jbum

Many owners of the 350z have experienced failing power seats where they can't move and/or tilt the seat in either direction after several years of ownership. While some rare incidents are due to the seat motor failing, almost all cases are due to faulty switches. Not sure why the design of the switch is so fragile but they apparently fail quite frequently.

I'm writing this DIY because I couldn't really find any good/detailed instructions on how to remove and replace the switch. I found numerous threads of people wanting help but the most I found were a few lines of "suggested steps" without much detail, failing to shed light on some of the troublesome areas.

So here is my DIY that will hopefully help out others with the same problem.

The first thing you need to do is remove the seat from the floor. There are four bolts that fix the seat rails. These bolts are hidden under black plastic covers. Remove them and you'll see the bolts.




You may need to move the seat forward or backward to get access, however, be careful. My seat happened to only move and tilt back. Luckily, the rear seat frame bolts were already accessible so I was able to remove them first and then move the seat back to get to the front bolts. If I had accidentally moved the seat back (without the ability to move it forward again) before removing the rear bolts, I would have been stuck... that would have sucked.

After removing all fours bolts, most people continue to remove wiring under the seat to remove the seat entirely from the car to work on it elsewhere. I, being lazy, chose to leave the seat in the car - my tandem garage also doesn't allow the door to open enough to take the seat out either.

I instead maneuvered the seat and tilted it at an angle.




From the other side, the seat looks like this.




I continued by removing the screws holding down the switch.






If you look under the seat, you'll see the harness connection for the switch. Unclip it. It takes some wrestling to get that clip off. You have to wiggle it back and forth to loosen it even with the tab pressed down. (Green arrow points to the front of the seat)




With the connector disconnected, you can pull the wire/connector up and "almost" through the seat frame (see below). But the gap just wasn't enough to allow it to escape. I nearly broke the connector trying, not that it mattered since the switch was broken. The fix really should have been this easy but I guess Nissan didn't want to make it easy for us.




Look beneath the seat, you should see a wire harness coming out of the floorboard. It attaches to two connectors under the seat. Unclip the two connectors. (Green arrow points to the front of the seat)




The harness also clips to the underside of the seat in two places via some really annoying clips. The clip ends look like arrow heads, much like a fishing hook, and act like one. They clip in easily but are made not to come out. I used a plier to collapse the arrow-like head to slip it out of the hole. I mangled one after getting tired of coaxing it.




Below are the two locations where the clips go.




With the harness detached from the seat, you can now freely move and tilt the seat to expose the seat bottom. Remember that switch we couldn't free before?
This next step should allow it to be removed fairly easily.

We need to detach the front/right corner of the seat cushion from the frame. Look at the bottom of the seat and you'll see a bolt holding the seat cushion down. There are four at each corner but we just need to loosen this one. (Again, green arrow points to the front of the seat)




With this bolt either loosened or removed, pull the front/right corner of the seat cushion up, allowing the switch and connector to come out through the seat frame gap.



Remove the old switch, put in the new one and reverse the steps!

One caveat: Make sure you align the seat frame where the floor bolts go as well as an aligment peg. For the driver's seat, it's on the rear/right corner.




Hope this DIY helps. Nissan should have done a better job assuring quality of a simple part like this.

devnull420

Thanks for this, going to try this out this weekend!

verdict.

Great write-up!

ecliastee

http://www.courtesyparts.com/87016n-...4_715_863_866&

That'll fit a 2004 Touring right?

plus i need it for the passenger side, and I couldn't find the bolt holding the seat cushion down

jbum

Looks about right. You might have to get under the seat bottom real good to see that bolt. It took me a while to find it. The picture makes it look obvious but it wasn't from my experience.

dad2bandt

My seat IS stuck all the way back, inhibiting access to the back bolts. What should I do?

jbum

I was in the exact predicament you are in now. What you need to do is remove the front seat bracket nuts and try to lift the front of the seat enough to get your hands under the seat to unclip the switch connector.
Be careful not to damage the braket in the back. I had the outer rear nut slightly loose so I was able to get some slack but not sure how yours will be.

Afterwards clip on the new switch and operate the seat from below and move it forward.

SLIdEwAyZ25

iTrader: (1)

would it be possible to cut into the harness and put a 3 position toggle?? i hate the stock location and buttons every little peice of dirt food drink goes straight in there

122554

iTrader: (9)

I don't know if the passenger side is different, but I just did it in under a half-hour. Seat back, undo the front two bolt; slide seat forward and do the two rear bolts. Lay the seat over on it's right side, under the corner bolt, slide the switch assembly up, lift seat corner and remove switch. Reverse and you're done. Took me longer to clean up!

hallrj

Excellent. This little gem of a post inspired me to finally replace my passenger seat switch, (as my 2003 350Z 2-seater had become a 1-seater due to the extreme forward seat position). Advice regarding temporarily hooking up the new switch under the seat to re-position the seat to remove the frame bolts was also a pearl of wisdom. Thanks much!

Zguy350touring

You do NOT have to unbolt the seat cushion from the seat frame to remove the drivers seat switch. Simply use the hand crank on the left side of the seat to move the cushion up and the connector fits through the larger gap. To change out the passenger side switch will require taking out the seat cushion bolt as describe above. Thanks for the write up and suggestions they were very helpful!

mcooper46

I just completed installing the switch on my Z as instructed and described in your forum's. Took 2 hours max and was as easy as could be for a novice like me. I'm excited as I saved a good 300 dollars. Thanks to all that gave feedback.

rebelscum

FYI if you seat bottom doesn't move forward or back, you can just unclip the wire harness under the front side of the seat.... That harness is the one that goes into the motor that moves it forward/back... Hook a 12v source to one side and ground the other... If the seat moves the wrong way, swap the wires and it will reverse it... This way you can "manually" controll the motor without the switch to access whatever bolts you can't get to... I didn't want to buy a new switch, so I decided to take mine apart and repair the switch I had.... So I didn't have a second working switch to connect to... Also useful to move it to a position you can live with untill you repair it, however you decide to do that...

russfurg

Is it also possible to move the reclining seat forward with a jumper wire and where do you jump it?

camilleri21

where would i be able to get the new switch?

StupendousBoy

Affirmative! I was able to do this a couple nights ago, and took pictures with your post in mind

First of all, thanks to OP so much for the original DIY, and for the great replies. This thread makes me happy.

So, as mentioned, the wire harness that controls the forward-backward seat motor is located below the seat in the front. BUT, for the seat recline wire harness, you have to find it in back of the seat; it is connected with a plastic clip to the metal bars that strengthen the lumbar portion of the seat back rest, and furthermore the wire harness is accessed by unzipping the leather seat back flap. (this is all occurring in my 2004 Touring model)

I was able to zap the seat recline wire harness the same way members on here zapped the seat forward backward wire harness. Total success! Pics:

Back of seat, in the seat back-rest area, after un-zipping the back seat flap/cover:


Connecting wires into the seat wire harness, the other end of my wires are connected to my car battery, and I crimped-on clips to the end I'm using to connect to wire harness, for ease of use:

taywan

iTrader: (53)

My tilt works intermittently. I'll have to tear mine apart in the near future.
Thanks

snowtoad

Thanks for the writeup!

I just wanted to add that there is a video on youtube that describes how to clean/repair faulty switches, in case you want to save some cash and attempt the repair before an actual replacement (the replacement switches are absurdly expensive). I just finished the repair and it took about 2 hours to do both passenger and driver power switches. Both power seats - neither of which were functioning previously - are now working extremely well.


Btw, I own an '03 Touring.

Preston

laggy311

Finally fixed my passenger seat after 3 years!!! First off the video is indispensable! This thread had a lot of great info.

My problem was my passenger seat was all the way back. Couldn't get to back bolts to get seat out. I managed to get motor unit out to reveal track screw mechanism. Manually turned those, each side, until seat was forward enough to loosen back bolts. Separated motor from magnet to clean, but contacts were not dirty like these motors usually are (eg. window motors for window motor fix). Cleaned anyway. I tested motor by simply hooking-up to harness on driver side and engaging driver seat fwd/back. Motor fine.

Took seat out and had a pretty tough time figuring out how to get passenger switch off and out. No screws. It's got lock tabs. Followed video instruction. Took pictures and was very careful with parts obviously. Used mineral spirits and a q-tip to clean. Then QD Electrical Parts Cleaner. Somehow put back together correctly the first time. Tested grounds with multimeter, then ohm'd out the switches and their motor wire traces. Everything checked out. Put seat in. Hooked-up and it all worked. So stoked. Thanks for keeping things going for our sweet rides!!

Irontimmy

iTrader: (3)

I used the link that snowtoad posted! Finally can move the passenger seat all the way back, useful for when 2 people occupy the passenger seat