2002 Firebird Power seat switch
#1
2002 Firebird Power seat switch
Hi, and thank you in advance for any help.
Long story short, my brother has a 2002 Pontiac Firebird 5.7L V8 WS-6 Ram Air. He needs the driver side power seat switch. No one seems to have it, even online. It's like if it doesn't exist. All i get is the one for the Camaro which is completely different. The Camaro switch is like a rectangular box with 3 switches in line. The one in the center is kinda like a joystick and the 2 in each side are like old power window switches. Anyway, that is NOT the one i need. The one i need actually are 3 separate switches. If you look the driver seat from the out side the first switch from left to right is horizontal and then there is a space and then the other 2 switches which are vertical. I need the first one. That's the one that makes the seat move closer or away from the steering wheel.
I'm posting some photos. I'm not sure if i'm doing it right, though. The photo of the switch next to it's box is the wrong one for my brothers car. Anyway, i will really appreciate if someone let me know where to find this switch. My brother is kinda short and the seat is all the way to the back and it won't move. He can't drive it like that. If anybody needs more information please let me know, Thank you!
Long story short, my brother has a 2002 Pontiac Firebird 5.7L V8 WS-6 Ram Air. He needs the driver side power seat switch. No one seems to have it, even online. It's like if it doesn't exist. All i get is the one for the Camaro which is completely different. The Camaro switch is like a rectangular box with 3 switches in line. The one in the center is kinda like a joystick and the 2 in each side are like old power window switches. Anyway, that is NOT the one i need. The one i need actually are 3 separate switches. If you look the driver seat from the out side the first switch from left to right is horizontal and then there is a space and then the other 2 switches which are vertical. I need the first one. That's the one that makes the seat move closer or away from the steering wheel.
I'm posting some photos. I'm not sure if i'm doing it right, though. The photo of the switch next to it's box is the wrong one for my brothers car. Anyway, i will really appreciate if someone let me know where to find this switch. My brother is kinda short and the seat is all the way to the back and it won't move. He can't drive it like that. If anybody needs more information please let me know, Thank you!
Last edited by geearturi; 01-27-2014 at 12:13 PM.
#3
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#13
Here is the link that I used to clean my switch over the weekend: http://www.oneilengineering.mysite.com/photo5_3.html
I got the link from this thread here: https://ls1tech.com/forums/pontiac-f...at-switch.html
You'll need a stardriver T10 to remove the switch,and a T9 to take the switch apart. Then you have to pry some tabs and stuff apart to get the switch completely apart, but it will happen. Just take your time as you don't want to crack the housing, though I cracked mine a little and its still OK. Have a good work surface as the 6 contacts can fall out and get lost. I also was not able to remove the forward/backward switch, so I had to put the contacts in from behind and hold them in place, when I had my wife put the white board back in. This will make sense once you have everything opened up. I also cleaned everything with very fine grit sandpaper, as well as electrical cleaner. Got it back together and everything works now!
Now, a bit on troubleshooting and how I knew it was the switch: My seat wouldn't go forward, nor would the front go down. However, when I hit the button back or up, I could hear the motor click so I knew it was just all the way up and back but couldn't go the other way. I did a lot of testing with a meter to check all the connections, but I can save you some time. The way the system works is that it sends 12V to the motor to go one way, then reverses the polarity to send it the other way. Therefore, all you have to do is pull the wire off the motor, and check voltage while you hit the switch. The interesting thing is that on the 2 functions that didn't work, I had voltage, just not enough. So, with the connector pull off the front/back motor I had 13V when I hit back, but only 10-11V when I hit forward. This was how I knew it was the switch and not the connectors.
Please note that you might have to remove the seat to access everything - I did because I wasn't sure exactly what was wrong and wanted more room to work. Also, since my rear up/down worked both ways, I was able to plug that connector into the other 2 motors and verify that they both worked, thus further verifying that it was indeed the switch that was bad.
I got the link from this thread here: https://ls1tech.com/forums/pontiac-f...at-switch.html
You'll need a stardriver T10 to remove the switch,and a T9 to take the switch apart. Then you have to pry some tabs and stuff apart to get the switch completely apart, but it will happen. Just take your time as you don't want to crack the housing, though I cracked mine a little and its still OK. Have a good work surface as the 6 contacts can fall out and get lost. I also was not able to remove the forward/backward switch, so I had to put the contacts in from behind and hold them in place, when I had my wife put the white board back in. This will make sense once you have everything opened up. I also cleaned everything with very fine grit sandpaper, as well as electrical cleaner. Got it back together and everything works now!
Now, a bit on troubleshooting and how I knew it was the switch: My seat wouldn't go forward, nor would the front go down. However, when I hit the button back or up, I could hear the motor click so I knew it was just all the way up and back but couldn't go the other way. I did a lot of testing with a meter to check all the connections, but I can save you some time. The way the system works is that it sends 12V to the motor to go one way, then reverses the polarity to send it the other way. Therefore, all you have to do is pull the wire off the motor, and check voltage while you hit the switch. The interesting thing is that on the 2 functions that didn't work, I had voltage, just not enough. So, with the connector pull off the front/back motor I had 13V when I hit back, but only 10-11V when I hit forward. This was how I knew it was the switch and not the connectors.
Please note that you might have to remove the seat to access everything - I did because I wasn't sure exactly what was wrong and wanted more room to work. Also, since my rear up/down worked both ways, I was able to plug that connector into the other 2 motors and verify that they both worked, thus further verifying that it was indeed the switch that was bad.
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Rparrish22 (04-18-2023)
#18
The camaro switch is readily available, but different. You could try getting one and retrofitting it in, maybe even get a camaro plastic side panel as well. You might lose or have to relocate the lumbar and side buttons though.
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gusser (05-28-2023)