I think a lot of us have had at least one seat that did not slide forward or backward properly, for some of us it never slides at all. There is a thread or 2 somewhere describing how to fix it, but pictures are just so much better.
Heres my way of saying thanks back to the Club Lexus community.

cause really.. a Lexus with broken power seats is really just a no no!

Here we go, this is the passenger seat btw.

1. Remove seat *this can be hard when your seat is stuck all the way forward or back* get all the wrenches you have.


2. Look at bottom of seat


3. Locate white box on either side of the seat towards the back


4. Insert cap into place if you still have any *Search your car for em* they can pop out


5. Repeat for other side




If you like me had one of the caps missing entirely, you will have to go order the part.
** EDIT ** so after 10 years doesn't seem like there is a way to order new ones, so you have to find spares from another set or come up with another solution.

the side of the worm gear closest to the motor is the one that pushes outwards on the cap with the most force. this is likely the one that has popped out or broken.

So there it is, no big deal. do yourself a favor and buy the caps before hand
then you wont have to worry about how to rig it up.

from removal to fix to install, 30 minutes if you have the caps.

 

Thanks, I'll keep this in mind if it happens to my seats.

 

so basically, the cap is causing this problem... I have this problem with my pass side seat... it is forwarded all the way and I can't remove the seat... how did you remove the seat in the first place??? thank you in advance...

 

i had a tough time removing mine when it was stuck all the way forward too. there is a bolt somewhere on the side that will manually slide the whole rail, but i didnt figure that out until I had the whole seat out.

I had my mechanic get really creative with some wrenches to get to the bolts that hold the seat in. its tough but can be done

there is a cap on each side, one holds alot of pressure when its being turned and the other requires minimal pressure to keep in place. chances are the one that popped off is the stronger one. i would try (this worked for me) if you still have one cap on, swapping it to the other side, and the side that has less pressure is the one you can turn to turn both sides, thus sliding the seat.
I know that doesnt make a whole lot of sense, but once you get down there you will see what i am talking about. the side that turns both of them is the side closest to the motor. looking at pic number 2, this was the left side for this seat (i think thats the passenger seat) hope that helps.

 

Thank you for your info... I am just going to take it back to my mechanic once I go back to LA... hehehe...

 

huhmm.... i hope i dont have that problem... So far my car has none of the common problems a sc usually has (knock on wood)

 

This is so true. i took me almost 5 months to figure out... I took the hammer to the seat and got in the back and pushed... U name it i tried it... I was about to cut the seat out... I left it alone for a month went out... prayed for a little help from the man above... and i saw the bearings kicking out. I pushed one in.. the seat moved... I was so happy... Pushed both in and the seat moved up. got the old out and replaced!!! thanks Al (Gazi) ..

 

if i remember correctly... that bolt in between the rail where that white box connected to near the top of the pic is what you use to manually move the seat back and forth

 

Now if we could only figure out how to lower these seats an inch or so...

Ryan

 

Just want to add this , if the cap on the outside facing the door is missing...you can actually get to it without removing the seat....

Raise the seat height up all the way it will give you enough clearance to install new cap...If the screw is pop out you can push it in with a screwdriver while you lightly push on the button that moves the seat forward or backward( fiddle with it )

Or just find a socket that fit , push in while you turn the socket it will go back in..Then install the cap, hope this help

 

So i wasted 3 hours of my time doing this and come to find on on the passenger side of the seat, the rod comes out and the the only side that slides up is the right side.

 

exactly right. its just been a while since i've done it.

if only one side is sliding, that means the other side the wormgear must have popped out, there is one for each rail. I don't get what you wasted 3 hours on? if you dont have a cap, you have to hold in the wormgear in while trying to use the switches, or even when manually trying to move the rail.

 

I was messing with that rail for 3 hours went to home depot and got the cap and still nothing bro.

 

Ali SC3, thks for posting the pics. You are exactly right with the pics/description. That is what happen on my pass seat. The only way to get to the seat mounting bolt (since I could not move the seat on its rail) ,I had to grind down the sides of a socket, so as to be able to get a spanner wrench onto the socket that fit over the head of the very hard to get to bolt. This allowed me to get the proper torque on the hard to get, mounting bolt. If I am not mistaken, I also had to put the spanner wrench(cheap China made) in my vise to bend the darn thing at about a 30 degree angle, so I could work the socket/bolt head under the seat. Nothing like fabing up your own specialty tools, but worked like a charm. Kept the "new" tools in case I encounter the problem again.

 

The seats in my 1997 SC400 both move properly on the rails, and move back and forth when I press the buttons, but I have a question about how the seats actually should work.

On my passenger side, when I pull the lever to lower the front seat (the seat back rotates towards the windshield), the base of the seat automatically moves forward (towards the windshield). This is convenient, since I usually pull that lever in order to get access to the back seat, so having the seat out of the way is handy.

However, on the driver's side, when I pull the lever, the seat back moves towards the windshield, but there is no movement from the base of the seat. I can manually move the base forward using the buttons, but I am curious why one seat works one way, and the other works differently.

Is this the way it is supposed to work?