Power Seat stuck all the way back

  • Careless
    Careless
    Senior Member
    • 13279

    Power Seat stuck all the way back

    Hi everyone,

    Careless here from other boards like HybridZ :-D and 300zxclub :-? droppin' by to get some advice on my '87 Turbo GLL
    I have just been through rebuilding the top half of my engine and a bunch of other parts and now I'm ready to take it for a road test…

    Problem:
    Power Seat is stuck in the max-back position on the seat rails. Every switch works, moves up and down even, but not forward and back!!! :-( It was working fine before, but it was a tad slow. Possibly because my battery was on its way out. But now I can't even reach the pedals (i'm 5'7, that's pretty tall for an Italian, gimme a break!).

    Whilst charging my battery, I put the charger clamps on backwards for about 10 seconds. Yeah I know… stupid… but I was in the garage for 7 hours in sub-zero temperature with no heater. I was about done!!! I didn't fry anything in regards to fuses/links/relays. no funky smell… I believe the charger has a built in sensing circuit to cut power when it senses a reversed battery polarity, and it seems as though all my fusible links are fine as well as my relays behind the battery… Car starts up, and now that it's been timed it runs almost perfect… 900rpm @ 15*BTDC (I suspect it's 900 instead of 750 because of the new lightweight flywheel). Alternator doesn't seem to be overcharging or doing anything funky like that. I guess I would need to drive around a bit more to commence proper diagnostics on that.

    So… now I'm stuck with a car I've been working on for the passed 6 months… And it runs now… but there's no way to move the seat forward. I cannot access the rear bolts to undo the seat, my hand, nor any tool that I have (bought some flex head gear wrenches too), fit back there.

    I might have to bend a screwdriver at the tip so that it's got a shorter drive after the 90* bend so that I can take out the switch panel. The current 90* bend screw-key tool that I have is too long and I cannot remove one of the screws (lowest one on the switch panel) because of it's shape.

    Does anyone have a better solution/ Idea? Is there an alternate way of taking the switch out without breaking the panel? Any help is appreciated. I'm ready to bust out the torch and take the seat out from under the car at this point. LOLOL
  • nutsaq
    nutsaq
    Senior Member
    • 208

    #2
    take out the front bolts, tip the seat back and pull as much of the seat stuffing out of the tracks and screw drive as you can reach. You only need enough to get the seat to move once so you can take it out and clean it up.
  • Racinjitter
    Racinjitter
    Z Force Commander
    • 3128

    #3
    Careless wrote: (i'm 5'7, that's pretty tall for an Italian, gimme a break!).
    First off, No breaks for you :lol:.

    What I have been doing in the pick and pull, is pulling the two front bolts out lifting up on the seat (probably bending the back tabs a little) and then unplugging the seat power. Then I apply power to the switch. However you may not have access to the switches… There should be a way to remove some of the plastic surrounds to gain access to the switch's wires. Or you can try to remove the back of the seat and apply power from there. Damn, I wish I would have saved my OE seats for these types of questions. I'll rip into the first one I see at the pick an pull. (as long as it is not easily savable)

    And yea^ what he said!
    Shiro Special # 981 Being assembled in my spare time Chromoly acquired!
    Originally posted by BoostedMamma
    Heads up makes teh panties drop. BUT I don't have a penis OR a fast car, so I guess my opinion doesn't count.
  • Careless
    Careless
    Senior Member
    • 13279

    #4
    nutsaq, you say that there is a common occurrence of seat padding and such falling into the threaded rod and the tracks that could cause the motor to slow down and halt if left there?

    I'm not sure if I can even push or tilt the seat back… it's ALL the way back. :-( I'll give it a shot. thanks! I didn't wanna force the seat back because I figured I might break the tabs, but I'm going to give it a shot!

    Jason, I'm going to add a severe rake to my S30 so that you can't fit in it! HA! and I'm going to replace the passenger seat with a collection of BOSE audio components and plumb some wires to the engine bay, where they will be hooked up to a high quality microphone, right beside the ITB's.

    WHATS THAT… I CAN'T HEAR YOU AT 8000 RPM.


    Ok, so if I can remove the plug for the motor, I could probably just use a spare battery, maybe a 9v or a car battery and have it go forward enough. Hopefully it shows that it's just the switch and not the motor. In that case, I would be able to access that remaining bolt for the switch panel too if I can bend it back.

    I'll then take the seat out, clean up the bottomo completely, and probably take out the pass seat too and clean under there. Never drove the car long enough to care to give it a clean up.

  • reddzx
    reddzx
    Senior Citizen
    • 6440

    #5
    I had this same problem happen to me on a 86 NA I had in 06. Drove me nuts for several days. I tried everything but I couldn't get to the bolts at all. I had removed a set of leather seats from a parts car so I knew they worked. I had to use the motors and switchs to move them back and forth for removal. But after installing them, I did the rear bolts first. Then I moved the seat back and did the fronts. I got in to drive it and the seats wouldn't go forward again. I removed the side panels and used contact cleaner on the switches, nothing. I went nuts tracking down relays and fuses, etc. Relays are above the fuse panel down by the driver left foot. I determined that I had power by checking thevoltage at the harness under the seat with a piece of wiring with the connector removed from a parts car. I hooked a battery direct to the harness still nothing. I ended up taking it to a auto upolstry shop and they pulled the seat bottom apart and cleaned the motor and worm drive. Cost me $79 for the repair. Now whenever I pull power seats I always clean the track, worm drive gears and rods and spray the motor out with LDS contact cleaner and then blow out with computer cleaning canned air since I don't have an air compressor.



    1988 300ZX Turbo, Shiro Special #760
    1988 300ZX Turbo Automatic (wife's car)
    1991 Hard-body 2WD

    http://zccw.org/zccw/?page_id=1215
  • Careless
    Careless
    Senior Member
    • 13279

    #6
    so you never actually pulled the seats off? gaaahd damn :-(
  • reddzx
    reddzx
    Senior Citizen
    • 6440

    #7
    The shop removed the seat cover to get it out and then repaired it. I didn't get a play by play of how they did it. I was in a hurry as I had the car sold already.



    1988 300ZX Turbo, Shiro Special #760
    1988 300ZX Turbo Automatic (wife's car)
    1991 Hard-body 2WD

    http://zccw.org/zccw/?page_id=1215
  • Careless
    Careless
    Senior Member
    • 13279

    #8
    :-(

    damnz. i guess i'll see what I can do tonight if i'm not tired when I leave work.

    thnx for tips
  • 85z31t88
    85z31t88
    Senior Member
    • 867

    #9
    Shoot I always have my seat all the way back. That's the only way I am comfortable :nanan?re Im 1/2 italian but im 6'2 haha must be my german half where i got the height…
    '85 300zx turbo: exhaust, intercooler, coilovers, etc…SOLD, will be missed
    '86 300zx turbo: starting over
    '97 Dodge 2500: 12v Cummins …selling and will be missed
    '94 Jeep Cherokee: D60 Front 14b rear, both locked and 5.38 gears, 37" mtr's
    2015 Ram 2500 megacab laramie cummins black appearance package
  • Careless
    Careless
    Senior Member
    • 13279

    #10
    Success!
    Motor gets power.
    Motor moves.
    Motor is stuck.
    so the seat is gettin' screwed! (literally).

    My landlord is a trusty mechanic/techinician and he has tiny hands so he actually took the entire drive out from under the seat in 30 minutes without lifting the seat out.

    8)
  • Racinjitter
    Racinjitter
    Z Force Commander
    • 3128

    #11
    Careless wrote: My landlord is a trusty mechanic/techinician and he has tiny hands so he actually took the entire drive out from under the seat in 30 minutes without lifting the seat out.

    8)
    Shiro Special # 981 Being assembled in my spare time Chromoly acquired!
    Originally posted by BoostedMamma
    Heads up makes teh panties drop. BUT I don't have a penis OR a fast car, so I guess my opinion doesn't count.
  • Careless
    Careless
    Senior Member
    • 13279

    #12
    I did find a tube of "warm sensations" ky jelly in the seat-back compartment when I brought the car home… hmmmmm. maybe I can have heated seats!

    LOLOL J/K… I gave the stuff to the other tennant in the house. I think he had fun using it, what do you think, Jason? did she sound pleased? ::lol

    I have every type of grease in my garage, that's why I'm wondering which to use. And yes, I had to explain to a friend that "grease is grease" is not a good way to look at things, especially when you're using wheel bearing grease to seal an electrical connector. It could be non-conductive, but why take the chance? Die-electric grease is 2 bucks a tube anyway.

    I was cleaning the tiliting mechanism screw drive (smaller one under middle bracket), and I noticed they used High-tack Moly Grease on the screw drive. The tracks seemed to have what looked like White lithium or just regular brown lithium grease. And I'd like to mention that the pivot points for the tilting mechanism feel stiff, but if you actually force them abit, they will loosen… That's a good time to shove a pick in there and poke out the coconut fibres that got stuck in there, and spray some degreaser in there before using a solvent brush to shove some more grease in there.


    Thanks everyone for le help.
  • Racinjitter
    Racinjitter
    Z Force Commander
    • 3128

    #13
    Careless wrote: I did find a tube of "warm sensations" ky jelly in the seat-back compartment when I brought the car home… hmmmmm. maybe I can have heated seats!

    LOLOL J/K… I gave the stuff to the other tennant in the house. I think he had fun using it, what do you think, Jason? did she sound pleased? :lol:
    LMAO, I kind of wish that he would have passed her around… She sounded cute? That couldn't have happened at a worse time, I was just falling asleep… Then Girl O face "Yeeeeaaa Ooooohhhh, right there…" Me "WTF, Dammit hurry up so I can go to sleep."
    Shiro Special # 981 Being assembled in my spare time Chromoly acquired!
    Originally posted by BoostedMamma
    Heads up makes teh panties drop. BUT I don't have a penis OR a fast car, so I guess my opinion doesn't count.
  • Careless
    Careless
    Senior Member
    • 13279

    #14
    LOL i felt like a bad host cause of that!

    I mean, you had to drive 5 hours… Last thing you need is no sleep. I know how it is when you can't sleep you-- remember everything that kept you awake.

    *queue intro from 'more human than human - rob zombie'*
  • reddzx
    reddzx
    Senior Citizen
    • 6440

    #15
    Want more details. uais! uais!



    1988 300ZX Turbo, Shiro Special #760
    1988 300ZX Turbo Automatic (wife's car)
    1991 Hard-body 2WD

    http://zccw.org/zccw/?page_id=1215