Driver seat won't work ! Please help, thanks

Hi

I just replaced my carpet and removed my drivers door panel (the replacement that I ordered never arrived).

The power seat in my 1988 Reatta worked before I did this carpet repair and door panel removal and now it doesn't.

I am wondering what went wrong and how to remedy the situation.

As it stands right now the seat is in the forward position so I cannot access the rear bolts to put the seat back in.

The facts:

1) The passenger seat works fine.

2) The drivers seat switch on the door (forward-back- tilt etc) does not respond at all. Not even a sound.

3) They are clicked in (the 2 cables under the seat as well as the door switch) and nothing looks corroded.

4) 2 of the switches on the side of the driver's seat work (THIGH and LUMBAR, RECLINE does not work)

5) Right now I have the seat out of the car

6) I switched the door switches and it did not solve the problem

-My main concern is to be able to bolt the seat in. But with it fully forward I can only access the front area

-I would like the seat to work also but can't figure out what is wrong

Is there a possibility that something got disconnected under the carpet or in the door ?

Any helpful tips would be greatly appreciated (I want to drive this thing !!! :-)

Have you pulled the seat switch out of the door and tested it for power coming into it?

I own a multimeter thing but wouldn't know how to use it

The door panel that never arrived.....was it coming from Arizona?

Then do the easy thing, plug your drivers seat into the passenger seat harness's and see what works. Then plug your passenger seat into the driver's seat harness and see what works.

Hi Dave

That is what I am going to do (pain in the butt as it is) but it should make the problem more clear. Thanks

Barney, yep, from Arizona LOL.....Geeeeee, I wonder how you guessed that ? LOL !!!

Working seat did not work on the drivers side (so it must be the wiring from the switch to the 2 connectors under the seat)

Switch tested fine on passenger side.

Is there a connection in the door beyond the switch connection?

Is there a connection under the carpet?

The fuse for the seats (30 amp) is for BOTH seats correct ?

Thanks for all your help

what Ronnie said in post #2.:cool: i'd also check your ground wires as well. and all wires going thru the door to the body - might be a "crimp". if you have access to a FSM - paper or online, check it out.

i would also think once you have the "positive" wires figured out, a simple positive to negative tester would be enough to check the power at the switch connection with something like this: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/accessories/Innova-Transparent-handle-test-light-circuit-tester/_/N-2714?itemIdentifier=186543_0_0_

if i'm wrong, others will hopefully correct any mistakes!

a bit off topic: if both seats are out, what would it take if anything, to make the passenger seat (not used as much) and make that the drivers seat? just curious...

I pulled up the carpet and opened the wire trays. Nothing shocking looking but lots of wires spliced together and black-taped together. Is this normal. ? I don't see how this can be the problem since NONE of the functions work from the switch . Is the ground wire wired from the switch to the seat or just the control switch wires ?

i hope this helps:

http://reattaowner.com/roj/component/content/article/62-electrical-system/other-electrical/229-circuit-color-codes-for-floor-splices-89

Thank you all so much for your help.

Corvanti your post really helped big time.

With your splice chart reference I peeled away the tape coating to have a look at the splice on the orange/black wire, it looked fine, but

the wire seemed to have slack (????????)

So I tugged the orange/black wire coming from the switch and it had slack too !!!

With just a tiny bit more tugging out the wire came showing a cut wire that looked rusty.

It must have been pinched in the door jamb somewhere for years and was just hanging on.

It is late and no stores are open so it looks like I am going to have to get some new wire in the morning

and put this car back together :-)