Teh Seat Went Berserk

kaha

kaha

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Got my Mark back from the mech yesterday; they'd hung that new/old door off the wrecked '95 I'd picked up in Helena. Yay, no more "Butte Look".

First thing I notice is that while the left side remote mirror does work remotely, it has a shudder/vibration to it while adjusting that it didn't have before.
Go to bed, sleep in. Get up, head out to Al, and GAAAAH! :eek:

For no reason that I can discern, the driver seat had taken on a life of its own overnight and is now as far forward on its tracks as it can go, and the battery is dead. Charge batterty, disconnected so the computers can reset. Hook it back up, start car (scrunched into a space so tight that Billy Barty woulda felt cramped). Try to adjust seat. Nada.
Passenger seat adjusts and works fine.
Wa' Happen??? :confused:
 
Try working the seat back back and forth a bunch of times. It seems like maybe the "auto glide" function is kicking in, maybe because the sensor is stuck, causing it to want to move forward. Also, if that doesn't work, try turning off the autoglide function through the message center and see if that stops it...
 
Cool! But how do you turn that off thru the message center? The only thing I could figure out how to set is to recalibrate the clock and compass.
 
It all started after I had the new door put on to replace the wrecked one. Is there a switch or connector that could have been re-installed incorrectly within the door panel?
And it was fine when the car was dropped off. Drove it to the carwash and washed it, drove it home. The domelight stayed on all night I think because the battery was dead in the morning and I then noticed that the switch in the front door jamb (near the bottom hinge, beneath the wiring harness) wasn't making contact with the door when closed (jerry-rigged that for the time being until I can get an adhesive rubber bumper to stick there). And the seat was jacked all the way forward.
 
Had the shop pick the car up; called em this afternoon. They said they'd pulled the door panel and the memory switch and connections seemed fine. Other than that, some wiring diagrams would be helpful. I ran them down my FoMoCo Electrical and Vacuum shop manual. Called late in the afternoon. They still don't know what's causing the problem, and are now another $140 into it, which I won't have until the 20th. Buddy at work says they probably banged the switches on the seat trim while hanging the new door, I dunno.
So now I'm a little bit pissed off and a little bit bummed out. :mad: :(
 
I am thinking it could be one of a few problems. My experience is only with second gens so here it goes.

1. Maybe the seat track position sensor is bad on the motor. Does the seat move back at all?
2. The seat back micro switch is stuck and the car thinks the seatback is flipped forward. My 97 did that sometimes.
3. Maybe the memory setting was set for full forward and when disarming the alarm the seat went to that setting? Not sure if Gen1s do that with the remote.
 
Just got the car back from the mech, I ran your ideas past him (thanks Laser!), and he said the seat-back sensor was the next thing he was gonna check. Sadly, I gotta wait awhile til I have the money. Anyway, they managed to get the seat back far enough to where I can drive it semi-normally, and the motors/sensors under the seat are unplugged for now so it doesn't go full-retard on me again until it's fixed. Mech mentioned that the right side seat motor was getting really hot.

Was so nice driving AL again that I didn't even mind being a little scrunched up. :)
 
LaserSVT said:
I am thinking it could be one of a few problems. My experience is only with second gens so here it goes.

1. Maybe the seat track position sensor is bad on the motor. Does the seat move back at all?
2. The seat back micro switch is stuck and the car thinks the seatback is flipped forward. My 97 did that sometimes.
3. Maybe the memory setting was set for full forward and when disarming the alarm the seat went to that setting? Not sure if Gen1s do that with the remote.
Click to expand...

I now have paid over $300 and the problem is not solved. "Well, it seems like it could be, it's probably..." BAH. Not taking Al to the mechanics any more, told the guy I wasn't happy at all. He did manage to get the seat into a comfy position for a 6 foot guy (me) by shorting wires. By doing that he said he could get it to move forward and back, and tilt the seatback. What he couldn't do was tilt the whole seat, or raise of lower it.
Sounds like a fried motor, and I don't even know what they look like, time to find out.
I'm gonna fix the damn thing myself from now on, even if the simplest repair takes 8 hours. :lol:

One thing I've noticed is that the seat back never latches when you flip it back. Dunno why, but I think that probably has something to do with it.
So the first time I have a real weekend, the driver's seat is coming out.

Man, that 300 bucks could've bought me the parts I need to do the front suspension. Might as well have thrown it in the fire. Lesson learned.
 
As far as I know, no Gen 1 seat latches in place. All of them that I have messed with have always been free moving to just pull forward and then auto-glide takes over. I don't even know why the little lever is back there unless they latched at some point.
 
Mine doesn't latch either, hell it doesn't even work! I took them out and turned a gear with a socket so I could fit in there.
 
if you try to slam it forward or brake hard it will latch. the lever is a override if it were to get stuck.
 
Your seat module is cooked, this is why I say this... A long time ago when I had my gray 94, I took the door panel off for some reason or another. There are two brown connectors inside the door that can be swapped, as in hooked up to the wrong plug. Iirc, the plug is for the memory seat module, and some other feature that I cannot remember at the moment. Anyway, I think that once I realized my mistake, the damage was done. My seat acted a little different, but It was almost undrivable. You could hit a button for the seat and it acted like it was confused, all switch positions would make the seat try to go up then back up and down... It was like you were moving your finger around all the positions at once... Sometimes it would jam you up on the dash, the next it would move backwards... Anywho, I took anguess and replaced the module under the driver seat and it worked like new again. Betcha 100 bux this is what happened... Good luck! If you take the panel off, you will see what I mean. The mech prob did the same thing i did.
 
DieselDan said:
Your seat module is cooked, this is why I say this... A long time ago when I had my gray 94, I took the door panel off for some reason or another. There are two brown connectors inside the door that can be swapped, as in hooked up to the wrong plug. Iirc, the plug is for the memory seat module, and some other feature that I cannot remember at the moment. Anyway, I think that once I realized my mistake, the damage was done. My seat acted a little different, but It was almost undrivable. You could hit a button for the seat and it acted like it was confused, all switch positions would make the seat try to go up then back up and down... It was like you were moving your finger around all the positions at once... Sometimes it would jam you up on the dash, the next it would move backwards... Anywho, I took anguess and replaced the module under the driver seat and it worked like new again. Betcha 100 bux this is what happened... Good luck! If you take the panel off, you will see what I mean. The mech prob did the same thing i did.
Click to expand...

I'll betcha a hundred bux yer right on the money, Dan. That perfectly describes the current state and the events leading up to it.
The mech claimed that he had the door panel back off, inspected everything and found nothing amiss. So I'm guessing that if he swapped the connectors they're prolly still swapped?

Thanks a million, man. :)
 
Probably not still swapped... What I did is realized that when I tried to plug up the door panel, one of the connectors would not reach, then I realized what I did and plugged everything up correctly. After everything was all buttoned up, is when I realized my seat was fubar. I wish I could find a pic of a gen1 door with the panel off, i'd show you which connectors I am talking about.
 
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