Replacement Seat

[p38fln]

My driver's side seat has stopped going up and down, the rear section of the seat is stuck in the lower position. It makes a terrible grinding sound if I try to adjust it at all, so I'm figuring something has stripped out.

So here's the question - if I replace it with a seat from a junkyard, can I put a heated seat in there or does it have to only have the power functions?

All of the heated seats I found also have memory, I'm not expecting that function to work. I just want it to warm my rear end up, and adjust up and down so my fiancé can drive it.

 

[Tyleryac]

I believe you will have to make some wiring modifications for the heated seat

 

[p38fln]

So I was just wondering - is the mechanism definitely busted under the seat? It kind of wobbled as it went up and down before it stopped working, stuck at the totally down position now and makes a grinding sound when I try to use it.

 

[p38fln]

So I went to the junkyard today and the seat is out of an Eddie Bauer, so it's a two tone gray/white seat.

I told them I'd take the passenger seat too so that it would match since my XLT only has solid tan seats.

How much of the seat do I need to be sure they give me to make sure that they actually function when I power them up? Is the memory seat module part of the seat?

 

[Curtis]

So I went to the junkyard today and the seat is out of an Eddie Bauer, so it's a two tone gray/white seat.

I told them I'd take the passenger seat too so that it would match since my XLT only has solid tan seats.

How much of the seat do I need to be sure they give me to make sure that they actually function when I power them up? Is the memory seat module part of the seat?

Its not going to be easy
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=382835

If I were you Id just get a new/used seat track with the motors etc for the seat you have

 

[p38fln]

Thanks, I'm crazy enough to try anyway. Worst case I can put the old one back in - it still slides around just fine, just won't go up and down.

 

[p38fln]

So I'm actually having really good luck -
The passenger seat was VERY easy, for some reason the hot/ground was already in the connector for the power seat (My XLT had a manual passenger seat which only used trhe connector for the seat belt sensor). Just unbolted the old seat and bolted the new one in, plugged in the connector and it powered right up.

The drivers seat was a royal pain in the butt. I noticed that the actual switches were the same as the old seat, and there was a connector on the motor that was exactly the same as the old seat. So I took the wiring harness from the old seat and plugged it into the new seat (bypassing all the memory module stuff). Bolted it in, and it worked just fine.

So on to the heated seats -
I got both of the heated seats to turn on - the LED light outputs turned on for both seats. The seats are out of a 2002 Explorer - the service manual says these seats only heat up to 99.4 degrees (Late build 2003 models heat up to 104 degrees), so it's kind of hard to tell if the seat heaters are working or if my rear end has warmed the seat up (It feels warm). I have to check it more tomorrow to be sure what's actually happening. Wiring these things up was a royal pain in the rear since neither the passenger or driver seat connector had the wiring for heated seats - I wound up just attaching them to the always on connectors for the power seats, these older heated seats are supposed to shut off after 10 minutes anyway.

So now I have to make sure that the heated seats are really working, and also figure out somewhere to stick some LED's to indicate when the heated seats are on.

 

[p38fln]

We're pretty sure the heated seat works on the passenger side, but I'm almost sure it isn't working on the driver's side. Looks like I have some more wiring to play with.

I got an LED light at O'Reilly's so now I can at least see when the seat is supposed to be heating.

 

[p38fln]

Found the problem - upper seat cushion element is broken. So I either need to take the whole stupid thing apart, live without the heated seat, or find another seat.

In any case, it's absolutely possible and fairly simple to do the swap (as long as you don't mind not having the memory functions).