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Power seat problem, pre- 87'

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Yedi

ya, the Monte over there.
Joined
Sep 11, 2001
Messages
799
Power seat problem w/ 83' setup. Power track is originally from my power bench, curently installed on GN bucket seat.

I just replaced a broken power seat transmission, bench testing it, it gets slower and slower, after every function, and eventually stops. If you let it sit for a while it works fine, then gets slower and slower, after only a few seconds of use.

I'm guessing the motor is bad??? or possible switch problem ( it seems to switch every function fine, and still clicks the transmission even after the motor stops..


I think my track is bad, one the LR corner somtimes binds, time for a new assembly I think..
 
That's normal. Think about it. It wasn't made for continous use. How long do you need to run the motor to get the seat to where you want it? A couple of seconds?

You could always disassemble and clean and lube everything and see if it improves any.
 
normal?? really? weird, I have taken it all apart a few years ago and cleaned everything today w/ electric cleaner, lubed the motor, no change. I just don't understand why it only works for such a short time, by the time you run the seat all the way back from all the way forward, it's almost done..
 
Jason this is a dumb question but I'll ask it. Is your battery charged & working fine? Good ground & getting proper voltage?

You state your bench testing. When you wait for a little bit & then it has full power & drains again that sounds like the battery has charged itself back up.

When your testing do you have a charger on the power source?
 
Jason this is a dumb question but I'll ask it. Is your battery charged & working fine? Good ground & getting proper voltage?

You state your bench testing. When you wait for a little bit & then it has full power & drains again that sounds like the battery has charged itself back up.

When your testing do you have a charger on the power source?

Brian, I expected this question, Seat is hooked up to a jumper pack, which has a battery charger also charging it, it's getting around 14volts. I tried just the motor by itself, and it runs fine, sounds good, doesnt slow down, but when it gets the load of the transmission on it, down it goes. Even in the car, this seat would always slow down after a few uses, I just never use it much, I leave it alone, I just thought in case the wife needs to drive it, otherwise she can't reach the pedals.

Like I said, I think I'm just going to find another track assembly for it, One of the corners has a bad spot in the scissor mechanism, and just stops, causing the seat to pivot, not good...
 
seat track

Brian, I expected this question, Seat is hooked up to a jumper pack, which has a battery charger also charging it, it's getting around 14volts. I tried just the motor by itself, and it runs fine, sounds good, doesnt slow down, but when it gets the load of the transmission on it, down it goes. Even in the car, this seat would always slow down after a few uses, I just never use it much, I leave it alone, I just thought in case the wife needs to drive it, otherwise she can't reach the pedals.

Like I said, I think I'm just going to find another track assembly for it, One of the corners has a bad spot in the scissor mechanism, and just stops, causing the seat to pivot, not good...

Sound like the seat track isn't even. If it always did it. You can un hook the cables & get it to where it needs to be by using 1 cable to adjust it.
If you have problems in 1 corner you will notice thre is a spring. I'm thinking it is maxing out before the rear unit has reached it's position.

I just went back & looked at about 10 tracks, including the 87's & older. Looks like in the lowest position they should all be even from the base.
If you snag another track try & find an 87 GN 1 year only but were made after that.
Don't fall over on the price this is a pic of a new GM 87 seat track motor set up. It will look just like this.GBodyParts.com Online

If the problem in is in the track swapping out the motor will not help.
You can get one from a larger spilt bench but will have to swap some parts around to work on your bucket seat track.
 
Sound like the seat track isn't even. If it always did it. You can un hook the cables & get it to where it needs to be by using 1 cable to adjust it.
If you have problems in 1 corner you will notice thre is a spring. I'm thinking it is maxing out before the rear unit has reached it's position.

I just went back & looked at about 10 tracks, including the 87's & older. Looks like in the lowest position they should all be even from the base.
If you snag another track try & find an 87 GN 1 year only but were made after that.
Don't fall over on the price this is a pic of a new GM 87 seat track motor set up. It will look just like this.GBodyParts.com Online

If the problem in is in the track swapping out the motor will not help.
You can get one from a larger spilt bench but will have to swap some parts around to work on your bucket seat track.
Today 01:09 AM

today I looked at the track closer, the corner that was binding making a grinding noise. Like you said Brian, about the springs, I took the "gear drive" off the track and looked at that more, gears seam fine, greased everything and installed it, I turned the adjust by hand to get it even w/ the other side, seems to work fine now, doesn't slip or bind.

I tested all the functions again, and it works good, if you try different functions, back and forth it works for quite a while, just the same function over and over makes it quit faster.


Put seat all together and will be installing in car, should be fine.

Yeah, the 87 setup w/ 3 motors is the way to go, if it fails again thats what I'll do.

Thanks for the input.
 
Here are just a few pics of my powerseat setup, Bucket seat originally came w/ a manual track, I took the power track off my original 60/40 seat. I mounted the switch in the trim piece as shown, just kinda made it work, trim pieces arent right, but it looks ok I think. Seems to be working ok now...
 

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Glad it worked out for you Jason.

I like the location of the switch. I think if they would of put it there originaly half the switches would still be good!
 
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