I have a 2002 Chevy Impala with power driver’s seat. The seat has three motors which move the seat forward/back, front of the seat up/down, rear of the seat up/down.
The seat will no longer go up/down in the rear of the seat. More importantly, it will no longer go forward or back. The left side jack screw spins and wants to move the seat forward or back but eventually stops when it can no longer go any further because the right side jack screw will not turn at all.
All of the motors are working properly and turning the flexible drive shafts. The drive shafts do not appear to be stripped at the ends. After removing the drive shaft covers and reinstalling the drive shaft, I can see that they are turning when the motors are activated.
I then removed the drive shafts and inserted a square bit into the end where the drive shaft gets inserted into the gearing attached to the jack screw. The bit just spins and spins and doesn’t turn the jack screw.
I cannot removed the seat because it is in a position where the rear bolts are covered by the seat. I have tried to remove the four bolts under the seat that attach the seat to the frame. I am unable to break these bolts free (they appear to be welded or loc-tited down).
Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated. I would like to get my seat fully functional again.
I hate to say it, but you may have to cut the slides at the rear (if you can get at them), remove the front bolts, unplug the sensor wire plugs, and pull the seat, then unbolt the remaining slide parts and replace the slides.
You should have a replacement seat adjuster ready before cutting the pedestals from the old one for removal. However I don’t see any used seat adjusters on EBAY for this vehicle, they may be hard to find. This car is old enough to be found in numbers in your local self-service wrecking yard, bring a battery jumper pack to test the seat adjuster before you remove it.
Have you tried a longer socket bar to remove the bolts? I have an 18" long, 1/2" socket (not ratchet) that I use for stubborn bolts and nuts. I tighten with the 12" ratchet bar to ensure that the longer one will work next time.
@“the same mountainbike” I really don’t want to have to cut off the bolts. If I can get the top of the seat off I can maybe get the track to traverse forward enough to get to the rear bolts. There are not bolts in the front holding the seat frame to the floor. It is attached in front with hooks.
@Nevada_545 I have seen used seats/seat mounts at the local junk yards. I live in Chicago so I have a pretty big selection.
@jtsanders I do need to get a longer socket wrench. The problem is that it is a tight fit under the seat because the back won’t go up or down either and it’s stuck pretty close to the bottom of its range of motion. I’m pretty sure it 15mm but I’m not positive.
Does anyone know the exact nut size for the bolts that hold the seat to the frame?
I was actually talking about the slides themselves (the tracks), removing the seat with tracks, and unbolting the bolts to release the leftover cut portions of the tracks, replacing the tracks and mounting hardware with new stuff.
I can understand your reluctance. But if accessing the rear bolts proves in the end to be impossible, it’s an option to keep in mind.