How do you do manual up/down seat override for power seats?

[yeet1331]

My power driver's seat in my 2005 Limited will move forwards, backwards, and up/down from the front, but when I try and move it up/down in the back of the seat I hear the motor working but no movement, which means the gear thing is worn. Well I want the back half of my seat to go up but I'm not paying $50 for a tiny gear. Is there an override for this and if so how do I use it?

 

[Davies0202]

My power driver's seat in my 2005 Limited will move forwards, backwards, and up/down from the front, but when I try and move it up/down in the back of the seat I hear the motor working but no movement, which means the gear thing is worn. Well I want the back half of my seat to go up but I'm not paying $50 for a tiny gear. Is there an override for this and if so how do I use it?

Either replace the gear or you gotta lift off on the spring reposition the seat and hope it pops back in after you reposition it or your seats just gonna flop limp. I’d either just not mess with it or replace it been there done that lol

 

[410Fortune]

there is no manual over ride on power seats
The seat tracks from a power seat are WAY different then a manual seat
without the motors and gears working the seats will not move period.

 

[Davies0202]

there is no manual over ride on power seats
The seat tracks from a power seat are WAY different then a manual seat
without the motors and gears working the seats will not move period.

You can jam a screw driver in between the teeth and force the seat. I’m not saying you won’t break something but I didn’t and it worked.

 

[410Fortune]

there you go, manual override via pry bar

There is no friggin room under there, I hate it when the power seats freeze up...makes it so hard to remove them!

 

[CDW6212R]

...
without the motors and gears working the seats will not move period.

Unless they are forced and break in some way. My older 91 Lincoln would not move front to back, but in hard braking sometimes, it would slide forward from my weight(belted in). I think someone forced it in some way before. To move it back I just pushed it with my legs while sitting. I swapped that seat out years ago, I need to remember that the seat track is bad in that old one.

Seat track motors are made in sets, all three together R&R from the seat track.

Sorry, I missed that this OP has a Limited, the memory seat motors are special for that. Those motor sets have an extra electrical connector going into them, it's a set of position sensors. You have to find that memory seat motor set, which may match a few other seat models(Aviator or other years etc).


For non memory seat vehicles, the good news is that most motor sets can swap to either side. So for others people, find one from a passenger seat that has less usage, and it should last the life of the vehicle.

In the picture below, of my 99 Limited seat track, see the word "Memory" printed on the label. To the right of that, at the right corner of the motor assembly, there is a connector receptacle, a group of smaller gauge wires plug in there.