Seat Position Switch

[rizzo]

Hello all!

I've a problem I cant seem to solve.

2004S with 110K miles

Drivers side seat position inoperative. Bought a new switch (I know I got the right one since we used the VIN to order the switch for my car with the correct options) and started the install.

Found 4 broken/severed wires in the harness that goes to the switch itself. These are very small thin gauge wires as you will see in the photos.

I've repaired the broken wires by soldering them back together and using heat shrink tubing on them, wrapping them in tape and then conduit.

Hooked up the harness to the switch to check for operation. No response from seat. The 30 amp fuse is not blown and has continuity. I have 12 volts to the fuse as well.

Is it possible that in the process of those four wires getting damaged/severed and NOT blowing the fuse that the black box seen in the photos has been damaged?

What is that black box?

I'm at my wits end to get some repsponse from the seat and don't know what to do next. Does the seat have to be in its installed position to get proper ground for the position selector to function? Is that my problem?

Any help is much appreciated!

[wvicary]

Check to see if you can even communicate with the seat control module and check for fault codes. Maybe it has just lost it's coding.

[rizzo]

Thanks wvicary.

How do I communicate with the seat module? Durametric?

I'm not a pro and don't have the Porsche computer.

Many thanks!

KR

[bigbuzuki]

Durametric indeed does allow you to talk to the seat control unit.

[rizzo]

So... upgraded my Durametric to V6. I already had the correct cable thanks to buying it back in late 08 when the 2nd gen cables started being sold.

Fire up the car and get the software up and running. The "Seat Memory Driver" tab will allow me to click on the Identification feature and a part number shows up with two other bits of info.

When I click on Output Test to test the control of the seat motors etc after the warnings are agreed to, all I get are "greyed out" buttons for "Start/Next" and "Skip Actuator" but the "Done" button is the only clickable button there. I waited about thirty seconds. Do I need to wait longer?

I have no idea what the Adaptation feature will allow me to do and cannot find any info on it from Durametric's website as their software suggests I visit their Adaptation section.

Time to open a support ticket with Durametric?

Any help is appreciated.

[wvicary]

When I last spoke to Owen at Durametric they were still working on various coding issues for some modules. Recommend contacting them as the first step.

[rizzo]

Dropped the car off at the dealer yesterday... Wow!

One hour of labor later 135.00 US and they don't know what the problem is.

They can "see" the seat control module but don't know why it's not responding to input.

I asked what was done to consume one hour of labor. I was told the tech checked the fuses, and tried to communicate with the seat via the computer. Does that really take an hour? It took me ten minutes to find out that I couldn't communicate with the seat module with my Durametric software and less than two minutes to check the fuse panel.

Next step is to remove the seat... Anyone know what "the book" says to remove the seat? And I do mean remove. All four bolts. The seat back cannot be moved because it's inoperative so for them to check the wiring under the seat, it must be removed.

"Maybe with another hour of diagnosis we can find out what the problem is" sure sounds like they're wanting to run up the bill because I attempted the repair myself.

Any input?

Thanks!

[wvicary]

Did you disclose to them about the damaged wiring you repaired? I could be that the control unit is damaged.

[rizzo]

Control module was bad. 335+/- and three hours labor @135 per hour. Time to sell. Done with this brand.