Power seats

[snyderman5]

So I installed some buckets from a mid 90s burb in my 93 Sierra and they are power. I wired everything up and they work fine. Front and back only work with no one in the seat. Thought it was my fat ass so I tried my 100 pound wife and no luck. Is there anything I can rebuild or make better. I don't care about moving the seat with no one in it just don't wanna burn up the motor

 

[thz71]

Id like to know this 2 mine dont work at all

sent from my outdated S3

 

[great white]

Clean and lubricate gears and tracks is about all you can do to the best of my knowledge. That's where I would go first. I'd be looking for rusty bits too.

Its a pretty simple system really.

If a little more daring, you might be able to take the motors apart and clean em up or replace the brushes if needed. I doubt the brushes would be bad, those motors typically don't run a lot. A dirty commutator can run up the resistance and possibly cause a higher amperage draw than the stock wiring may be able to pass....speculation on that one though. Would be pretty far out there, but possible.

Good luck.

 

[sewlow]

Is this the driver side that's not working? I would guess that it is.
9X outa ten, the prob with these electric seats are the switches. Unless the truck has been sunk in water, the motors are relatively problem free.
If I'm correct with the problem being the driver side, what I've found is that the switch plate/mechanism has no protection from being contacted by the foam. The bracket for the switch is just a thin plate with the foam of the seat above it, micrometers from the back of the switch & those connections.
The foam breaks down on the outside edge where it sits on the frame of the cushion. Typical. This causes the foam to come in contact with the wiring harness & the connections to the switch when you sit on the seat, & in turn breaking the contact of the connection to the back of the switch plate. If the foam has broken down really bad, it can sink down far enough to actually break the poles that stick out on the back of the switch.
Few different ways to cure this.
Fix #1. Try swapping the switches from seat to seat. It may be that the switch itself has gone south. They do this. Especially on the driver seat. This only works on seats that have the same controls. Some don't. If this works, try to find a switch from a passenger seat @ the wreckers. They are always in better shape due to the lesser amount of usage that they see.
Fix #2. Pull the switch. Leave it connected. Does it work now? If so, you can bend that internal seat switch bracket to move the back of the switch away from the foam above it. Replace the switch & see if it works. Two probs with this fix. It's temporary because the real prob has not been cured. The foam will continue to break down, eventually coming into contact with the back of the switch again. And, bending the bracket with cause the seat switches to sit deeper into the cover. This can cause fitment issues with the seat cover, &/or the cover will develop tears & rips because as the seat foam is compressed when getting in or out, the cover is being forced down over the edge of the plastic of the switch plate. Those edges of the plastic switch plate are fairly sharp.
If the first suggestion works, you're golden.
If the second one works & you'd like to do a more permanent fix before the probs that I've explained about that raise their head, I can help you out with some details on how to remove the cover & get that foam built back up to stay off of the back of the switch plate/connection.
But I'd try the switch swap first.

 

[great white]

Is this the driver side that's not working? I would guess that it is.
9X outa ten, the prob with these electric seats are the switches. Unless the truck has been sunk in water, the motors are relatively problem free.
If I'm correct with the problem being the driver side, what I've found is that the switch plate/mechanism has no protection from being contacted by the foam. The bracket for the switch is just a thin plate with the foam of the seat above it, micrometers from the back of the switch & those connections.
The foam breaks down on the outside edge where it sits on the frame of the cushion. Typical. This causes the foam to come in contact with the wiring harness & the connections to the switch when you sit on the seat, & in turn breaking the contact of the connection to the back of the switch plate. If the foam has broken down really bad, it can sink down far enough to actually break the poles that stick out on the back of the switch.
Few different ways to cure this.
Fix #1. Try swapping the switches from seat to seat. It may be that the switch itself has gone south. They do this. Especially on the driver seat. This only works on seats that have the same controls. Some don't. If this works, try to find a switch from a passenger seat @ the wreckers. They are always in better shape due to the lesser amount of usage that they see.
Fix #2. Pull the switch. Leave it connected. Does it work now? If so, you can bend that internal seat switch bracket to move the back of the switch away from the foam above it. Replace the switch & see if it works. Two probs with this fix. It's temporary because the real prob has not been cured. The foam will continue to break down, eventually coming into contact with the back of the switch again. And, bending the bracket with cause the seat switches to sit deeper into the cover. This can cause fitment issues with the seat cover, &/or the cover will develop tears & rips because as the seat foam is compressed when getting in or out, the cover is being forced down over the edge of the plastic of the switch plate. Those edges of the plastic switch plate are fairly sharp.
If the first suggestion works, you're golden.
If the second one works & you'd like to do a more permanent fix before the probs that I've explained about that raise their head, I can help you out with some details on how to remove the cover & get that foam built back up to stay off of the back of the switch plate/connection.
But I'd try the switch swap first.

Well there ya go.

Words from the expert!

 

[snyderman5]

Just the drivers seat is power with the switch in the front of the seat not the side (that's the foam prob you talking about). I pulled the switch and checked the contacts they are tight and get battery voltage at the terminals when each switch is pressed. Maybe the foam still bothers the front switch. I'll pull the switch then sit in the seat and check. What kind of lube is recommended?

 

[sewlow]

Blow them out with some canned air. They can be taken apart, but that's a finicky job. Been a while since I had one apart, but ti seems to me that the switches are spring loaded on each side of the throw. Kind of a PITA to reassemble. If you wanna do that, once its apart, clean all the contacts with Alcohol & a Q-tip.
I'd have to go take one apart to really remember all the details.

"Whatya doin'?"
"Takin' this apart."
"Why?"
"So I can figure out how to put it together."