Looking at a Cadillac

[DAVES89]

At Gibson's. Thinking of changing my seats out. Are there any that use our wiring harness as I would like leather and power options like on the Reatta. If you know I would like years and body style.

Thanks!

[Barney Eaton]

I don't know of any reference available on seat interchangeability..... however the Cadillac Seville and Eldorado are very close relatives of the Reatta. If any Cadillac seat might fit it would be seats from those cars.

[Jim]

I would guess that the connectors are the same under all GM powered seats in that year era.

There is a 6 wire connector under the seats and those 6 wires simply provide battery and ground to a pair of wires to make the seat go in a particular direction. Power goes to the switches and the switches direct it to a specific pair of wires going to the seat.

All Reattas came with an additional connector under the seat for the 16 way option. This connector simply puts battery and ground to the 16 way seat switches. If the Reatta does not have 16 way seats then that connector is capped.

[DAVES89]

I just got back and the cars that looked the most appealing to me were the Catara and the Seville. There are two just in Cateras. One has black seats the other gray. The Seville I found also has gray. They are in great shape, and they only want $40.00 each [for leather]. What is starting this is that while all my cars have 16 ways I just wanted heated seats for winter driving. Problem with most of the Cadillacs is that the heated seats control is either mounted on the dash or console. However the Catera has their control mounted on a plate about the size of our ash tray.

Good to know that the connectors should be the same. I would think that the mounts to the floor would be about the same as well. The one thing I didn't look at was the height of the seat and if I would be rubbing my head on the ceiling. Have to check that out as well.

I'll go back out there with tools next time, pull a Catera seat and try it in a Reatta that is out there.

I took a quick look at the Rivs and Troferos out there, but the seats on the Rivs are pretty beat up, and the Troferos [if they had good seats, they don't] have a logo on them.

It mostly gave me a reason to go walking around out there. An additional benefit was I found a replacement cup holder for my mom's Regal, so it was a good day at the yard.

[D-a-n-i-e-l]

Just to give a heads up and maybe save you a headache. Catera was built on an Opel platform. This means most of the car is a gm oddball in the states. If you go with the seats you will most likely be doing quite a bit of modification to the mounts and I seriously doubt the connection will be the same.

[Guest Corvanti]

i don't know much about Cateras, other than they are from Opel. i wonder how much of the electronics, seats, etc. are "Cadillac".:confused:

[D-a-n-i-e-l]

i don't know much about Cateras, other than they are from Opel. i wonder how much of the electronics, seats, etc. are "Cadillac".:confused:

Pretty much none. They barely rebadged the car and added leather.

[DAVES89]

Well I got another brain drizzle [not smart enough for a brain storm] and thought I would check out ebay for a seat warmer. They have a set [both seats from Champion for less then $60.00 delivered. Thinking of going that way. My seats are still good, no real need to replace them, the price of the warmers is less money then the seats from Gibson's and no "fitment" issues...

Thanks for the help.

[KDirk]

Dave,

Looks like you found a solution, but I wanted to add some detail albeit a bit late.

Cadillac from the obd-2 era. (1996) onward have the seat heaters controlled by the seat control module. This is a black box under each seat. The seat heat switch sends a signal (hi/lo/off) to the respective seat module which then applies the correct voltage for the desired heat level.

In other words, it isn't a completely discrete circuit as with the controls on the stock seats in a Reatta. I have used the modules from a 99 Deville in my 95, using only the wiring from the switches to the module and from the module to the heat elements. Added an ignition switched 12vdc to power up the module, and it works to run the seat heaters but is kind of a kludge. The rest of the seat controls and wiring are the stock system that was in the car to start.

Also, around 93/94 depending on model, Cadillac changed the seat rails to a design with hooks at the front of the seat and two bolts in the back. So, they will not mount in the Reatta which has the older 4 bolts rails.

KDirk