The last few weeks Ive been getting a random relay type clicking sound coming from under/around the left side of my dash. I came to find out it was only when i was sitting in my seat, because every time i hopped out to look under the dash, it would stop. This gave me challenge to figure it out because i had NO clue what it could be. Anyway, it had stopped for a while and then started back up a lil bit this past week. Same results every time i got out to look.

Anyway, yesterday i went to a friends on an automotive service call and it started its clicking again. When i got to his house it did NOT go away when i got out of my truck so i quick pulled my fuse panel cover off and looked around, checked the relays etc. and they were all clicking when the sound went off. I went ahead and left it be for maybe 20 min and came back out, it was STILL doing it, so i checked the same 3 things it could be (big blue relay box thing, and what looked like a weird mega fuse for pwr windows and pwr seats) Found out the power seats one was VERY hot so i figured out what it clicking. At the time i was actually pretty uncertain as to what it even was. Looked to me like a fuse or relay. Anyway, later that evening i went to our local Oreillys and picked up a new one, found out its a circuit breaker, figured that it prolly wasn't the cause, but put a new one in due to the temperature of the old one when i pulled it out. Stuck it back in before i left and right away, it started clicking. On the way home i was thinking about where i would be getting a short and having a wire grounding out causing the circuit breaker to break so much. It also began to smell of something hot, so i KNOW something wasn't right AT ALL (lucky i caught it before i may have burnt my truck down)

When i got home, i started looking around under my seat, at the white connector etc. When i put my weight on the left side of my seat cushion bottom i heard what sounded like sparks and the circuit breaker clicked again. AH HA, i had located the general source. So i go looking under my seat again and pushing/leaning down in the same area, turn off my light and sure enough, i see sparks!

I begin by removing the plastic cover over the power seat controls, it has 3 Phillips head screws holding it one, 2 on the side, and one right where the cover curves to the rear of the seat, one of the screws is hidden behind the manual seat recliner, which is also held on by a Phillips head screw. After i got that off i turned the unit over to disconnect the power seat controls from the plastic cover itself, which is 2 more Phillips head screws. (i apologize for no pics here, this is before i got my camera to document this.) After i had removed the 2 pieces this is what i saw.





It took me a little bit to figure out which wire it was due to having the wire bundle taped together etc. I eventually found the wire, which is a red wire with a light blue tracer running through it, and the cause of the problem. (Pic not perfect)









I started to look at the spot where it had been grounding out and i saw this, and if you look closely, on the rear part of the frame you can see little pieces of what looks like wire melted to the frame





Like i said, this was all later at night, and didn't have much room for pics as everything i was doing was very tight quarters and needed lots of hands.

Anyway, i have fixed the issue by cutting back the existing tape and making sure there are no additional places it had made contact etc, checked all the other wires and taped the bare wire area VERY significantly, probably 8 times around the wire itself, than another 6 times around the bundle. I checked it last night after finishing to make sure i never heard anything clicking, which i didn't so for now, i believe it is ok.

just wanting to warn all 2nd gen owners, possibly early 3rd gen as well, to a possible wear area at this point for the power seat wiring. The 30 sec-1 min it takes to remove and check it is more than worth possibly burning your truck down!

 

Wow, good find! That could have been a disaster in an hurry.

 

Thanks for the info, I'll check mine this weekend...

 

Another thing to watch for is loose kids who find their way into an unlocked truck and figure out they can "ride" the power seat.
One guy's kids rode his seat until a motor burned out and melted the wire similar to yours.

 

well i certainly dont "ride" my seat, but i do bump it sometimes when getting in/out out of my truck/working on the interior, and then if someone else needs to drive it they also need to sometimes put the seat up or back.

 

Thanks, that's a great write up on a potential disaster for a lot of us. Nice Job!

Kurt

 

One of the reasons I just set my seat to where I wanted it and then disconnected everything.

Now I know that anyone that sits in the seat can't mess with the adjustments and once it's set anyways, you never adjust it again so kill the power and be done with it.

Then the wife can't drive it either, her legs are shorter

Jeff

 

lol good thinking!

 

I just pulled the power seat switch about a week ago. Luckily the wires looked ok but I didn't really look at them that closely. My power seat only works when it wants to. I've noticed when it's cold outside it works. One of these days I'm going to have to pull the whole seat out, clean the rails, check the motor, etc. I've cleaned the contacts on the switches a few times but still no luck.

 

Nice posting and much thanks for providing the information so we can get proactive in this area and remedy any problem found.