I'd suggest removing the shoulder fitting on the 'B' pillar (if you can, be careful I came unstuck when the retaining nut wasn't 'captive') so you can relieve the maximum tension on the recoil sprin, then spraying whatever dissolving solution you have (plus gas, WD40, etc) into the mechanism. Give it time and a damn good 'talking to'.

I used silicon spray when my belts were lazy to retract. It worked well. I can see how it helps belts slide over the top mount and the fabric as it coils up. I am not sure it would get into the belt material to loosen up a jammed, overtight wound belt but it’s worth a try.

How about holding it under a running tap to wash out any crud which is in there followed by a quick dunk in some petrol to remove the water and a judicious application of a lubricant if you can access the bearings?

Seems drastic, (especially given that it is fixed, though of course that may not last) and unlikely to be effective.

Petrol in particular is fairly nasty and complex stuff, and seems quite likely to cause damage to plastic components including the belt, which is kind of a critical safety component, as is the whole thing, of course. .

Its also likely to hang around and be a health hazard for quite some time, thoroughly remove any lubricants, which will be difficult/impossible to replace, and will be ineffective in removing water since it floats on top of it.

Alcohol would be much safer but I still wouldn't choose to use it.

Now you have got it moving it’s worth pulling it all the way out and spraying the belt itself with the previously mentioned silicon spray on both sides. It dries quickly and has only a faint, quite pleasant, smell that disappears. It can’t do any harm and might just be what keeps it working.

Thanks. Might do that, if I can find the right stuff, seldom easy here, and sometimes impossible.

I'm pretty sure it was the ratcheting mechanism, and probably the inertial actuator, that was causing it to stick though, rather than gunge on the belt. The latter is said to be a common problem, and I've seen the suggestion to unreel and wash in a bucket of suds.

Its likely to get gungy with use, though, and...er... I very seldom have passengers.

Whether that's down to me, or the vehicle, I'll leave to the court of public opinion, but its probably both.

Sho nuf, stuck again.

There are two ratchet wheels, an inner nylon (?) one that is locked to an outer one by the inertial trigger, and an outer steel one that is locked when the inner one is locked, and presumably is strong enough to carry the deceleration loads.

What seems to be happening is that the inner one is sticking to the outer, so they are linked all the time, whether the inertial trigger is on or off.

For now I've left the cover off the mechanism, so i can release the reel by depressing the linking ratchet with a chopstick, so its essentially a manual seat belt.

This isn't a very satisfactory long term solution.

I suppose a lubricant (graphite? molybdenum? silicon? grease?) between the inner and outer ratchets might get it to work again. I rather distrust sprays with solvent carriers after destroying the steering column switch unit with contact cleaner, but hopefully the plastics here are less fragile.

Or I could take it apart and scribble on it with a 4B pencil, but I might not be able to put it back together again.

It's a 35 year old car - parts might be thin on the ground

1Kit Fits BxW 3 Point Harness Fix Red Safety Seat Belt Retractable Buckle Clip | eBay

£45

Your life is worth more than this !

"Doesn't post to Taiwan | See details

Located in:Guang Dong, China"

1Kit Fits BxW 3 Point Harness Fix Red Safety Seat Belt Retractable Buckle Clip | eBay

£45

Your life is worth more than this !

Well thanks.

I take your point, and if I can't fix it. or am not reasonably confident of the fix, then I will have to attempt to find a replacement.

It could of course be argued that this is not a suitable target for DIY repair, but I've also stripped and rebuilt my brake calipers a couple of times, which I'd think are comparably safety critical.

Moral-dilemma-wise, its the passenger belt, so its not my life at stake. I'm unsure as to whether driver and passenger belts can be swapped (which would address the dilemma but increase the average risk to life if my repair is dodgy, since I very seldom carry passengers).

I THINK they are not symmetrical in that the inertial trigger will be on the rearward side when swapped. I'd have thought it would still work there but its not the OEM configuration which is of concern and perhaps better avoided.

Your linked belt doesn't seem to specify a vehicle side though which might imply swapping sides is OK.

Your linked belt doesn't seem to specify a vehicle side though which might imply swapping sides is OK.

When I've seen diagrams of the internal workings of inertia reel belts, the ball sits in a shallow 'U' cup, so would lock from any direction.

Yeh, I'd think that too, but I wouldn't like to be wrong, especially with the passenger belt.

On this one at least, the inertial trigger is actually a weight "floating" on a spring, rather than a ball free to roll in a cup. I suppose that is less vulnerable to dirt, but a spring is potentially less symmetrical than Earths gravitational field, either by design, or due to a fault.

That said, I was all set to swap them over, when I recalled I had agreed to give some (manual transmission) practice driving "lessons", muddying the moral maze mixed metaphor more, so I left it where it was.

Just sprayed it (about 15 mins ago) very lightly with 75% alcohol and it freed right up.

Could be:-

(a) Coincidence. (I forgot to try it immediately before spraying. DUH!)

(b) The ethanol/water mix is acting as a lubricant between the two ratchet surfaces, in which case it'll stick again when it dries out.

(c) The ethanol/water mix has dissolved or washed a sticky contaminant from between the surfaces, in which case it should stay fixed for a while.

Suspenseful, eh?

Edited by edlithgow on 18/11/2021 at 03:01

Still free. Going to put the cover back on and consider that a fix for now, though it is a bit hard to believe.

I wonder if I should try 75% ethanol on the sticky column stalk too. Maybe its a miracle cure-all.