC 260 Electric Glue Gun made in Montreal. There are several different strengths of glue sticks. I use the Industrail strength. Works on just about any material. Just be real careful not to get any on your skin. Temptation is to touch it to see if it's hardened. Burns real good. Holds even better.

[wwest]

Being an absolutely committed DIY'r, I decided to do make-shift repairs. A friend with a metal turning lathe is making me new clockspring shafts from a 3.8" rolled steel rod. The driver's side shaft was broken and the one on the passenger side was either assembled with the outer/small section crooked or in 210,000 miles it had worn down in that fashion. The original shafts were made of plastic.

Will advise.

[90LS400Lexus]

Thanks. I forgot about my 2000 Tundra having seat belt pretensioners. I do not think my 91 LS400 has those. I do not think my 85' Mercedes did, but in 1985 Mercedes did have pretensioner seatbelts on the models with the optional airbag, which was optional beginning in 1984 on many models... such as the 190E, 190D, 380SE, 300SD and 500SEL. I think my 1993 Toyota Camry had good working belts, but my old 1984 Honda Accord LX (which was my grandmothers old car) and my 1986 Honda Accord had the poorly retracting belts. My dads 1988 Nissan truck (work truck) has poor retracting belts, as does my mothers 1998 Oldsmobile, but my old 1992 Buick had good retracting belts... seems to be sporadic overall. Seems like it effects not only Japanese cars, but some American cars as well... depending upon make and model.

Mines the same way on the driverside... I have to "feed" it back into the reel. I have had Honda Accords the same way, as was my Toyota Tundra.

Now my 1985 Mercedes 380SE had nearly 300K and was 23 years old and it wheeled back in lightning fast.:whistles:

Whats even funnier, my 1972 and 1973 General Motors cars wheel in quickly and easily as well.

I suspect this all has something to do with the higher complexity, more technology, of the later models.

Our '95 has "pre-tensioning" front seat belts. Apparently the tension is supposed to be fairly light until fastened and the ignition is on and only then is there enough tension to really pull the belt snug. Additionally the owners manual indicates an airbag-like explosive device to rapidly TIGHTEN the seatbelts upon a front end collision.

[dcfish]

Thanks. I forgot about my 2000 Tundra having seat belt pretensioners. I do not think my 91 LS400 has those. I do not think my 85' Mercedes did, but in 1985 Mercedes did have pretensioner seatbelts on the models with the optional airbag, which was optional beginning in 1984 on many models... such as the 190E, 190D, 380SE, 300SD and 500SEL. I think my 1993 Toyota Camry had good working belts, but my old 1984 Honda Accord LX (which was my grandmothers old car) and my 1986 Honda Accord had the poorly retracting belts. My dads 1988 Nissan truck (work truck) has poor retracting belts, as does my mothers 1998 Oldsmobile, but my old 1992 Buick had good retracting belts... seems to be sporadic overall. Seems like it effects not only Japanese cars, but some American cars as well... depending upon make and model.

Mines the same way on the driverside... I have to "feed" it back into the reel. I have had Honda Accords the same way, as was my Toyota Tundra.

Now my 1985 Mercedes 380SE had nearly 300K and was 23 years old and it wheeled back in lightning fast.:whistles:

Whats even funnier, my 1972 and 1973 General Motors cars wheel in quickly and easily as well.

I suspect this all has something to do with the higher complexity, more technology, of the later models.

Our '95 has "pre-tensioning" front seat belts. Apparently the tension is supposed to be fairly light until fastened and the ignition is on and only then is there enough tension to really pull the belt snug. Additionally the owners manual indicates an airbag-like explosive device to rapidly TIGHTEN the seatbelts upon a front end collision.

Maybe this will help

seatbelt_cleaning_lexus.pdf

[wwest]

Thanks. I forgot about my 2000 Tundra having seat belt pretensioners. I do not think my 91 LS400 has those. I do not think my 85' Mercedes did, but in 1985 Mercedes did have pretensioner seatbelts on the models with the optional airbag, which was optional beginning in 1984 on many models... such as the 190E, 190D, 380SE, 300SD and 500SEL. I think my 1993 Toyota Camry had good working belts, but my old 1984 Honda Accord LX (which was my grandmothers old car) and my 1986 Honda Accord had the poorly retracting belts. My dads 1988 Nissan truck (work truck) has poor retracting belts, as does my mothers 1998 Oldsmobile, but my old 1992 Buick had good retracting belts... seems to be sporadic overall. Seems like it effects not only Japanese cars, but some American cars as well... depending upon make and model.

Mines the same way on the driverside... I have to "feed" it back into the reel. I have had Honda Accords the same way, as was my Toyota Tundra.

Now my 1985 Mercedes 380SE had nearly 300K and was 23 years old and it wheeled back in lightning fast.:whistles:

Whats even funnier, my 1972 and 1973 General Motors cars wheel in quickly and easily as well.

I suspect this all has something to do with the higher complexity, more technology, of the later models.

Our '95 has "pre-tensioning" front seat belts. Apparently the tension is supposed to be fairly light until fastened and the ignition is on and only then is there enough tension to really pull the belt snug. Additionally the owners manual indicates an airbag-like explosive device to rapidly TIGHTEN the seatbelts upon a front end collision.

Maybe this will help

Yes, I expect that after I put the retractors back together I will add the teflon(?) tape for good measure.

But no, it is pretty clear that my base problem has to do with the broken and misaligned clockspring shafts. I have already cleaned and re-lubed all four (two for each retractor) clocksprings.

[wwest]

I was wrong again, retractor back together and still will not retract without help, "push". I guess the clocksprings are shot.

So, I'm buying new ones.

[wwest]

I was wrong again, retractor back together and still will not retract without help, "push". I guess the clocksprings are shot.

So, I'm buying new ones.