SOAB; I had the car towed last week. The tow-guy pulled the driver side seat belt all the way out looping it through the steering wheel and back to the receiver. Ever since the belt will only travel 6" or so before locking up. Takes me 5 pulls to just reach the receiver.

If it can be fixed, that would be great; if I purchase a replacement, are the retractors specific for left and right sides ?

Left and right are different. The thicker end cap faces the inside of the car. if you remove the thick end cap you may have luck cleaning the mechanism inside. There is a little pendulum that swings and lock the belt.
If you need a new one I have them.

Pull slower Jim. Painfully slow.

Then start shopping for 944 belts.

I hear taking the reals apart can be dangerous. If you try be careful...

I was looking at 944 Belts on eBay; prices look good too.

The passenger side seat belt in my car took the patience of Jobe to get out. I took out the back pad. Then fully extended the belt and used White Lightling Clean Streak (get it at the bike shop) to clean out the mechanism. It drys pretty quick. Now it works like new. Worth a try before you spend $ on new retractors.

I'm going to try that on my sticky passenger side belt.

Did 944 belts years ago. Went to a pick-n-pull in Grand Prairie, TX, took some tools, and pulled two out of there with all the hardware. I think it was pretty cheap compared to buying online.

The only "mod" you needed to do was drill one of the firewall holes slightly larger to fit a little tab or nub or somthing. I think the article was on Pelican. They weren't perfect, but they were much better than the 914 ones.

The only real danger is that you might shit in your pants when that spring shoots out at ya!

Thanks ! sounds like a good plan. What type of cleaner is the White Lightling Clea Streak; is it like carb cleaner ?

Clean Streak is a bicycle degreaser. It works wonders on Shimano STI levers that appear to have stopped functioning. Citrus based and quick drying. Not has harsh as carb or brake cleaner.

If you're going to try, at least wear eye protection. Better yet a face shield.

Got the White Lightning. Gonna remove the backrest and remove the retractors. Will pull the belt and squirt the cleaner. Is it obvious where it has to go ?

I've tightened the springs, and has always helped.

You can tighten the spring without taking the spring cover off but will need to take the other cover off to make the process easier.

After you have the big cover off, pull the seatbelt all the way "out" untill you can see the slot where the belt is fastened to the spool. Push the belt back out of the slot (kind of hard to explain), it is retained in the spool in a recess with a pin inside a pocket in the belt. Once you have pushed the belt back thru the slot alittle you can push that pin out of the pocket. Once the pin is out you can pull the belt out of the spool thru the slot. You will have to keep the spool from spinning under spring tension while doing all of this. Once the belt is out, tighten the spool tension until it wont tighten anymore. I usually back off the tension a turn, then reinsert the belt (make sure it goes back thru the slot in the same orientation so you have not reintroduced a twist into the belt), insert the pin, pull the belt pocket and pin back into the recess and let it wind back up.

Sounds way more complicated than it really is. This has improved every belt I have done it on. For the belts in the worst shape that I have worked on, I had to take them completely apart, including removing and rewinding that awful spring, but most belts dont require it. Good luck.

Wasn't there a tip about fabric softener on the belt itself to make it a bit more slippery? Maybe one of the disposable cloths?

Paul

Removed the retractor this am. With the retractor out I can pull the belt out smoothly, and the belts retracts smoothly too. Like perfect. I had to hold the belt straight up to make this work. Then I reinstalled the retractor and adjusted the D-ring that attaces to the B=pillar. Pulls out nicely but doesn't retract well; in fact, it retracted better when I had the pulling problem.

Added the White Lightning, but don't think I needed it. In any case, it's better and thanks for the tips on fixing this.

My passenger side belt takes forever to extend out too. can't hurt it any worse than it is, so I think I'll try this too.