| squaw_ski_bum |
The drivers seat controls for the slide forward/back on my 2002 had become flaky and then stopped working completely, I searched the forums and found a few posts about power seat problems but nothing that looked similar. I had some time tonight so I decided to take a look. I got out the service manual and looked up the section that describes the motors, switches, memory unit, etc. While looking at the seat and wondering if perhaps the motor had gone bad, I noticed that the front tilt up/down wasn't working either, but the rear up/down and seatback tilt motors were working. Two motors gone bad? Not likely. I looked at the wiring diagram for the switch, and noticed that the front tilt and the slide motors have a common supply and fuse. This looked promising. I checked the fuse, and it was ok, so the most likely culprit was the switch.
I removed the trim panel that holds the switch, and immediately saw the problem - there are two wiring bundles that go to the switch - one front, and one rear. The bundle to the front connector had been routed improperly, it was in front of the metal tab that the panel fastens to and the sharp edge of the tab had chafed through the tape and through the insulation of one of the wires, causing it to short to the metal tab. The photo shows the side of the seat with the trim panel that holds the switch removed and the switch disconnected. The metal tab is at the top center. The photo was taken after the chafed tape had been removed, you can't see the nick in the insulation but it was the green wire at the top of the bundle.
All it took to fix was wrapping it back up with some electrical tape from my toolbox and putting the panel back on, being careful to route the cable bundle so it went behind and below the metal tab so it wouldn't chafe again.
Total time to fix: about 1/2 hour. Total cost: $0. The whole point of this post is that having the manual on hand made it possible to quickly diagnose and fix a problem, saving me the time, hassle, and cost of a trip to the dealer. The manual seemed expensive when I bought it, but it has more than paid for itself.
And if you have power seat gremlins, this is an easy thing to check - there's probably more than one MDX out there with this wiring harness in the wrong place. |
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| hammermdx |
| Well done and thanks for sharing.....a service manual is a must for anyone that is a DIY!!!!:29: |
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| rrcompton |
I know this thread is old but I just wanted to say I had the EXACT same problem w/ my drivers seat....the forward / backward switch would work then not work..so that means theres a short somewhere
MAN IM GLAD I FOUND THIS THREAD!!
the same thing was wrong...they mounted the 1st wire bundle in front of the screw hole and it cut right into the same green wire
a little electrical tape and it works PERFECT!!!
THANKS squaw_ski_bum :4: |
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