jwbeck17

I have a memory seat for the driver's side, and today it seems that the the driver's side seat controls are not working consistently. The fuse is fine, I reconditioned the seat connectors over the winter, so I think the problem may be with the memory buttons in the door.

Basically, the seat adjustment buttons work to a point, then stop. I also noticed the same issue when I use the memory buttons. Since it is not blowing a fuse, I'm not sure the issue is,

Any suggestions?

Thankfully the seat is in a drivable and relatively comfortable position!

soontobered84

Something could be stuck in the rails: ie, loose change, errant screws, washers, or other fixtures.

Remove the seat from the car and turn it upside down. Visually inspect, correct, and reinstall.

JPTL

Recheck the seat for the fuse, pull the fuse and look for corrosion/soot on the contact feet. If the fuse serves anything else, check its operation while trying the seat controls...

jwbeck17

Thanks, guys. I haven't had the chance to remove and inspect, but the seat buttons are working again. the memory buttons are the door are not.

Fuse is brand new, and no corrosion in the fuse box. I meticulously removed the CE over the winter and cleaned ever fuse, every relay, every contact, and soaked the think in Deoxit. That was inspired by my electrical issues from last year's Frenzy.

Good news is that seat is set perfectly, but I will still remove, check and clean to make make sure all is working correctly.

I'll need to figure out if the memory button unit is bad or needs cleaning. the button lights work intermittently at best, and now it does not seem to be functioning at all. I need to figure out how to remove and inspect.

Gary Knox

Jason,

The 'memory' function buttons on the seats had not been used in the 8 years I had the car. Thus corrosion is a real possibility!!

Dave928S

Something else to check .....

The memory circuit board is mounted under the seat with a removable clip on plastic cover, and can get corroded. When you have the seat out, check the board and all those connectors for corrosion as well, and go ballistic with Deoxit everywhere.

jwbeck17

Ballistic with Deoxit was what I did, and it worked.

I had cleaned it before with Deoxit, but I noticed that when I wiggled the main harness below the seat that power went on and off. I removed the seat, cleaned all the connections, reseated the plugs, and zip tied the wires, then put the seat back in and side seat controls worked perfectly. I lubed the rails too for good measure.

Only issue I ran into was that one of the hex seat bolts stripped in the head. Thankfully I had a set of reverse screw bits that you screw in the hex opening until it grabs then force it to unscrew. Had an extra bolt so I was good.

Now the memory buttons didn't work, so I removed the door vent (Gary, you may have noticed me look at your extras at frenzy and I wanted to see how they clipped in). With the vent out, I popped out the seat memory control pad, unclipped it, then deoxited the posts and reinstalled.

After a little bit, the buttons started working again. The best part? Now I have three seat settings:

1) Comfort
2) Performance
3) Track (allows room for helmet)

Thanks everyone!

ROG100

Just for future reference - seat switches for Memory seats are different to None Memory seats.

Tom in Austin

Interesting Rog ... the lumbar on my drivers side seat was a little flaky and I changed out the switch with a new/old-stock I got years ago for my 968 to see if it made any difference. With that switch the in and out movement of the lumbar works fine but the up and down rarely works at all. I kinda doubt it's the switch but since you mentioned the memory switches are different, I wonder now if that could be a factor?

What's the correct switch part# for lumbar with memory? Pretty sure what I'm using is not that switch but the fact that it works in one direction but not the other is puzzling me ...

Gary Knox

Jason,

SO GLAD that Helga 'moves' you again!!!

Ultimately, you might want to re-solder all those solder connections in the controller. I did that on the '94, just as preventive maintenance.

Bertrand Daoust

Great news Jason,

Deoxit is very good for fixing electrical problems like this.

I use this every time I unplug an electrical connection or ground point as preventive maintenance.

ROG100

Seat Switches -----

85 to 95 Comfort Seats without Positrol (Seat position memory).
4 Way Seat Switch - Long & Vertical Front 928 613 182 00
4 Way Seat Switch - Backrest & Vertical Rear + Lumbar 928 613 183 00

Note - By about MY88 most USA cars had Positrol (Option M537 - L & M538- R)

85 to 95 Comfort Seats with Positrol (Memory)
4 Way Seat Switch - Left Seat - Positrol Control - All three positions as needed 928 613 201 00
4 Way Seat Switch - Right Seat - Positrol Control - All three positions as needed 928 613 202 00

Tom in Austin

Thanks Rog ... wasn't Positrol on drivers seat standard starting with S4 in '87?

What do you think's the actual difference in the switches? I can see L to R, that makes sense. Maybe the Positrol type have different connector to mate with the memory controller? Otherwise, don't all of these switches just have four wires, one for each direction you can press?

ROG100

Not so and has always been an option - my 87 does not have memory. In general most USA cars were ordered by the dealer and the memory option - M537 & M538 - was nearly always included.

Was an option on my GTS IIRC.

The Positrol seat switches are much cheaper at $43 each v $135 each. Wiring is different but many have rewired with the the cheaper switches to save money on none memory cars.

Tom in Austin

Standard since '89 ... I have the '89 brochure and it mentions Positrol being standard on driver's seat and optional for passenger. Just saw an '88 brochure and it's described there as an option ...