testing sport seat bladders
Tech Contributor
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 19,384
Likes: 87
From: Horncastle Lincolnshire, England
2023 C5 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
The Vette Essentials site is great for showing how to remove the seats.I copied this after a previous discussion. Wish I could remember who posted so I could give him credit but...
Here's how to do it without pulling the seats:
I opened up my seat and checked it out. The pressure hoses seem ok. However, the fittings on all bladders were cracked - and not repairable. I will have to replace all four. I think I will replace the passenger side as well.
BTW - it was a LOT easier to get to these then I thought. Initially, I removed the seat, opened up the pump, examined the manifold, etc. Partly because I was unsure of where the leak(s) were, but mostly due to ignorance.
It turns out that the bladders are easily accessible without taking the seat out. On these sport seats, there is a hidden zipper along the top of the back pad - in the open space below the headrest. Unzip this zipper. Pop out the six christmas tree connectors (three per side). Peel back the upholstery and foam to get access to the four bladders - two on the back and two on the side.
If yours look like mine, the little elbow connectors between the bladders and the air tubes were all broken. The bladders are simply clipped with flexible plastic tabs and can removed easily.
Now I need to find where to buy new bladders....
