Good theory. I'm in agreement that it's the belt itself, but I'm not
jumping on the "shut the belt in the door" solution. You need to clean
the entire length of the belt that retracts into the housing for it to
be effective. It also wouldn't hurt to lubricate to "reel" as well.
Removing the entire assembly is the only practical way to clean it
correctly without dampening the inside of your Vanagon.

Jason
1987 Vanagon Weekender (with normally functioning retractable seatbelts)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
Behalf Of
> Jim Felder
> Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 4:30 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Slow retractable seatbelts... fix?
>
> I have not tried this but intend to... my theory is that stiffness of
> the belt has as much to do with sluggish retracting as does the
> retracting mechanism, at least in some cases. I want to stretch the
> belt out as far as it will go, close it in the door so I can go over
it
> with a pressure washer outside the door seal and see if that helps.
>
> Jim
>
> On Nov 10, 2004, at 5:46 PM, jesse johnson wrote:
>
> > Hey all,
> > I know someone posted a few weeks ago asking if there is anyway to
fix
> > a seat belt that is slow in retracting.. i did not see anyone
reply..
> > anyone had that area apart that can shed a bit of light on the
subject?
> > thanks everyone,
> > jess
> > 89 carat
> >