New to the thread; have a 1996 LS400. The driver's side seatbelt will not retract and will not adjust. Does anyone have a DIY for a fix on this; having problem figuring out how to take apart.

 

I think LS uses belt pretensioner motor to keep tension on belt lose when you wear it, and that motor goes bad (become magnetize) with age and loses tension, thus not retracting. Easy fix is to open up the pillar area and unplug electricity to that pretensioner motor. More $ fix would be to replace that motor. Should not affect safety of the car (without that motor).

 

Welcome to the club. You might be able to retension it, I just replaced it:

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums...howtopic=54008

There is no pretension motor as ck suggests.

 

Thought there is a solenoid (needing electricity) in the retractor that alters the tension on belt. If I am wrong my bad.

 

Right, a solenoid not motor, I should have clarified.

http://townhall.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f188125

Unplugging it as you suggest and confirmed in the link may be worth a first try.

 

I have the same issue (94 LS); unplugging the solenoid will help some. I have also read suggestions to "retension" the retractor spring. If you do that, be very careful: I managed to break the retractor spring in mine, which (obviously) makes it much worse at retracting (as in, it just hangs limply).

This link will help if you need to get to the seatbelt retractor: http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/elect...fcourtesy.html

I called the local Lexus dealer, but they only make the belts in grey (I think it was) now, whereas my interior is tan/brown, and it was very expensive. Ended up buying a used one off e-bay which was also the wrong color, and simply swapped my belt into the used retractor.

Was better for a while, then slow; unplugged the solenoid, and that's helped for a while, but it's slow again. (But I'm afraid to try to tighten the retractor spring...)

 

PS: the retractor has two springs: a high-tension one (to retract the belt after unbuckling) and a low-tension one (to make it "more comfortable" to wear the seatbelt when buckled). The solenoid (when energized) "locks" the high-tension spring in place, and the low-tension spring only applies retraction tension when the belt is buckled. If your seatbelt goes slack after buckling and you, for instance, lean forward to adjust something, disconnecting the solenoid will certainly help with that problem, as disconnecting that solenoid connector will keep the high-tension spring in play.

This is also regarding the setup on a 94-model, not certain whether it's the same on the 95+ models.

 

THANK YOU KINGDAD!!!!!
Finally the information I needed!! I looked for an hour reading threads, most of them telling me to pay $160 for a new seatbelt. Looks like my solution is to just unplug the solenoid YAY!
Mine just dosent have the umpf to pull itself back on the normal spring.

 

i needa do this

 

Welcome, acylon; hope it works for you! It did a pretty good job with mine, although I still had to help it back sometimes after unbuckling, especially when it was cold out.

However, I am no longer a Lexus owner; my 94 developed an intermittent engine issue, but would not show any codes when I tried to read the CEL. With that, the suspension bushings (at least) needing replaced, and tires all around, I decided it was no longer worth my time & money to maintain.