2006 350Z Power Seat Repair

[rdlittle]

This is for anyone who's had one of their power seats stop working.
Specifically, my passanger seat stopped moving forward and back.
I got lucky and was able to move the seat to a position that allowed access to both forward & rear seat bolts.
If you can't be as lucky, good luck is all I can say ~ It will not be easy.
Once the seat was out of the car, taking the bottom cushon off and removing the motor was actually pretty easy.
Here is the sequence of events, with the seat turned upside down:
1. Label each wire harness clip (1, 2, 3 etc), remove them from the bottom of the seat springs. Best to remove the yellow clips first then squeeze the little detents and they will release from the clips; replace the yellow clips back into the springs before you forget where they were at.
2. Once the wiring harness is removed, you can remove the 4 seat bolts located at each corner.
3. Remove the bottom seat cushon.
4. loosen the 2 bolts that secure the front crossmember/metal shield.
5. Remove the bolt farthest away from the motor, R side as you are looking at it.
6. You will notice 3 screws holdong the gear housings on at each end, remove them.
7. There's a mounting bracket for the outer plastic cover that will need to be bent out of the way.
Once it's moved, access to the 3 screws becomes easy.
8. The gear housings basically pull right off.
9. There are 3 screws that hold the motor together, remove them.
10. The motor pulls apart.
11. To remove the white gears you will need a pair of vice-grips & a 10mm wrench. The v-grip to hold the end of the center rod while you use the wrench to unscrew the bolt.
12. Once the bolt is removed you will probably need to use a flat-tip screwdriver to pry off the gear; they pry off pretty easily.
At this point examine the motor and the white gears at the end of each rail.
In my case the gear had a tooth broken off and was cracked down one side. Additionally, one of the small magnets inside the motor housing (gear end) was broken off into pieces. Not sure which broke first but, matters not, as they will both need to be replaced.
I found both parts on E-bay. The gear was $20 and the motor was $100; lowest prices i could find.
13. Once you have all the repair parts, assembly is in reverse order.
*Make sure both rail tracks are lined up evenly after tightening the bolts that hold the gears in place.
Take your time and make sure everything is tightened and all wire harness clips are plugged in their proper location.
**By doing this yourself, you just saved yourself about $550.00. Dealers typically charge around $700.00 to repair power seat issues.

[sx moneypit]

Great write up!

Welcome to NICO!

[rdlittle]

Thanks.
You have my condolence regarding your wife.

[sx moneypit]

Thanks.
You have my condolence regarding your wife.

Thank you.