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Cadillac Repair/89 Fleetwood Electric Seat will Not Go Back

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Expert: - 1/26/2011


Question
The driver side power seat goes forward but will not go back.  Thank you very kindly for any and all help!

Answer
Hello,

You could have many different problems. I don't remember any more, but I think the switch is on the driver's door.

You could have a broken wire inside the door boot leading to the seat. At minimum, you need a test light. You might was to disconnect the wire harness going to the seat. Since this over 20 year old car has the problem, I do not remember the wiring colors anymore specifically for the seat to go backward. You need to use your test light on each wire while pushing the switch to go backward. If you find the wire and it has power when you are trying to get it to go into reverse, you can eliminate a bad switch or a broken wire.

Once you determined this, plug the harness together and see if again, by holding the button rearward and checking power from each connector to the seat transmission. If you have power, you need a transmission for the seat.

Your problem if you find the transmission has power, but seat won't move to the rear will be seat removal. You can pull the covers off and gain access to the two rear bolts, but you cannot et to the front floor bolts. You might be able to remove the seat to frame bolts, I do not know, but if you can't, I do not know how you will remove the seat if the transmission is shot.

Now, if you determined the problem is electrical, you may be able to run the seat back by removing a connector going to one position, swap it out and use the switch in the appropriate position and move the seat backward far enough to pull the cover's and front bolts. This way, you have the seat up so that you can figure out the wiring problem.

If you need schematics with wiring colors and any information to repair the car, ypou can pay $30 and become a member at http://www.alldata.com You can download the factory service manual for a year. If 1989 is not available, 89, 90, 91, 92 should be pretty much the same except engines are different.

If you find that the seat transmission is junk, I do not know what to tell you in order to move the seat back.

Good luck!

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Rob Painter

Expertise

Alarm system questions cannot be answered on this forum. These systems are not what I can answer. Without being physically at the vehicle and not knowing what kind of electrical service has been done on the vehicle, there is no possible way to give an accurate answer over the internet. My expertise is in Ignition/key based anti-theft systems. These issues include GM VATS (resistor chip in key blade) PASSLOCK (MRD)-ignition lock rotation based, no special ignition key and the PKIII Transponder (computer chip in key) systems. These systems are not alarm based and are integral with the starting of the engine. This is why I cannot diagnose alarm problems without physically looking at the vehicle: Alarm systems are a completely different annimal than ignition key/lock based anti-theft system. Many alarm questions come from vehicles 10 years old, and since older, many hands that had been involved over the years.I am an expert in all GM factory (ignition/key based)systems. Alarm system questions pose to many situations beyond my knowledge as to what has been done to the vehicle over the years. Some guy may have actually wired the stereo into the alarm system. Who knows? Over my past 30 years in vehicle wiring repair, I have seen unbelievable wiring disaters done by guys that consider themselves "mechanics." I have seen stereos and alarms intalled using surgical tape. I have seen modules burn up, un-fused circuits, wiring jambed between the doors and even lamp cord used for a starter kill. To answer alarm questions over the internet without examining the vehicle is like asking; What does it take to remove a dent?

Experience

Education/Credentials-ASE certified. 11 years with a GM dealer and 17 years with a repair facility dealing with only the repair of theft recovered vehicles.

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