Eddie Bauer parts and functions transfer to a stock xlt

[Raymose]

I got a crashed xlt and I got a transmission problem Eddie Bauer in which I plan to transfer all interior, some body parts and suspension, sway bar, wheel hub from Eddie Bauer to xlt. I noticed the Eddie Bauer has extras such as rear backup sensors and electric seat position presets among others. Is there an Eddie Bauer special computer module(s) or some sort I need to swap over to get all of these to work?
Thanks. Hopefully it’s not all in the ecu

 

[96firephoenix]

Why not put the XLT transmission into the Eddie Bauer? Way less work overall.

' Is there an Eddie Bauer special computer module(s) or some sort I need to swap over to get all of these to work?
Thanks. Hopefully it’s not all in the ecu

Unfortunately, the answer to all of your questions is "not really"... Including the question of "can I easily swap this stuff over?"

All of this stuff is pretty modular. So it's not in the ECU or some "Eddie Bauer special computer module" but in a bunch of feature specific modules scattered about the cabin.

There's about 4 modules that were all interconnected just for the seat memory. Off the top of my head, there's the memory module, the automatic climate module, the central security module, and then the keyless entry module (by way of the memory module).

The memory module also interacts with the mirrors. The central security module interacts with a hood switch that may or may not be installed on your vehicle. The Autoclimate module requires a different set of air ducts and dual blower motors that aren't on a basic XLT. The Keyless entry module I think is the only one that is more or less a standalone unit, but if your body module doesn't have a plug for the Keyless entry, you're SOL. The backup sensors interact with the Transmission range sensor... and all of these interactions have a wiring harness that is not present on a basic XLT

Short of gutting the interior down to the bone in each vehicle and swapping over all the wiring harnesses and modules, including the ENTIRE dashboard, it's not something you can really swap over.

I managed to hack the power heated seats to be a standalone, but you've got to use a set of 2002 seats if you want the heater to work, and it's not possible to get the memory to work.

 

[Raymose]

Xlt has 80,000 miles. EB has 260,000. Xlt interior is nasty so I was swapping in the EB interior, minus the dash. Xlt hit a curb and messed up one side of suspension and ball joints. Swapping those parts.

Basically with my setup I am able to repair the suspension easier than swapping transmissions. And I want that 80,000 mile engine too. So I was just curious what would be easy to swap over as those upgrades are nice but I can omit them. Thanks for the help.

 

[96firephoenix]

gotcha. I assumed the XLT had body damage.

On swapping the seats: If the XLT has a power passenger seat, the EB seat should work. The EB driver's seat will not work, even if the XLT has a power driver's seat. You'll have to swap the seat cover and the back rest (2 bolts and 2 roll pins) for the driver's seat, and if the XLT has a manual passenger seat.

You should check the side mirrors, because I believe the EB Heated puddle lamps will plug up to the XLT and work fully if it doesn't have them already.

 

[Raymose]

Is there a modification to get power to the drivers seat? Xlt has a mold issue which is why I’m stripping the whole interior out. It’s not a lot but they left the window down for a few. I this and there’s staining and nastiness

 

[96firephoenix]

So to get the power driver's seat to work, I had to take a passenger's side switch harness, swap out the harness leads for each function (or else the up switch goes down, etc...) and then supply power to the seat via auxiliary circuits.

You might check your XLT to see if you have an unused power point under the driver's seat that you can use to power the seats, but overall for your use, it would probably be easier overall to just move over the better seat cover and back rest assembly.

 

[Raymose]

Hey Phoenix thanks a lot for all the help. So the XLT had a power drivers seat but not a power passenger seat. When I got the seats out there was a power seat connection clip underneath both the driver and passenger side and so surprisingly the passenger side worked quite well but the driver side didn’t, even though you had mentioned that it wouldn’t, both wiring harnesses that were on the XLT driver seat and EB driver seat are the same, but the EB has an extra third blue harness clip and a computer module (not sure if related) under the seat as well.
We’re you saying before that due to this third blue harness, it wouldn’t work? Or that possibly the XLt would be missing the grey harness that it does have. Thanks.

 

[96firephoenix]

The connectors plugging in to each other does not mean they are the same. Ford uses the same connectors on a lot of unrelated parts, and I'd recommend you count the wires in each connector. You'll probably find that they don't match wire counts from one seat to the other.

The memory feature is what will determine if the seat will function. There's not a way to get the memory function to work without a 100% gut and transfer of all electronics and wiring harnesses from the EB to the XLT.

The third plug is probably for heated seats. What year EB seats do you have?

Memory seats won't work in a non-memory car with the memory seat wiring harness intact. The seat harness can be swapped over from the XLT seat bottom to the EB seat bottom, and the seat motors will still work as long as they aren't hooked up to the memory seat harness.

 

[Raymose]

Both are 2002 explorers. I don’t care much about the memory so I’ll look to move the harness over. With this harness swap, is it plug and play or am I to do some wire splicing and or soldering? Also I’ll try to take some pictures of that third plug because the passenger seat has a heated seat button, but no third plug. So I’m curious of what it’s for.

 

[96firephoenix]

if they are both 2002, then you can make the heated seat part work with some finesse and (maybe without) some splicing. 2002 had the heated unit as a stand-alone on the seat, where other years fed it through the climate control, but that is a completely unrelated sidebar.

I believe it will be plug-and-play, but you'll have to unplug the motors, and seat adjustment switch. I think the heated seat portion is wired separately, but it might be part of the same harness. Don't ditch the EB harness if you want heated seats ever (in seattle, I can imagine you would).

Edit: I just remembered, you might have an issue with the hall effect sensor for the seat position on the airbags... I was able to get around this by transferring over the seat rail on the bottom, but it was a PITA...

This thread might be worth a read, it was more fresh in my mind when I wrote it... I never did get around to putting the pictures in.
Definitive Guide: Power Heated Seats in an XLS

 

[Raymose]

Imgur
Here’s the pics OF THE EB seats. Top is passenger and bottom two are driver as they are plugged in to my XLT. I’ll look at your post and see what I can do. Driving it today I did see the airbag light flash 3 then 4 times so I’m gonna look that up for what seat it’s indicating.

 

[96firephoenix]

When I get home tonight I'll take a look at the seats I've got out in my garage, but I'm pretty sure that the blue one is for the memory function...

Good news is that you've got the wires for the heated seats on the body side wiring. The purple/og, orange, and black/ylw wires in the grey connectors are for the heated part. You might need to re-pin the connector to match the wires to each other. You can also pull the Heated portion out of the wiring loom, de-pin it from the grey connector, and put it on the XLT seat base/harness if it's important to you. Really just comes down to how much effort you want to put into it.

If swapping the XLT harness over to the EB seat is too intimidating, you can swap the EB cushion and seat back onto the XLT base frame (mold should be limited to the upholstery, not the metal frame). The seat cushion comes off with the trim panels and a couple of clips that slip onto the seat frame. I can't recall immediately if the seat cushion comes off with the seat belt anchor intact... The seat back comes off with 2 re-useable roll pins and 2 bolts.