A fix for power seat not going forward/backward
11-17-2014, 11:00 PM
#1
A fix for power seat not going forward/backward
It looks like lots of people have had the same problem I had with the power seat on my 1997 Lariat the seat won't go forwards or backwards, or will only go one way, or works intermittently. I think I have found the solution and it costs nothing! If you want to skip the story you can go directly to the FIX section below.
If the other controls on the seat work fine (as mine did) then you know its not a blown fuse or none of the controls would work. Under the seat are three black cylinder shaped motors (about the size of an empty toilet paper roll). The front most motor is the one that makes the seat go forward and backward. I took the electrical connector off the motor and put a volt meter onto the connector and when I operated the switch I got either -12 volts or +12 volts depending on whether you put the control switch forward or back (which is what you want from a properly functioning control switch). THIS is were I got fooled! Even though the volt meter was indicating that I was getting the right voltage, the problem was that the contacts in the switch were bad enough that it wasn't letting enough electricity go through the contacts to turn the motor. If you want to check to see if this is what is causing your problem you can do this: Each electric motor has the same connector, so you can take the connector off of one of the other motors (for example, the middle motor) and clip it onto the front motor then when you use the buttons that normally activate the middle motor, it will actually power your front motor and the seat will go forward and backward. OR you can hot wire positive and negative 12 volt leads to the front motor and see if that turns the motor (don't get your hand pinched) then reverse the wires to see if the seat goes the other way. If either of those works then you have a fairly simple free fix!
FIX Remove the side panel with the seat control switches ( the lubar **** comes right off, a screw holds on the black lever for letting the seat tilt forward, and a few more screws). Remove the control switch assembly from the side panel (2 screws). Carefully take the control switch box apart (press in the plastic tabs with small screw driver and carefully pry the two halves apart). There is a little white post with a **** on the end and a little spring behind it, these go in the middle of the four-way joy-stick that moves the seat forward and backward don't loose these! The part with all the copper contains the contacts. By looking at the joy stick and the copper part you can see which part of the copper contact set the joy-stick activates when you move it forward and back (it's not like you might think). If you look closely at the side of the copper contact set you will see the disc-shaped contact points looking through a jeweler's loupe I could see that my contacts were covered with a black coating that had built up. I used a thin metal finger-nail file (the kind that feels like metal sandpaper) to file between both sets of contact points. Check and make sure the contact surfaces have the black scraped off. Put your switch back together and I bet it works now!
I had taken the seat completely out and disconnected the switch completely from the seat (the wires from the switch go to one big connector (8 wires)), this probably made cleaning the contacts much easier. If you can disconnect the big connector (8 wires) (follow the wire bundle coming out of the back of the switch with your hand until you come to the big connector which unfortunately is tightly fastened to the bottom of the seat with plastic clips (you can just pry the connector apart from seat with a screw driver until the plastic holding clips finally give) and take the switch out without taking the whole seat out, that might make things easier. (But you might find it easier just to take the seat out.)
If the other controls on the seat work fine (as mine did) then you know its not a blown fuse or none of the controls would work. Under the seat are three black cylinder shaped motors (about the size of an empty toilet paper roll). The front most motor is the one that makes the seat go forward and backward. I took the electrical connector off the motor and put a volt meter onto the connector and when I operated the switch I got either -12 volts or +12 volts depending on whether you put the control switch forward or back (which is what you want from a properly functioning control switch). THIS is were I got fooled! Even though the volt meter was indicating that I was getting the right voltage, the problem was that the contacts in the switch were bad enough that it wasn't letting enough electricity go through the contacts to turn the motor. If you want to check to see if this is what is causing your problem you can do this: Each electric motor has the same connector, so you can take the connector off of one of the other motors (for example, the middle motor) and clip it onto the front motor then when you use the buttons that normally activate the middle motor, it will actually power your front motor and the seat will go forward and backward. OR you can hot wire positive and negative 12 volt leads to the front motor and see if that turns the motor (don't get your hand pinched) then reverse the wires to see if the seat goes the other way. If either of those works then you have a fairly simple free fix!
FIX Remove the side panel with the seat control switches ( the lubar **** comes right off, a screw holds on the black lever for letting the seat tilt forward, and a few more screws). Remove the control switch assembly from the side panel (2 screws). Carefully take the control switch box apart (press in the plastic tabs with small screw driver and carefully pry the two halves apart). There is a little white post with a **** on the end and a little spring behind it, these go in the middle of the four-way joy-stick that moves the seat forward and backward don't loose these! The part with all the copper contains the contacts. By looking at the joy stick and the copper part you can see which part of the copper contact set the joy-stick activates when you move it forward and back (it's not like you might think). If you look closely at the side of the copper contact set you will see the disc-shaped contact points looking through a jeweler's loupe I could see that my contacts were covered with a black coating that had built up. I used a thin metal finger-nail file (the kind that feels like metal sandpaper) to file between both sets of contact points. Check and make sure the contact surfaces have the black scraped off. Put your switch back together and I bet it works now!
I had taken the seat completely out and disconnected the switch completely from the seat (the wires from the switch go to one big connector (8 wires)), this probably made cleaning the contacts much easier. If you can disconnect the big connector (8 wires) (follow the wire bundle coming out of the back of the switch with your hand until you come to the big connector which unfortunately is tightly fastened to the bottom of the seat with plastic clips (you can just pry the connector apart from seat with a screw driver until the plastic holding clips finally give) and take the switch out without taking the whole seat out, that might make things easier. (But you might find it easier just to take the seat out.)
The following 2 users liked this post by Mark97:
F350Johnk (06-21-2018),
steezmagee (01-13-2024)
12-10-2016, 08:31 PM
#2
Pictures of power seat controls
I see that this post is old, but it shows up high on a Google search so I thought I'd add my pictures.
The power seat in my F-150 was moving in only one of the six directions. So I decided to rip the side cover off. See picture 1. As it turns out the **** for the lumbar support is held in place by one of those damn horseshoe-shaped clips. If you've worked on American cars with manual windows you know them.
Underneath the cover everything was hanging loose, picture 2. This is because the decorative side cover was broken away from the seat in more than one place (look near the screwdriver.) I found out how that happened accidentally one day. I was getting out of the truck and my sliding off the seat caused the seat cushioning to put enough pressure on the trim piece to snap it outward. I weigh 175 lbs, not 475. Not good, Ford.
Picture 3 shows the power seat control switches. In my truck the seat moves 6 ways. There are 3 motors, each one moving clockwise and counterclockwise. In the picture you see 3 switches (the black rectangles) on one PCB.
I drew on picture 4 to show you how the switches move. The setup is very low tech. The little teeth on the switches (6 teeth on each switch) fit into the backside of the power seat rocker arm thing (the part that you touch to move the seat.) The three switches, their circuit board, and their huge power connector are all one unit. It snaps into the black piece - the back of the power seat control rocker arm - that you can see in picture 4 and 1.
The problem in my truck was when you get out the seat distends so much that everything on the left side breaks and unsnaps. All I had to do was get the switches to snap back into their proper place in the controls and everything worked again.
The power seat in my F-150 was moving in only one of the six directions. So I decided to rip the side cover off. See picture 1. As it turns out the **** for the lumbar support is held in place by one of those damn horseshoe-shaped clips. If you've worked on American cars with manual windows you know them.
Underneath the cover everything was hanging loose, picture 2. This is because the decorative side cover was broken away from the seat in more than one place (look near the screwdriver.) I found out how that happened accidentally one day. I was getting out of the truck and my sliding off the seat caused the seat cushioning to put enough pressure on the trim piece to snap it outward. I weigh 175 lbs, not 475. Not good, Ford.
Picture 3 shows the power seat control switches. In my truck the seat moves 6 ways. There are 3 motors, each one moving clockwise and counterclockwise. In the picture you see 3 switches (the black rectangles) on one PCB.
I drew on picture 4 to show you how the switches move. The setup is very low tech. The little teeth on the switches (6 teeth on each switch) fit into the backside of the power seat rocker arm thing (the part that you touch to move the seat.) The three switches, their circuit board, and their huge power connector are all one unit. It snaps into the black piece - the back of the power seat control rocker arm - that you can see in picture 4 and 1.
The problem in my truck was when you get out the seat distends so much that everything on the left side breaks and unsnaps. All I had to do was get the switches to snap back into their proper place in the controls and everything worked again.
06-21-2018, 07:47 PM
#3
Mark97.....thanks for your post back in 2013, saved me $105..!!....I was checking into where/how much to get a new seat switch for my 99 F350 and your post came up in the results....I don't know anything about electronics, but thought I can do this, sanding the contacts is within my scope of capabilities, and it worked....!!.....the wife is elated, she can drive the beast down to her mermaid show now this weekend.....!!......thanks again, you have made the world a little bit of a better place....!!.......John.
05-19-2019, 08:43 PM
#4
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My problem is similar. I removed my seat from the truck and checked switch. It was clean. I then disconnected switch from forward/reverse motor and applied power from my truck battery. The seat track might move a little under duress or not at all. This was true in both directions. I then took the two screws connecting the carrier to the screw than makes the track move. I did this for both left and right tracks. That should allow the top half track to slide independently from the motor powered screw-in the bottom track half. It took driving with a hammer to get the track to move. It would seem to me that the slide should move with gentle pressure. I can’t dissemble the tracks halves to check them. It looks like there is a Teflon pad on the lower track half and the upper track rides on it.
Can an that be normal? I tried cleaning tracks with engine cleaner but that helped very little. It’s not in a bind.
Can an that be normal? I tried cleaning tracks with engine cleaner but that helped very little. It’s not in a bind.
05-20-2019, 09:28 AM
#5
My problem is similar. I removed my seat from the truck and checked switch. It was clean. I then disconnected switch from forward/reverse motor and applied power from my truck battery. The seat track might move a little under duress or not at all. This was true in both directions. I then took the two screws connecting the carrier to the screw than makes the track move. I did this for both left and right tracks. That should allow the top half track to slide independently from the motor powered screw-in the bottom track half. It took driving with a hammer to get the track to move. It would seem to me that the slide should move with gentle pressure. I cant dissemble the tracks halves to check them. It looks like there is a Teflon pad on the lower track half and the upper track rides on it.
Can an that be normal? I tried cleaning tracks with engine cleaner but that helped very little. Its not in a bind.
Can an that be normal? I tried cleaning tracks with engine cleaner but that helped very little. Its not in a bind.
05-20-2019, 09:50 AM
#6
Well the forward and backward controls stopped working again 5 years later, so I took the switch apart again and filed the contacts and it's working again! Unfortunately I buggered up one of the contacts that the joy stick works. Fortunately it is a contact that makes the seat go up and you can use the other switches to do that. So be careful when filing the contacts (a couple are hard to get to). I left the contact set attached to the seat this time because I couldn't reach my hand under the seat and disconnect the connector, but that made the whole procedure faster. Don't forget to disconnect the battery if you don't disconnect the connector or the seat will move while you are trying to file the contacts.
Thanks to John below. Glad it worked for you!
Thanks to John below. Glad it worked for you!
02-18-2020, 10:06 AM
#7
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5 minute fix-no cost!
It looks like lots of people have had the same problem I had with the power seat on my 1997 Lariat the seat won't go forwards or backwards, or will only go one way, or works intermittently. I think I have found the solution and it costs nothing! If you want to skip the story you can go directly to the FIX section below.
If the other controls on the seat work fine (as mine did) then you know its not a blown fuse or none of the controls would work. Under the seat are three black cylinder shaped motors (about the size of an empty toilet paper roll). The front most motor is the one that makes the seat go forward and backward. I took the electrical connector off the motor and put a volt meter onto the connector and when I operated the switch I got either -12 volts or +12 volts depending on whether you put the control switch forward or back (which is what you want from a properly functioning control switch). THIS is were I got fooled! Even though the volt meter was indicating that I was getting the right voltage, the problem was that the contacts in the switch were bad enough that it wasn't letting enough electricity go through the contacts to turn the motor. If you want to check to see if this is what is causing your problem you can do this: Each electric motor has the same connector, so you can take the connector off of one of the other motors (for example, the middle motor) and clip it onto the front motor then when you use the buttons that normally activate the middle motor, it will actually power your front motor and the seat will go forward and backward. OR you can hot wire positive and negative 12 volt leads to the front motor and see if that turns the motor (don't get your hand pinched) then reverse the wires to see if the seat goes the other way. If either of those works then you have a fairly simple free fix!
FIX Remove the side panel with the seat control switches ( the lubar **** comes right off, a screw holds on the black lever for letting the seat tilt forward, and a few more screws). Remove the control switch assembly from the side panel (2 screws). Carefully take the control switch box apart (press in the plastic tabs with small screw driver and carefully pry the two halves apart). There is a little white post with a **** on the end and a little spring behind it, these go in the middle of the four-way joy-stick that moves the seat forward and backward don't loose these! The part with all the copper contains the contacts. By looking at the joy stick and the copper part you can see which part of the copper contact set the joy-stick activates when you move it forward and back (it's not like you might think). If you look closely at the side of the copper contact set you will see the disc-shaped contact points looking through a jeweler's loupe I could see that my contacts were covered with a black coating that had built up. I used a thin metal finger-nail file (the kind that feels like metal sandpaper) to file between both sets of contact points. Check and make sure the contact surfaces have the black scraped off. Put your switch back together and I bet it works now!
I had taken the seat completely out and disconnected the switch completely from the seat (the wires from the switch go to one big connector (8 wires)), this probably made cleaning the contacts much easier. If you can disconnect the big connector (8 wires) (follow the wire bundle coming out of the back of the switch with your hand until you come to the big connector which unfortunately is tightly fastened to the bottom of the seat with plastic clips (you can just pry the connector apart from seat with a screw driver until the plastic holding clips finally give) and take the switch out without taking the whole seat out, that might make things easier. (But you might find it easier just to take the seat out.)
If the other controls on the seat work fine (as mine did) then you know its not a blown fuse or none of the controls would work. Under the seat are three black cylinder shaped motors (about the size of an empty toilet paper roll). The front most motor is the one that makes the seat go forward and backward. I took the electrical connector off the motor and put a volt meter onto the connector and when I operated the switch I got either -12 volts or +12 volts depending on whether you put the control switch forward or back (which is what you want from a properly functioning control switch). THIS is were I got fooled! Even though the volt meter was indicating that I was getting the right voltage, the problem was that the contacts in the switch were bad enough that it wasn't letting enough electricity go through the contacts to turn the motor. If you want to check to see if this is what is causing your problem you can do this: Each electric motor has the same connector, so you can take the connector off of one of the other motors (for example, the middle motor) and clip it onto the front motor then when you use the buttons that normally activate the middle motor, it will actually power your front motor and the seat will go forward and backward. OR you can hot wire positive and negative 12 volt leads to the front motor and see if that turns the motor (don't get your hand pinched) then reverse the wires to see if the seat goes the other way. If either of those works then you have a fairly simple free fix!
FIX Remove the side panel with the seat control switches ( the lubar **** comes right off, a screw holds on the black lever for letting the seat tilt forward, and a few more screws). Remove the control switch assembly from the side panel (2 screws). Carefully take the control switch box apart (press in the plastic tabs with small screw driver and carefully pry the two halves apart). There is a little white post with a **** on the end and a little spring behind it, these go in the middle of the four-way joy-stick that moves the seat forward and backward don't loose these! The part with all the copper contains the contacts. By looking at the joy stick and the copper part you can see which part of the copper contact set the joy-stick activates when you move it forward and back (it's not like you might think). If you look closely at the side of the copper contact set you will see the disc-shaped contact points looking through a jeweler's loupe I could see that my contacts were covered with a black coating that had built up. I used a thin metal finger-nail file (the kind that feels like metal sandpaper) to file between both sets of contact points. Check and make sure the contact surfaces have the black scraped off. Put your switch back together and I bet it works now!
I had taken the seat completely out and disconnected the switch completely from the seat (the wires from the switch go to one big connector (8 wires)), this probably made cleaning the contacts much easier. If you can disconnect the big connector (8 wires) (follow the wire bundle coming out of the back of the switch with your hand until you come to the big connector which unfortunately is tightly fastened to the bottom of the seat with plastic clips (you can just pry the connector apart from seat with a screw driver until the plastic holding clips finally give) and take the switch out without taking the whole seat out, that might make things easier. (But you might find it easier just to take the seat out.)
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08-09-2020, 08:09 PM
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My problem is similar. I removed my seat from the truck and checked switch. It was clean. I then disconnected switch from forward/reverse motor and applied power from my truck battery. The seat track might move a little under duress or not at all. This was true in both directions. I then took the two screws connecting the carrier to the screw than makes the track move. I did this for both left and right tracks. That should allow the top half track to slide independently from the motor powered screw-in the bottom track half. It took driving with a hammer to get the track to move. It would seem to me that the slide should move with gentle pressure. I cant dissemble the tracks halves to check them. It looks like there is a Teflon pad on the lower track half and the upper track rides on it.
Can an that be normal? I tried cleaning tracks with engine cleaner but that helped very little. Its not in a bind.
Can an that be normal? I tried cleaning tracks with engine cleaner but that helped very little. Its not in a bind.
05-28-2022, 09:25 PM
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Joined the forum for this issue. 2014 FX4 Ecoboost (200k miles). Passenger seat recline adjustment: down worked, up did not. Had to drive around Knoxville, TN for my son's graduation for the weekend with my wife propping herself on her elbows (no comments please). When I got home, I popped the *****, popped the switch cover panel, disconnected switch assembly, and pried the switch board out of the enclosure. Poured isopropyl alcohol over the switch while exercising it back and forth, probably 50 movements of the switch slider. Let it dry, plugged switch back in. Worked in both directions. The entire operation took less than 30 minutes. Could do it in 15 now that I know how to remove the ***** and panels.
Edit: Noticed I'm a junior member when I posted. At 52, it feels great to be a 'junior' something again!
Edit: Noticed I'm a junior member when I posted. At 52, it feels great to be a 'junior' something again!