Power Seat Not Moving How to Diagnose Power Seat Motors Switches and Wires

I can't drive like this. I gotta fix it.

In this video, we're gonna show you how to diagnose a power seat. Now, this is just a basic power seat. It's not anything fancy. It doesn't have memory modules and other type of electronics. This is gonna be in most vehicles. The first thing you wanna do is check what's going on with the seat. Make sure any of the other functions are working or not working. So if you check the recliners, see if that's working. It doesn't go forward or backwards or up or down. Now, if none of those are working, most likely there is a problem with the power or the ground getting to the switch, depending on how it works.

If only one function is not working, then you can narrow it down a little bit more, and just check out that circuit. Regardless, it's always good to check the fuse or the circuit breaker at this time. This circuit breaker is located in the junction box next to the brake pedal. To test this, we're just gonna take a multimeter, put it on ohms, and just put one of the connectors on one side, and just put the terminal on the other side, and just make sure that you have continuity. Make sure it's not OL. Yep, that's real good. 0.2, which is perfect. If you had OL, then, obviously, it's gonna be an open circuit. When you go to install the circuit breaker, if you hear that it is clicking, it is probably opening up because there's a problem with the circuit, and you're gonna have to look into a wiring problem. Or you may also notice that it's extremely hot and, in that case, there is a wiring problem or something going on where there's too much of a load going through it.

Our circuit breaker is good, so I'm gonna reinstall it. If you had a good fuse, then you can move on as well. If you had a blown fuse, don't think that it's just a fuse and it's gonna fix all your problems. There is something going on. Fuses don't just blow on their own. So, you have either a wiring problem or something else drawing too much current.

If there's nothing working, check the main connector that goes underneath the seat. So that you can remove the seat from the vehicle, there should be a main connector. If it's loose, or it popped off, or you may have even had a gym bag or something go underneath the seat and pop it off. So, reconnect that and see if everything works. And everything works, you're good to go.

If the connector wasn't loose, you wanna check and make sure you have power and ground coming from the connector. Most of the time, most vehicles, the ground side is gonna be black or brown, and then the positive side should be either a brighter color like orange or red. Another reason why I know that those are two power and ground wires are the thickness of the wire. Whenever you're powering a motor or moving a motor, the wires are gonna be a little bit thicker so that you can more amperage to the motors themselves. So if you have a big splice pack with lots of different wires and thicknesses, the thicker wires are the ones that are gonna control the motors. So I'm gonna put one side of my test light on the ground side, take the test light and touch the orange side, and now it's lighting up. So, I know my power's good and my ground's good.

We tipped the seat up so that you could see underneath the seat. Just keep in mind when you're doing the next text, you're gonna need these seat still plugged into the car. We have a motor right here, that's gonna bring the seat forward and backwards. These two motors right here are gonna make the seat go up and down, and then the other motor right here is gonna make the seat recline or move up.

Just to go over how the motor actually works, you need power going down one wire and ground on the other. That's gonna make it move in one direction. To make it move in the opposite direction, you're gonna flip it around. Ground will be on the opposite wire, and power on the black wire. To test these individually, it's very simple. It's kinda like testing a window regulator motor. It's the same concept. There's only two wires that go to the motor, so you need power and ground on those two wires. So, what we can do is disconnect the connector, and just find the terminal that goes to that specific motor that's not working. So that would be these two bottom terminals, and just very gently push on these terminals. Just tap those with the test light. One side on the negative, one on the positive, and have someone move the switch. And if the light comes on, then the motor's back. And then while testing this, if the light did not come on, most likely you have a problem with the switch if all those other tests worked out.

Another thing to check is the switch itself and make sure the connection is nice and tight and not loose. If it was loose, double-check that. You can also take a look at the connector itself. Make sure there is no green corrosion on any of the terminals. So, it's pretty simple. There's not much to it. You have motors, you have wiring, and you have a seat switch, and that's pretty much all that can go wrong with a basic electric seat.

If you enjoyed this video or it helped you out, make sure you subscribe to our channel, ring the bell, turn on all notifications so you don't miss any of our videos.