Front seat won't lower? Lever jammed
 

My 2005 MCS (original owner) was in the shop for some work, and when I picked it up today I tried to adjust the seat height and noticed the up/down mechanism seemed jammed. It would only lift the seat up, and when I tried to go the other direction, it wouldn't go past the original position. Currently my seat is high as hell, and I had to drive the car back home with my seat back reclined. Anyone have any help on this or experienced this? HELP!

I’d say take it out, flip it over and see if there is any foreign objects jammed in it.

The actual mechanism? I've tried looking under the seat I don't see anything out of the ordinary.

I meant the seat. You should be able to see what’s wrong when you can look at it.

Did you ever figure this out? Having the same problem with our R52....

I had this exact problem with the R53 I just bought. I am over 6'0 and need the seat ot be as low as possible, but it was raised fairly high when I bought it. What I found after taking the seat out is the mechanism itself was inoperable / bound up and could not be fixed. I drilled out the rivets holding it on the seat, manually lowered the seat, and bolted the mechanism back on using the rivet holes and appropriate length bolts - i can now not raise me seat or else it will be stuck in a higher position again, which is fine for me.

The fix will be finding a used seat and pullig off the working mechanism and bolting it on my seat (I have teh two tone seat option that isn't common, otherwise I would just replace the seat).

Glad I am not the only one having this issue and it's some flaw in the design.

Old thread - but a stuck seat height positioner can still be a problem for some Mini's after all these years.
The driver's side seat height adjustment lever on my 04 R53 got stuck in the low position years ago. While cleaning/working in the interior I inadvertently put weight on the adjustment lever/handle.
Afterwards, It wouldn't ratchet. I couldn't get the crank to adjust the seat to any higher than its lowest position. For 5 years I drove around as if I was sitting in a soapbox derby car.
Flash forward - In 2022 , one evening during a fluke occurrence while attempting to gain access to something I'd stored/wedge under and behind the driver's seat; I had to pull upwards on the back frame to dislodge the item that was stuck underneath the seat.
Trying to grab a spot/gain leverage with my other hand, I inadvertently pulled up on the seat height adjustment lever and heard a spring loaded pop. I thought I might have broken something so I cranked the handle up a few times to test my concerns.
Nothing broke - but that wonderful ratcheting sound (I haven't heard in years) had returned as I watched the seat raise and lower with every crank of the handle.

It's been working perfectly since then.
No longer did I have to sit low in my Mini as if I was dodging drive-by bullets.

nope... still got it lol... I think i have managed to lower it just a tiny bit by lifting the lever slightly, not enough to raise the seat though, and doing the downward motion and then repeating.

NICE! Hmm.. will have to try some seat wiggling when I have time!