240 Wagon Rear-Seat Latch Grip

Hello All,
I have a 1992 240 Wagon. It's presently running pretty well, but of
course, the plastics are aging and becoming brittle. For the most part, I
don't really care about this.

Today, however, a piece of plastic that I do care about broke, and I'm
wondering just how ugly the repair might be.

Being a wagon, the rear seat folds down. So, there's a well in the
rear-seat back with a plastic grip you pull up to disengage the latch that
holds the seat back in the upright position.

This plastic grip is what broke. The part you squeeze broke away from the
part attached to the linkage.

The seat is now in the down position, and it looks to me like if I lift the
seat back so there's a back seat again, I won't be able to disengage the
latch since there's nothing to grip. I suppose I could find some pry tool
to move this if I had to.

I will have to get this fixed, and I have two questions, if anyone happens
to know the answers.

First, how ugly is this repair? Does the grip just pry off, to be easily
replaced, or does the seat back have to come out and apart? I notice a
zipper on the edge of the seat - I wonder if that's there to make this
repair "easier".

Second, willl it make it easier for the mechanic (I will almost certainly
be paying someone to do this) if I leave the seat back in the down
position?

Thanks!
Patrick Keenan

 

1st: The repair is made with a new latch assembly which is black instead of
the color of the interior trim. Do not expect the dealer to have it in
stock.

The seat cover and foam needs to be partially removed to get at the inside
of the seat so leave the seat down as it will have to be removed from the
auto.

More than likely, the trim around the latch will break as it is attempted to
be removed.

I did my 90 wagon in early June. Parts were about $45 and it took me about
two hours. Of course, I taught myself how to do it as I went along so the
dealer may or may not be faster.

Duane

 

In case anyone's interested, this turns out to be a fairly ugly repair. It
does require opening the rear seat back, and is a couple of hours work.

-pk