Manual Sport seat not reclining anymore

[Chimi-changa]

Hello-

I have a manual sport seat ( e28 so no side release levers) that when I went to replace the seat shocks and found the seat back is not releasing at all by the lever- seems locked in place with or without the shocks in.

Any idea of what to look for or at? Thanks in advance

Jamie

[TimeMachinE30]

Examine the seat.
Should be pretty obvious broken bits. Likely the cable that stretches across the back.

This is well documented on the E30 seats.. likely even the E28 seats... Maybe they aren't really that different mechanics wise where no matter the model.

It would be wise to go over the whole seat, relube, tighten things up,clean em up a bit.. address any rust, check welds.

[Chimi-changa]

Thanks Timemachine, most e28 seats are power and without the release levers on the side of the high backs should not have the same release cable across the back ( but not really sure) This interior is Euro cloth manual sport set.

I do hear and see a small gear turning underneath by the rail as I work the handle but nothing happens. I tried using the search function here but did not see much at all come up, if anyone is familiar with threads to read happy to go through anything. There is zero rust on these.

I thankfully have a spare leather manual e30 sport seat i can use for parts if needed.

[TimeMachinE30]

Cool. Just throwing it out there. Hopefully an E28 member can chime in with more...