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Power Seat Switch Works/Doesn't Work

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seat switch
102K views 85 replies 59 participants last post by  fixer34 
#1 ·
The Power Seat switch works fine to raise or lower the seat but often will not move the seat back and forth - front to rear or rear to front. It's intermittent so I don't want to chance it taking it to the dealer and having it work fine. Any suggestions?:bonk:
 
#62 ·
My drivers seat was stuck at rear position

Thanks to all the folks here, I was able to use the screwdriver trick to get my 02 Envoy SLT drivers seat unjammed from the farthest back position.
Once I got it to move forward using the pry up on the "silver thingey?" method, I found a nickel and a dime laying under an opening in the bottom seat track on the console side. Not sure if the coins had anything to do with it but my local dealer about seven years ago when I had a jammed track problem on the passenger side said loose change getting down into the tracks of the TB/Envoy seat mechanism was one of the biggest causes of jammed seats and motors burning out.
 
#64 ·
power seat switch "nub"

Thanks to this forum, I saved a lot of money on a switch for the drivers seat. I did take apart the switch as the forward-reverse function was not working. Sure enough, I had a broken nub. :thxI turned the cover plate for that switch upside down so the new good "nub" would engage the switch and it worked like a charm. I apologize for not remembering the name of the member who first discovered this "nub" issue, but I just wanted to say thank you.
I was also sorely disappointed with the quality of the switch,,,,a plastic nub?....really?
 
#65 ·
I just fixed the power seat on my sister's 2002 Trailblazer LT today (6-way power with lumbar, no memory settings). It would move forward but not backwards. After fiddling around under the seat looking for loose connections and whacking the backs of the rails with a hammer with no improvement, I pulled the switch off the side of the seat. While trying to disconnect the cable from the main switch panel, the panel popped apart. I checked the nubs on all the switches. They looked good. I moved the fore/aft switch (horizontal switch in the middle of the switch block) back and forth, and the seat moved in both directions (I hadn't unplugged the cable yet).

I then unplugged the cable and looked at the switch more closely. One end of the fore/aft switch was not attached to the circuit board. The leads are not soldered, but appear to be ultrasonically bonded. One end of the switch was lifted up from the circuit board about 1/16", as the bonds were broken on those 2 tabs. The switch worked if I held it against the board when the cable was connected. I clamped the switch against the circuit board with a small spring clamp with the switch slider held away from the tabs, and soldered the 2 tabs of the switch to the lands on the circuit board with a 25 watt soldering pencil and rosin core solder. I put it back together and it works fine now. :cool: :woohoo:

It was hard to solder to the lands on the circuit board because they have some massive copper leads that make good heat sinks. I made sure the parts were good and hot so I got a good solder joint. I don't want cold solder joints that are likely to crack again. I thought the plastic "circuit board" might melt from the heat. It did a little, but not seriously. I'm still a little concerned about how long the solder joints will hold up, but I tried to get plenty of solder on them to make them strong.

An hour of time and a little solder was a lot cheaper than spending $100+ on a new switch. Hopefully it will last longer than the vehicle, which has somewhere around 280,000 miles on it. The odometer display quit working a few months ago. The odometer reading was around 260,000 last summer when I put a new thermostat and temperature sending unit in it, so I am guessing around 280k now. This is on the original engine and transmission, as far as I know. She bought it when it was a year old with 40K on it, so they were probably the originals then. She's afraid it is going to fall apart soon because it has over 200k on it. I keep telling her they can last 400k or more if maintained properly.
 
#67 · (Edited)
Seat fixed; amazing!!!

After grumbling to myself all afternoon, anticipating having to go to the local Goodrench dude, I just went out and 'banged' on the front of the driver seat; pressed the button to move the seat and SHAZAM; the sucker works again! These forums never cease to amaze me and thanks to everyone for helping this 71-year-old motorhead save a few bux!!!

:thx
 
#68 ·
I have had this problem for about 5 years now (yes I have owned my truck for that long). I carry a screwdriver and wrench for my trailer ball in the back underfloor hatch. When the seat doesn't want to move a small tap on the screwdriver with the wrench, while the tip of the screwdriver is placed on the aluminum colored block, at the front on the outboard side of the drivers seat seems to get it working again. I am scared to put any grease on the screw drive for fear of gumming it up and then seizing it permanently.
 
#69 ·
My seat wouldnt go forward or back either. I tried the screw driver trick but was pretty sure that wasnt the problem because I didnt hear the motor even trying to move the seat.
I had the same issue after tearing into mine today. I noticed a connection had come free. A little solder and it works like new. Glade I check this out.
 
#70 ·
My driver side power seat also has quick working. I checked the switch and it looks ok. The passenger side works fine. I disconnected the battery to "re-boot" the computer and the seat started to work, then stopped , I repeated the process and had the same results. I managed to get the seat to where I want it. I was in Minnesota over the holidays and it was very cold. Could the weather have caused a problem. On starting the car one morning the gauges all went crazy for about 5 minutes until the truck warmed up. Also now the check engine light comes on a few times but does not stay on.

All the mechanical systems are great at 135,000 miles, all the problems I have had are with the electronics, it is a LTZ model. Great truck except for these kind of problems.

Any suggestions
 
#71 ·
Source of the Problem

Well, I finally got around to disassembling the power seat mechanism to find out why it would no longer move forward and back.

The problem, as you can see in the photo, is a broken plastic gear. It is the driven gear. It is driven by the worm gear that is turned by the electric motor.

The driven gear is attached to the threaded rod on which the slide that is bolted to the seat rides. As the threaded rod turns, the slide moves back and forth.

Alas, realistically there is no way to fix this problem. To get it this far apart, several rivets had to be drilled out, and it took a lot of time, and putting it all back together with bolts might not work due to clearance problems, even if you could get the gear, which seems doubtful. All in all, not worth the effort.

Bottom line, if your seat locks up, and the hammer trick won't work, just replace the entire assembly. All things considered it is surprisingly inexpensive.

Mark
 
#72 ·
Well, I finally got around to disassembling the power seat mechanism to find out why it would no longer move forward and back.

The problem, as you can see in the photo, is a broken plastic gear. It is the driven gear. It is driven by the worm gear that is turned by the electric motor.

The driven gear is attached to the threaded rod on which the slide that is bolted to the seat rides. As the threaded rod turns, the slide moves back and forth.

Alas, realistically there is no way to fix this problem. To get it this far apart, several rivets had to be drilled out, and it took a lot of time, and putting it all back together with bolts might not work due to clearance problems, even if you could get the gear, which seems doubtful. All in all, not worth the effort.

Bottom line, if your seat locks up, and the hammer trick won't work, just replace the entire assembly. All things considered it is surprisingly inexpensive.

Mark
Thanks - that's good information. If I see a seat mechanism or seat for sale for a reasonable price I'll pick one up.

It doesn't bother me, but it's a pain in the ass if I need to have my wife or daughters use the truck for whatever reason.

But compared to 3 or 4 transmissions, I don't sweat over things like the seat anymore.
 
#73 ·
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#76 ·
Had this same problem today with the drivers seat not moving. I could hear something clicking but it wouldn't move. Tried the suggestions given by other members and prying a bit under the small silver pieces in the track worked like a charm.

Told my wife that the info provided by guys on this site has literally saved me over a thousand dollars that would have otherwise gone to the local Chevy dealer.

You guys are awesome...thanks SO much!!!! :thx
 
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#79 ·
Fixed!

Thank you so much for this thread. We just bought a 2003 envoy today and the seats didn't work so we got a good deal, it was already perfect placement for hubby whim the car is for. Well after me taking it for a test drive, not being able to remove it annoyed me as my legs are longer. At 12 am I went armed with a flathead and a flashlight and was able to fix it in less than five minutes. So excited because we were thinking it needed a new motor or switch... Now who wants to help me figure out how to replace the rear wiper arm:)
 
#82 ·
Mine was a cable issue

My passenger side seat would not move. Outboard side did, the inboard side did not. Found my problem to be the cable running to the silver box that everybody has been talking about was some hoe not seated properly in the motor area. I pushed it into the motor area and it ran without a proble. Might have been disconnected while aggressive vacuuming .
 
#83 ·
My passenger side seat wouldn't move forward or back for years. I assumed it would be too much hassle or $$ to fix it.

When you hit the lever to move the seat, all that could be heard was what sounded like the motor trying to work but the seat never moved.

I was replacing a blower motor resistor, which is an easy task, thanks to all on the Trailvoy Forum. While down there I tried the screwdriver method described in this thread. Low and behold it worked! W00T! W00T!

The seat moves up and back with such vim and vigor it acts like it's new!

Thank you! :thx :thumbsup: :hail: :tiphat
 
#84 ·
Awesome

Bringing up this thread to say thank you. Just bought my Trailblazer and it's in really nice shape. The seat not working was annoying us. Thanks to this thread I just fixed it and it inspired me to sign on here and not just be a "lurker".

By the way, the screwdriver thing didn't seem to help with my truck. I tapped on the back of the rails with a hammer and that did the trick.
 
#85 ·
Similar issue-new motor didn't help.

On my 2004 Isuzu Ascender, the power driver's seat has been stuck at rear most position for 6 months and has usually been stuck for 2-3 years or more. Occasionally it would wake up and work 1-2 and then stuck again at the back.

A while back, an auto shop in Florida said the motor was bad. I wasn't sure, as I could see/hear the motor start to work but then stopped, seemed like maybe one size was moving and the other not, so it shut down before binding up. Regardless, I thought I'd install a new motor ($45 w/ shipping from Rock Auto) and see if that would help. It didn't.

I'm thinking now that either one of the drive cables coming out of the motor is broken, or the gear is broken where the drive cable goes into the screw drive in the rail.

Before ordering something, I thought I'd detach the seat from the motors/mechanisms and see if I could figure anything else out. But I can't separate the seat. I also removed two Torx screws from the bottom of each rail, thinking I could pull the rails apart and get a better look, but the rails won't come out and something is blocking on the inside.

So any advice? I'm going to look back thru this 9-page (?, or was that another thread) and see what I can find, but thought I'd post my problem as well.
 
#86 ·
2002 LTZ driver seat won't move fwd/bk

OK, maybe I should have checked here first. My daughter's LTZ seat was/is stuck all the way forward. Stopped working a couple months ago. Finally had a nice enough day to look at it. All the other functions work.
This is a leather/buns warmers/memory setup.
Moving the switch forward and back will give a clicking noise under the seat (relay?), but no motor noise or attempt to move the motor. Seat is all the way forward (she's short) so I can't get to the bolts to remove/raise the seat. Was able to get the motor assembly out and the flexible shafts turn freely. Bench tested the motor connecting directly to a battery and it spins nicely, so I don't think the motor itself is bad.
I noticed on the other end of the motor assembly was a set of contacts and gears. Looks like it might be a position sensor? Will that keep the motor from running? And now that I have spun the motor freely, how do I get it back aligned if that is the problem?
 
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