Guys,

Any help or advice is welcome. My son's '05 G35 Coupe started having trouble with the passenger seat recline. Seems it would recline but not incline. I had heard of seat switch problems. So I pulled the seat out and removed the switch. I don't know if different coupes have different switches, but this is the 2 switch version. The front one for the fore-aft slide, and rear one for the recline / incline.

Once I got the switch apart and saw how it worked, and put the multimeter to it, it seems the switch works just fine. I haven't read much about seat motor problems, so maybe it's not such an issue. I'm thinking about running some length of wire from a 12V battery nearby, and hot wiring to the motor leads ... and see if the motor turns. That will answer if it is the motor or not. I think it must be, but will test it.

So my question is: Is it common that these motors go bad? And where might I source a replacement motor?

Thanks!


7milesout

 

I just turned my power seat into a manual seat by removing the motor in the front and using a 10mm socket to manually adjust it.

I'm going to guess you could do it with the other motors as a temporary fix

 

Since I have the seat off the vehicle, and sitting on its side, last night I experimented. I got some jumper cables and connected to my golf cart battery. The other end I connected to some stripped wires. Then I ran the stripped wires in on the seat connector pins, and made the seat recline / incline. So, it appears the motor is working fine.

It also seems that the switch is switching (via multi-meter). The car is not at home at the moment. But when it is, I'm going to temp-set the seat in there, just plug in the motor connector and try it again. Maybe I jimmied whatever was wrong with the switch and got it working again. Of course, it could un-jimmy and stop working again. But when the car comes back home, I'll see what's up and post in here about it.

 

Flaky seat switches are common. My driver forward back switch and my passenger recline switch went bad. They'd be intermittent for a bit but you could get them to work if you were persistent but it's a pain and sooner or later they'll stop for good. I disassembled and cleaned the burnt contacts and that helped for a while but I lost a tiny return spring during reassembly as it shot who knows where while putting it back together so I ended up replacing with used switches from ebay. I used a ball point pen spring and it kinda worked but getting good switches was a better solution.

 

Unfortunately - Finding a passenger side switch for these G35 Coupes is a real challenge. I haven't found one. I'm tempted to buy a driver's side switch (a cheap one that works just fine) and rewire it. If the connector is not the same, I can snip off the connector on my no good switch to use for connection.

I suppose that idea might work. I think the switches themselves are the same and should flop from one seat to the other. I realize the slide and recline would be reversed, but I can reconcile that if I have to cut and rewire the connector.

Am I onto something, or smoking crack?

 

If u are willing to go that far, then u might as well open up the switch u have and fix whatever is broken.

 

I considered that, but when tested the switch was working. And all those tiny parts and springs flying around all over, I decided to hold up where I was and test it in the car.

 

Once you pop the tabs on the switch just lift it gently STRAIGHT UP, it comes apart really easy but you need to do a little finger-jitsu to hold all the release tabs open with little screwdrivers while you lift the main body up.

I recommend NOT doing this inside the car, unplug the switch and take it over to a bench, I prefer to work with items inside a clean and empty small plastic tote just in case things do fall out at least their all contained in a box.

I have had both mine apart to blow them out with contact cleaner, reassembly just make sure to set the switch handles in place then gently slide the cover/housing back on until it clicks.

 

Also, those switches might not be the problem. They plug into the controller under the seat and the controller is what sends power to the motor.

You can check continuity on the switches (use backprobe wires or paperclips because you probably can't get your leads into that tiny harness) I think power came in on a red wire and left on other 4 wires, 1 each for recline forward/backwards, and slide forward/backwards. The ground wire was black iirc.

 

We put the seat back in the car. And the seat continues to NOT incline. We planned for that problem and had it too far inclined while testing it when it was out of the vehicle. So then my son sat in it and put it in a comfortable position, and he will stop any passengers from adjusting it from that position. It will remain there until I can figure this out.

The switches tested OK when I had it off. And all the motors worked when I put power to the pins in the connector. I certainly think the controller could be the issue. Unfortunately / fortunately, my son had to drive his car back to campus so I can't be messing with it to figure this out.

Cleric - You description of the wiring sounds accurate. This son has just this summer left before he graduates. He also has signed up for the Navy and is already assigned to be a NUKE. It's what he's dreamed of for 2 or 3 years now. He went through all the qualifications, exams and medical. He got a 99 on the ASVAB (there's no 100, 99 is as high as it goes), and so the Navy staff said he could pick his job. Long story short, he wanted in the Nuclear program, and that program accepted him.

Early August he leaves for boot camp (10 weeks) and then off the Nuke School.

This car is having some other electrical glitches. The sunroof didn't want to close the other day but I bumped it with my hand as he pushed the button and it closed. I think I'm going to talk to him about putting this car up for sale while he's in boot camp. And then when he gets into Nuke School I'll give him the money from when the car sells, and let him put his money on something like a Tacoma. So maybe this car will be up for sale this fall.

Runs good, leaks a small amount of oil from the valve cover, is blue, but the clear coat is coming off. Overall, I'd say the worst thing about this car is, the paint is fading.

 

Sounds like the sunroof needs the recalibration done. It's easy, all from the switch. I can't remember the process offhand, it's in the FSM. If you can't find it reply back and I'll dig it up this weekend.

Congrats on going Navy nuke, lot of high paying potential jobs after his enlistment is up. Those guys are all pretty hardcore nerds, worked around a LOT of them in nuke plants, smart AF and no bullshit in sight.

 

cleric - I'm concerned to even try the recalibration. I'm concerned it may get stuck open. I do not know the procedure, but I suppose I can search and find it.

The way he's talking right now, he may wind up doing his 20 years, taking full retirement pay, then getting another job. Making roughly double what I make now (adjust for inflation for) 20 years from now. He is a smart dude.

 

That's easy to say when you're not into the daily grind lol. Wait till he's been on a sub for a couple years and he'll be rethinking that whole "career Navy" thing. It's all fun when you're at the test sites LEARNING your PWR reactor, completely different world when you're just another sardine stuffed into the can for a long deployment.

Cool sidenote, they chop out the decommissioned PWR, cap the ends, then send them to my town to be stored for eternity. It's pretty cool watching them offload them from the barge onto a trailer to transport out to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

As for the sunroof recalibration, to perform the recalibration start with the sunroof in the closed position. Then you hold the TILT UP button until the sunroof tilts up, then tilts back down and stops, once it has stopped moving release the button. Now do this a second time holding the TILT UP button and this time the sunroof will slide fully opened, then slide fully closed, then tilt up a second time, then tilt closed. Once it has stopped moving release that button again. The BCM now knows how many encoder pulses it took for each step and it is recalibrated.

If the BCM has the wrong encoder position stored it will think the sunroof is already in an open or closed position and won't let the switch do anything, that's what I think is going on with your sunroof.

You should also check the carpet around your BCM just to verify it's not getting wet from a leaking sunroof drain since this is the second electrical malfunction that could be directly related to a wet BCM (seats and sunroof are both handled through the BCM). Personally I would pop off that kick panel cover and visually inspect it's harness with an inspection mirror and flashlight just to verify there isn't any corrosion on the visible part of the harness. Might just be an occasional drop of water landing on it but not enough to make the carpet wet.

 

He specifically did not click the "Open to working on a submarine" click box. He clicked the surface ship option.

Thanks, I'll do the recalibrate procedure while I'm there. I've got a possible solution for the seat. I've got to go to the vehicle to do it.

 

The upside of working in the sardine can is the promotions and potential to rise to the top far exceed surface work.

My wife's uncle just recently passed a few years back, Jerrell Wright, he was hands-down my favorite in-law and a super good dude. He was Navy nuke, COB on two nuclear subs, retired as a master chief sometime late 70's I think. He spoke very highly of working underwater. When I met him in around 2001-2002 he was Coast Guard aux here (pretty badass to have a master chief as a coast guard auxiliary lol he would literally be telling THEM what to do), we have 3 major rivers that intersect at Kennewick, WA along with the Hanford Nuclear Reservation about 20 miles north outside of our neighboring Richland, WA so we attract a LOT of Navy/Coast Guard/nuke type people to the area.