Power seat issue --HELP!!--

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Crang94

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I have a 2007 Expy Eddie Bauer with power seat, memory seat, heat/cooled seat and of course leather. It has 166000 km on it.

I'm getting ready for a vacation, and this might be a show stopper.
Just this week, I was trying to adjust the seat position and it would not move. I stopped the car, put it in park and tried all of the controls:
up/down, front/back, tilt and lumbar. No good. The last thing I remember adjusting was the lumbar.

My first thought was the fuse, but here is where it gets weird: when I stop the car and pull the key, it backs up to let me out. Also the memory functions work.

I then thought maybe there is a different circuit for the memory and the regular controls. I checkec the fuse (30A in the engine compartment) and it was good. Unfortunatley doing so also reset the memory seats,

Now the seat is stuck in 1 position and I can't move it!

Has anyone heard of this? Most of the posts I found were for the forward/back track jamming. This is not the case for me.

As far as I can tell, it is either wiring, switch module or the control computer in the seat.

any direction would be appreciated.
 
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bedrck46

how good are your electrical troubleshooting skills do you have a meter, test lamp etc
 
B

bedrck46

The power seat is inoperative — driver, with power recliner
Fuse
Circuitry
Seat control switch

The power seat is inoperative — driver, without power recliner
Fuse
Seat control switch
Circuitry

The power seat is inoperative — passenger, with power recliner
Fuse
Circuitry
Seat control switch

The power seat is inoperative — passenger, without power recliner
Fuse
Seat control switch
Circuitry

The power seat moves but is loose
Fastening hardware
Seat track

The power seat moves but is noisy
Seat track

The power seat does not make full travel
Seat track obstructed
Seat track


The power seat does not move horizontally/vertically/recline — driver
Seat track
Circuitry
Seat control switch
Power seat motor

The power seat does not move horizontally/vertically — driver
Seat track
Circuitry
Seat control switch
Power seat motor

The power seat does not move horizontally/vertically/recline — passenger
Seat track
Circuitry
Seat control switch
Power seat motor

The power seat does not move horizontally/vertically — passenger
Circuitry
Seat track
Seat control switch
Power seat motor
 
OP
OP
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Crang94

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I have a multimeter, and some skills with using it.

looking at the options, I am thinking either a wiring issue, the button module or the seat computer is faulty, given these facts:
1- the seat backs up when I take out the key (forward/backward works)
2- The memory functions were working until I pulled the seat fuse.

Also, the wire loom between the seat control module and the seat computer is a bit worn, but not worn through the plastic, so I don't think the wires are frayed.

I didn't think to check the heat/cool seats, which I will do today. I am also getting the wiring diagram from the ford dealer which should help troubleshoot the issue.

I will keep you posted.

Thanks for any futher suggestions.
 
B

bedrck46

if you need the wiring prints let me know also which seat isn't working correctly
I am assuming the drivers seat
 
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Crang94

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@ bedrck46: wiring diagrams would be good. I got ford to print off some and I have another set from a different source but they seem to be conflicting!

I narrowed down the issue to the wiring or control module. The seat is getting power from the 2 source, and if I jump it over to the seat controls, the controls work.

I will update the progress later today.
 
B

bedrck46

will send you the wiring prints for the drivers seat you may have to wait till I get back home in the next hour or two
 
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Crang94

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Thanks for the diagrams.

I figured out what the issue was. A fuse. But before you scoff at me, let me explain:

The specifics:
2007 Expy Eddie Bauer Driver seat
10 way controls
heated, cooled and airbags.
Driver seat controls not functional. Power pedals functional. Memory seats functional (until I pulled the seat fuse from the engine bay). Easy egress functional.

The diagnosis:
My diagrams show that the controls are directly connected to a fuse pin 5 CN3016 to F45 30A in the engine bay.

What is in fact is that the Pin5 is connected to the SUV via CN311 and changes color. Green/red on the seat to green violet on the SUV. I am not sure what pin number it is on the CN311, but it is right next to the one tied to the 7.5A fuse (Yel/Red).

Where I found that there should be 2 power sources to the seat, there are in fact 3. The third one was the issue. The line was connected to the interior fuse panel to position 11 (I think) which in my owners manual shows "Not USED". It was a 10A fuse and immediately above the 7.5A fuse for the seat (position 12 I think).

I found this fuse after eliminating the seat by tracing the wire directly between CN3016 and CN311. I deduced that the line must be connected to another circuit not labeled in the book. Fortunately it was the 5th fuse I removed.

Well there you go. The only thing I can guess is that the empty fuse panel was a retrofit or I have the wrong owner manual.

Well there it is. I am glad the dealer was busy today or I would have left it with them and come home with a lighter wallet.

Thanks everyone for your input. I hope this post will help at least one poor soul having the same problem.

Also, as an aside: when I took off the fuse panel cover, I also remove the kick plate. I found in the wire raceway, a burnt piece of ford label. I then noticed that a wire had been spliced and replaced. It was a blue wire with white stripe, spliced into 3. Obviously it shorted out and caused some sort of damage. If you are in the area, visually inspect for the Y wire and check the splice is good. It may be just my truck as the previous owner installed a rear view camera and there are wires all shoved in the area.
 

Amacron

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Had a simular problem. My 2007 expy drivers seat would blow the 30 amp fuse if u tried to move the seat back. Was like that for about 8 months. I found out there was a quarter lodged in the seat near the front conector. Either it was shorting the connector out or blocking the seat track. Removed quater and replaced fuse. Havent had a problem since. So i guess the repair actually paid me back cause i got a quarter.
 

DJLobo79

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I know this is an older thread, but hopefully someone can help. I have a similar problem with my 07 Limited Expi. All of the functions on the driver seat work ( tilt, recline, lumbar) except forward / back. I don't even hear a click when the button is pressed, which leads me to believe either the switch is bad or the motor is bad.

Can anyone provide the wiring harness to this driver seat so I can check for continuity / connectivity and determine where the fault is? I'm guessing it's not a fuse, seeing as how everything else works, and I don't believe there is a fuse for every specific function. Your help is greatly appreciated.
 

DJLobo79

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I finally figured it out.. Many thanx to those who contributed to this solution. I will outline what i found below, and hopefully help someone else fix this issue on their own. The dealer wanted $452 for a control switch and Tasca wanted almost $300 for it as well. I didn't even bother to ask for the seat motor price, and the representative simply said "remember this motor comes with the rail assembly, so it will be expensive". As if $450 for a switch isn't expensive already. Mind you, even though my Expi is a 2007, it only has 52k miles, and i just couldn't believe that a motor or a sensor could go bad so soon. Ultimately i found that it was a bad connection causing the problem. For more information, continue reading.

So this was my problem: 2007 Expedition driver seat slide would not move back and forth. All of the other functions worked fine (recline, lumbar, tilt, temperature and memory). The fist step i took was to check the fuses in the passenger side fuse box. Both fuses (#12 memory seat function & #2 power seat function, i believe) were intact. Then i proceeded to unbolt the seat and raise it just enough for me to gain access to the wiring. I didn't want to remove it, so i could check the connectivity with the harness connected. I also removed the seat control switch on the left side of the seat, but left it connected to the harness. I used a test light probe to check current coming into the seat control, thanx to the wiring harness you guys provided. I had current coming into the control, but then i checked the individual connectors while pressing the control buttons and the only one that wouldn't light up (show current) was the slide button. That means no current being sent to the motor. I decided to take apart the seat control switch to expose the PCB board. Pictures attached. I used a Multimeter to check for continuity between the points across the board and there was continuity across. However, some channels on the board overlapped other channels, I'm guessing to give the user the option of doing multiple functions at the same time (reclining and sliding for example). Not being able to determine if the switch was bad, I decided to move to the motor and check the operation. I pin-pointed the slide motor (there are 3 motors on this seat. slide, recline & tilt) and disconnected the plug to check for current. The wire color did change coming into this motor, as one member mentioned before. When i checked for current while pressing the slide button, none was shown, however, when i pressed the recline button, there was current going to the slide motor connector.

I went back to the seat control switch and looked for signs of rust, burned or broken connections, as mentioned in other threads and didn't find any. I did clean the connections just for peace of mind. I considered buying a switch, thinking it was inexpensive, and after speaking to the dealer rep, i nearly started crying, and decided to make sure and identify if the problem was the switch or the motor. I noticed that every time i pressed a button on the seat control switch, i would hear a "click" just before the movement, except for the slide function. This meant there were relays activating for all other functions, except for the slide function. So i started to look for relays in the seat. I found the "clicking" coming from a control module where all of the wires plug into, and then re-distributed to the motors & sensors. I pulled the module out of the pocket in which it sat and disconnected all of the plugs. I opened it up to expose the PCB board and saw nothing broken, burned or corroded. I saw 3 relays embedded into the PCB board, but they looked brand new. I decided to check the continuity on the circuit board with the Multimeter and when i connected the plugs back into the control module, i felt the seat move. I then pressed the slide switch and, you guessed it, it worked. I couldn't believe it. All of the plugs were connected when i first started to take everything apart, but i guess something caused the connection to fail. I'm not sure how this could have happened, being that this module is very tucked away into the seat and the plugs or wires do not become exposed to your feet because the seat cover does a great job of covering everything up. Though somehow, the connection was loose.

So to wrap it up, just imagine how many dealers or shops have been ripping customers off by replacing parts when a simple bad connection was the original culprit. I would like to mention that i am not an electrician, or a technician or even remotely capable of putting a circuit board together, but like i mentioned earlier, i was determined to fix the issue. So, if this ever happens again, i would recommend the following in the respective order, if one fails, move to the next step:
1. Check the fuses - 1 for memory seat function and 1 for power seat function.
2. Check all of the plugs under the seat and insure proper connection.
3. Check current with test light or multimeter coming into the seat control switch.
4. Check current leaving seat control switch while pressing the buttons.
5. Listen for relay "click" when button is pressed.
6. Locate desired motor and check the plug connector for current feeding into it.

Circuits are usually setup in the following order; Current from fuse to switch to control module to relay and finally to motor. Therefore the motor should be the last item to fail, unless there is an over load (track jammed, preventing movement & continuously pressing the button to force movement), then the process would be reversed and the motor will burn out first. Again, I'm not a technician or electrician, so perform all of this at your own risk. All I know is, this is what worked for me.

Again, thank you all for your help and contributions. I have attached a few pictures for illustration.
 

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