Power Seat Problems - Seat Leans or Wont Move

I'm new to your site, and have found the information on your site to be very valuable (and entertaining) in helping to fix the issues with my car (no a/c fan = bad blower control module (and the recommendation of Morad Auto Parts) was huge and made me a daily visitor to learn more about my car).

I have a silver '98 SC Riviera (every option, from what I can tell) with the gold package & chrome 12 spoke wheels that was originally sold in Las Vegas, NV (Desert Buick GMC), and made its way to Tucson, AZ. I bought it off Craigslist (after a friend of mine in Phoenix looked it over), and drove it back to Buffalo, NY back in April. I had a black '96 SC Riviera back in 2006-2007, but sold it to a friend after 6 months - it had been driven through many winters, and I really prefer a rust-free summer driver, but I was hooked on finding another SC Riviera.

Anyway, now to my question/problem - my passenger seat folds forward as it should, but my driver's seat won't fold forward at all, even when I try to use the little black hook at the base of the seatback - any suggestions on what to do next would be greatly appreciated, since I'd like the seat to work the way it should.

Thanks again for a great site with a wealth of information - looking forward to hearing your suggestions.

John P.

I don't know if this is any help but I had a seat issue with my previous Riv.

In mine, it was the passenger seat. One day I was giving the car a thourough cleaning and had put the pessenger seatback all the way down in a recliened position. After cleaning the dirt and crumbs( from the previous owner) I tried to use the elec button to put the seat back into the normal position and it wouldn't move.

I was concerned at first but I figured it out.

I physically pulled the seat back to where it should be, while holding it in place, I pushed the elec button forward. Eventually the mechanism caught up with the location of the seatback and it performed normally again.

At 250lbs, I must have put some of my weight on the seat back when it was down and it messed it up a bit.


I don't know if this will help your issue but I thought I'd just through it out there for general knowledge.

Hey I recently had some problems with my power seats and I was able to figure out how they work correctly....

I think your problem is the same as mine, what it is, is that these seats use large screws underneath the seat, 2 for both sides, the problem is that the black cylinder power motor (which is located in front of the seat, you can touch it by putting your hand under the seat) is connected with the 2 screws using a steel cable which is hooked with like 2 small white plastic cases, they have like 2 gears, when the motor is power the gears start rotating to move the screws forward or backwards depending on the switch. SO the problem here is that the 2 gears inside the small white case are made of plastic and they really broke easily, so far in my area I couldn't find those 2 gears, what I’ll do is to have them machined or custom made so they don't break ever again... but for right now I don't have the money and time to do it... but I’ll do it.

So you should check under the seat by removing it, if you can move the seat forward enough to unscrew the 2 bolts holding the seat with a 15mm socket and ratchet.

You can take a look on the link below to see how it looks like under the seat:

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/t1479p45-power-seat-problem?highlight=memory+seat

It sounds to me like the inertia pendulum is locked in place. You should be able to remove the seat back and see the problem.

Thank you - I'm headed out to the garage to take a look...

Carefull with that seat back! The top is attached to a thin bar with a kinda spring flap, that needs to be expanding before sliding the seat up, BUT first there are two clips at each bottom corner that need to pop off. Help the seat back out around those bottom clips.The clips will come out ok, but the seat back is a type of fiber board or something, and if the two bottom clips are stubborn, the seat back will crack.

OK, I got the seat back off the bottom clips, but I'm struggling with getting the seat back off - is there some trick to gettting the seat back off the thin bar?

Should the clips have come out with the seat back, or should they stay with the seat?

I'm headed to get my kids from the high school football game - thanks for your help to get me this far - I'll check back Sunday or Monday so that I can try to finish this job.

With the two bottom clips out, you should be able to kneel down and look up to see that flap that has some tension on it. Slide your arm up there and with your fingers spread the flap apart while sliding the seat back up and once it clears that bar your in the clear.

When I got in my car this morning I knew something was amiss. Felt like my seat settings were different. So I played with them but I couldn't get it right no matter how hard I fiddled with it.

Looking at the top of the seat tonight, I realized what is wrong. It is angled or slumped toward the driver side door. So it looks like the top of the seat turned a little counter clockwise. The base looks fine so I'm guessing one of the support cushions crapped the bed?

Damnit... No $$ to fix this now.

Anyone have this happen? Am I just being negative about this and there is an easy fix? Annoying part is the seat is in great condition. Heater works and so does everything else.

DEMonte1997 wrote:

When I got in my car this morning I knew something was amiss. Felt like my seat settings were different. So I played with them but I couldn't get it right no matter how hard I fiddled with it.

Looking at the top of the seat tonight, I realized what is wrong. It is angled or slumped toward the driver side door. So it looks like the top of the seat turned a little counter clockwise. The base looks fine so I'm guessing one of the support cushions crapped the bed?

Damnit... No $$ to fix this now.

Anyone have this happen? Am I just being negative about this and there is an easy fix? Annoying part is the seat is in great condition. Heater works and so does everything else.

Seats are old-school upholstery with new-age foam cushions. Odd are if you take the seat out you'll find a weld on the internal metal frame broke where the frame connects to the rails or some such. It really might not be that tough to fix. You weld?

Albertj

I don't but a friend does. Hmmmm..

DEMonte1997 wrote:

I don't but a friend does. Hmmmm..

Yeah, with the seat motors working I'd just pull the seat, it's only held in with 2 bolts in back, it hooks into floor in front. Get a look under there. Allow yourself 30-60 minutes to pull it and look, and put it back.

Albertj

Thanks Albert! Project for this weekend. At worst, I bet I could just use JB Weld and let the sucker sit. Hell, I still have the Regal so I just need to use that thing for a bit while the Riv seat cures.

DEMonte1997 wrote:

Thanks Albert! Project for this weekend. At worst, I bet I could just use JB Weld and let the sucker sit. Hell, I still have the Regal so I just need to use that thing for a bit while the Riv seat cures.

JB Weld might work IF you can get enough on and IF you can get the spot clean enough.. .

My driver's seat had the foam eventually work it's way down through the seat springs. I raised it all back to where it belongs by lifting the foam up from underneath and sneaking a few thin planks of wood in there for extra support. The foam now sits on the wood, on the springs, and nobody but me knows the difference.

deekster_caddy wrote:

My driver's seat had the foam eventually work it's way down through the seat springs. I raised it all back to where it belongs by lifting the foam up from underneath and sneaking a few thin planks of wood in there for extra support. The foam now sits on the wood, on the springs, and nobody but me knows the difference.

YES!! EXACTLY this happened to me like last week, and this is the method I was thinking about.... LOL we thought about the same thing Good Job Derek!

How hard is it to pull the leather off these seat backs? Or do you even have to do that using the Derek method?

I didn't need to - just raise the seat all the way up and peek underneath. If you can see the seat foam you will be good.

Ah, but you are referencing the bottom cushion right? I'm talking about the one on the back. Will take a pic later today so you guys can get a better reference.

Yup. Thought you meant bottom cushion. The back can be seen through the (DELICATE) back of the seat map holder thing. Remove it pulling outwards from the bottom, then slide it upwards being ultra careful not to bust the brittle plastic slot-hook. I don't know how to describe it better, but if you screw it up you'll know

The jerk who tinted my windows broke it off so I fabbed it back on with thicker threaded screws. Worked like a charm.

I was able to bend the seat back into shape tonight just by sitting in the back seat and pulling on the right side while pushing on the left. Sat in it and it feels okay. Will keep y'all posted. Eventually, I'll need to get that flap off so I can see what is going on in there.

Thanks for the advice!

Took the map flap off today and re-broke that hinge. On the bright side I think I see what is going on with the rear of the seat. Seems that the support bar that runs parallel with the cushions on the left side has a loose bolt. Because of this the arm at the top is able to rotate freely from one side to the other. I was thinking of tightening it but also noticed there isn't a nut on it so that might even be the problem. Will post more on Saturday when I finish this project.

I looked further at the seat and Albert was right, the seat will have to come out. Something is broke as the hinge where the back cushion meets the bottom. It could be the motor but I'm not certain. When I push the button for that cushion to go forward, it make noise but once it hit the end of its travel is just keeps making the same noise while not doing anything.

No time during the week so I'll try to get the seat out this saturday.

Well, one does, the passenger seat will adjust the angle of the seat. But none of them do anything else. Motor failure seems pretty unlikely since it's both of them. I checked the fuses, relays, and the C/B. All I can say is the fuses are good, the relays are present. How do you test them, and how do you test the circuit breaker? Is there some fix that's so common that everyone in the scene pretty much knows to check?

cryoburned wrote:

Well, one does, the passenger seat will adjust the angle of the seat. But none of them do anything else. Motor failure seems pretty unlikely since it's both of them. I checked the fuses, relays, and the C/B. All I can say is the fuses are good, the relays are present. How do you test them, and how do you test the circuit breaker? Is there some fix that's so common that everyone in the scene pretty much knows to check?

You may have a short in the wiring, a "telltale" is a kinda hot vinyl or electrical smell if the car has been closed up for a while (some hours) - way easier, though, is just remove the back seat and put your hand near the thermal breakers - if one is hot it will burn you 1st degree, so be careful not to touch.

What is cause?

- crap on the floor under the seats. Clean it all out and never let it get there again, and find-and-fix the chafed wiring
- one or another seat switch is shorted
- passengers who kick around under the seats and jam the seat wiring onto the tracks - moving seats then shorts the wires
- short in the wiring under the seats (basically you need to either get a flashlight and look up under there or remove seats (easier than it looks) to check. If you can't get to the seat track floor bolts you can remove the seats from teh tracks by feel where they are bolted to the sliding top track.

Please do a bit more checking then re-post. This is just an 'old school troubleshooting' problem, there is no chronic design problem with the electric seats (that I know of or have found in owning a '98 Riv for 12 years)