Non-functional Seat Motor

nonotme42 · April 10, 2009

Hey guys, hopefully someone can shed some quick light on this one...

I would get right down to diagnosing this with a volt meter and a toolbox, but my truck really can't stand any downtime. almost 30k in the 16 months I've been driving it gives you an idea of how little it stays in place!

Today's issue involves the rear up/down adjusting motor for the driver's side horizontal seat. The motor simply does not respond to the switch. However, based on glance moments of messing with it, the switch is obviously fine because it makes the relay engage, and if you hold it, you hear the overload click the relay off, as they're designed to do....yet the relay is the only thing making any noise. Since it will overload click in an attempt to move it both up and down, my first guess would be that the motor is simply toast, and is seized up, or something of the sort.

It has been like this since I got it, December 07, with 30,500 miles, and it's finally annoyed me enough to where I absolutely have to fix it, and I'm hoping someone might have either the quick answer, or possibly a part number for the motor to be replaced that will most definitely fix it, but any insight is appreciated.

bill190 · April 10, 2009

With vehicles that *must* not have any downtime, I think preventative maintenance is a good idea. Replace parts with new if they are questionable. And replace associated parts which may have wear on them while servicing the unit.

Then you have a long lasting repair.

So in your case might want to replace both the motor and relay (if the relay is separate from the motor).

In my case I have two vehicles and would have the time to monkey around with it. I would pull the motor and try to turn the gears or whatever the motor turns to be sure the mechanism is not jammed. Then I might turn the motor by hand and see if that could get it to work. Or disassemble the motor and get it to turn. Then if I got it working, reinstall and see if it works. If still has problems, then I would replace it with one from a wrecking yard. Then if that pooped out, I would buy a new one from the dealer.

If it was something like the starter, I would prefer to buy new from the dealer because I want this part to be dependable and have had problems with rebuilt starters. I would want a long lasting repair in this case. I might replace the starter relay if separate as well and associated wiring or new connectors if needed. (Basically everything associated with the starter would be good as new after servicing.)