HELP! power seats in a XLS

[flutyr525]

explorer = 2002 xls 4 door
seats = 2003 mountaineer with power, heat and memory

i cannot get the drivers seat to work on my explorer. the passenger seat was super easy and works great by following this write up

this will show you step by step how to install power seats into an XLS.
Tools needed:
15mm deep socket
electrical tape
heat shrink butt connectors
wire stripper/cutter
and about 2 hours time, patience is key.

DRIVERS SEAT!

step one. find a good donor vehicle, if you and see the seat motor work before removing this helps a great deal to make sure your not buying junk..

step two. DISCONNECT THE BATTERY! VERY IMPORTANT SO YOU DO NOT GET SHOCKED!!! remove your stock XLS seats using 15mm socket, 2 bolts in back and 2 in the front, front one near the tranny hump is sideways. after removing all 4 bolts remove 2 wire connectors underneath, you should be left with these 2 connectors sticking up from under the carpet.

step three. cut ONLY THE GREY CONNECTOR!. leave the green one in tact, then strip the ends of the RED, BLACK, PURPLE/ORANGE and BLUE/BROWN.

step four. flip your old seat over and unhook the plastic clip holding in the green wire harness that goes into the seat, give yourself about 3-4 inches behind the connector and cut the wires and strip the ends

step five. flip your new seat over and remove the harnesses from the metal bracket holding them, cut the wires going to the grey harness as well as the two wires going to the back of the yellow connector discard yellow connector, you will not need this.the two wires going to the back of the yellow connector will be lime green/red, and lime green/black. take the green connector you cut off and put the two wires together using heat shrink butt connectors, the colors will match, lime green/red and lime green/black, you can now re-mount the green connector to the bar on the seat. the black harness is not utilized (i believe these wires are for headed seats but i do not have them so i can not be sure) which is why you are not stripping the black/yellow, and orange wires from the truck, and wires from the seat not being used are green and black/orange, so tape the ends of these wires or cap them.

step 6. now it is time to connect all the wires together. to make things easy i propped the seat up using a 24inch rachet extension (it also makes it easier to get the seat up if you remove the headrest), connect black wire from truck to black from seat. then connect red wire from truck to red from seat. then connect the blue/brown wire from the seat to the blue/brown wire from the truck. now connect the blue/black wire to the purple/orange wire. again all these connections you should be using heat shrink crimps.

step 7. now that everything is connected tape everything well with electrical tape and make sure none of the wires will get in the way of the motorized track. remove support to hold up seat and place seat in proper position, re-connect negative battery terminal and test it out. then bolt into place and enjoy!


PASSENGER SEAT!!
follow same steps for drivers seat if passenger seat is power. only difference is with the green connector, wires coming from seat are yellow/red and yellow/black. just follow as if they are green/red and green/black. if passenger seat is not power just leave the grey wire harness unconnected.


any questions, comments or areas that are not too clear just let me know and i will help to clear that up

enjoy your new power seats in your XLS

i dont have heat on the passenger side but i dont care about that. the power function works and thats all i wanted.

this is what im dealing with on the driver side seat. i stripped all the electrical tape to show all the wires clearly. some of the pictures are with everything unplugged and some show everything plugged in that can be.

this is what im dealing with from the truck itself for power

any and all help would be great. i just need to get power to the motor to be able to adjust the seat. i dont care about the heat and memory aspect of it.

thanks in advance
Ryan

 

[jluv]

I added a power seat to mine by clipping the harness on the seat, figuring out which wire needed power, and hooked it up. Also ran new ground. I did
Not use the vehicle harness at all or have to open up the motor. It took only a few minutes. I don't remember which wire you have to hit but I'll try to take a look tonight. I may have wrapped it up to where its not easy to see anymore. You shouldn't need a write up.

 

[flutyr525]

Yea I thought about cutting the harness out and going that route but wanted to leave it all intact if I could like I did on the passenger side. Either way is ok with me if you know which color wire is for the power. There is like 8 different wires that have red in them but no single solid red wire.

 

[flutyr525]

any other ideas before i start cutting **** up blindly lol!

 

[flutyr525]

Here's what I'm dealing with now. I trimmed everything except for the wires that go to the motor and the wires that go to the switch. Now I just need to get it all connected and then powered. Here's pics.

 

[dickendd]

any update?

Hi, I know this is a couple years old, but just curious if you ever got your driver's seat working? I just picked some seats from a mountaineer and am having trouble getting the driver's seat to work. I think I need to remove the memory module and hard wire everything. Did you do that?

 

[BigRondo]

Hi, I know this is a couple years old, but just curious if you ever got your driver's seat working? I just picked some seats from a mountaineer and am having trouble getting the driver's seat to work. I think I need to remove the memory module and hard wire everything. Did you do that?

I can post the wiring diagrams from my shop manuals upon request. My manuals only go up to '03, but should be of some assistance.

Let me know.

Good luck getting it sorted.

Please keep us posted as feedback helps others reading this post looking for a fix to the same or similar issue!

 

[dickendd]

Hey BigRondo, thanks for the reply! I just noticed it.

I am working on the seat tonight, and have a lot of the tape off of the wires under it right now.

That would be great if you could post the diagrams up here. I have found some on the forums but they are for second gens so I assume they'll be different.

I have identified the thick red/white wire going to the motor which I believe is the power. I'm having trouble figuring out where the grounds are, and which wires I can actually get rid of from the memory module.

Really appreciate the help, and I'll keep you guys updated with my progress.

 

[BigRondo]

Hey BigRondo, thanks for the reply! I just noticed it.

I am working on the seat tonight, and have a lot of the tape off of the wires under it right now.

That would be great if you could post the diagrams up here. I have found some on the forums but they are for second gens so I assume they'll be different.

I have identified the thick red/white wire going to the motor which I believe is the power. I'm having trouble figuring out where the grounds are, and which wires I can actually get rid of from the memory module.

Really appreciate the help, and I'll keep you guys updated with my progress.

My shop manuals only go to '03. Hopefully they will help you out.

I'll work on putting the diagrams together tonight.

 

[dickendd]

Awesome, thanks. I would think they would work. The seats are from an 04 Mountaineer, and they're going into an 05 Explorer.

 

[BigRondo]

Here is the link for the wiring diagrams. Let me know if you need anything else:

https://app.box.com/s/o8pwk7z97po8wlodhl65

Good Luck!

 

[dickendd]

Thanks so much BigRondo, I will let you know how it goes.

 

[BigRondo]

You're welcome. Glad to help.

 

[dickendd]

Well, following the wiring diagrams BigRondo gave me, specifically the one named 'Memory Seats 123-4,' I got the motion working on the driver's seat without the memory module. It is moving forward and backward, but not up/down in either front or back. When I try going up/down, the motor tries and something under there moves, but it's like it's stuck.

All I had to do was cut the wires going from the power seat switch into the driver seat module, cut the wires going from the driver seat module into the power seat motor assembly, and then splice together the corresponding colored wires as determined by the diagram.

The only ones that I couldn't readily identify were GY/OG going from the switch to the memory module. I ended up using a yellow/red one and it seems to work.

Thanks again for the help BigRondo, another lowly XLS will now have power leather seats thanks to you.

 

[dickendd]

By the way, the seats aren't in the car yet, I just got the motor running off of a battery jump pack for now. Any input on the best way to wire power to the seat in the car, since I have no pre-existing wiring for it?

 

[surpera1]

i am just the opposite - i have a 2002 explorer xlt - drivers side power seat is nothing but trouble - i would like a manual adjustable one that matches up - i dont mind changing the seat covers - so look for a 2002 xls seat ? thanks

 

[Number4]

By the way, the seats aren't in the car yet, I just got the motor running off of a battery jump pack for now. Any input on the best way to wire power to the seat in the car, since I have no pre-existing wiring for it?

Look where the positive battery cable attaches to the fuse box. There will be a stud there. Run a wire from that point to the seats. Just install an inline fuse within 8 inches or so of the fuse box connection.