Autonmous driver's seat operation

[GBrown #8092]

Had a very strangeexperience yesterday. Question is has anyone else ever experienced it and what did you do to fix it?

Was (way) out and about in a my 93 DeVille Touring (6 way articulated base, with power recline), I was sitting sideways on the seat feet outside on the ground, and the seat started to recline by itself.

I though maybe I had accidentally hit the switch as I had the seat all the way down, I had not. The seat reclined more with the switch, but would not come back up.  We did some on-site trouble shooting, but the wiring colors for the switch in the manual ( I always carry it in the cars I have them for) did not match the wire colors on the car. 

While trying to figure out what was up, I was sitting on the seat on foot on the ground outside, it started it again, went to at FULL recline. The switch now has no effect. We though maybe the wiring was damaged and my weight shorted something, so we pulled the switch and the wires at the switch,  traced them,  no obvious issue. We crossed our fingers (no meter) and tried to jump it still wouldn't move.

Anybody got any clue as to what the issue is? I have it home, but even I can't drive it this way.

G Brown

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Sounds like you have a possible bare wire that is creating a short, and over-riding the switch.

Sitting on the seat sideways would indicate that there is a problem within the side seat base bolster and the seat side frame.

Bruce.

[GBrown #8092]

That would have been my guess, but things don't appear to be that obvious,...to me.  I've raised teh seat and pulled the panels, actually pretty impressive under there, I like this seat adjustment mechanism better than that on the 65 or 72, but I digress.

I'm not seeing any frayed or damaged wiring or evidence of pinching, which I what i would have expected.  Additionally The switch is strange (to me) as it has 5 connections.  While the wiring colors don't match the manual, I did meter the them. It appears I have two hots, and at least one viable ground.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Boy, having two "hots" is a bit too hot for me.

But, having said that, are there two hots in the Shop Manual Wiring Diagram.   If not, then this is where the problem could be.

Bruce.

[936CD69]

My 93 FSM shows 12V at all times to the orange/black wire (terminal A of the connector), ground at terminals E & B, and light blu (term D) 12V power with the switch in recline position, light green (term C) with switch in the forward position. If you have 12V on two wires with the switch in the neutral (open) position, I would suspect a bad switch.

[GBrown #8092]

Thanx all.  I believe I have found the problem.
I had a long talk with a Cadillac tech, he suggested based on the schematic that the capacitor in the power wiring might have gone south and power was traveling through the two wires giving me two hots.

As a result, I stripped away all of the wire wrap and found i was not the first visitor there.  I strongly doubt that the factory ever used black duct tape.  Apparently the wiring insulation re-wrap had worn through and was crossing the positive and ground wires. There was evidence of burnt insulation.  I'm guessing that was the problem, at least it makes sense now.

I'm going to re-wrap them and add some of that corrugated plastic wire loom to protect them, so I don't have to deal with it again. Should resolve the problem

Glenn

[TJ Hopland]

Wonder what the capacitors were for?  Noise suppression? 

I had seen some duct tape like stuff from the factory but it would not have been covering bare or damaged wires.   

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Congratulations.

I suppose you will be wondering what other "gremlins" might lay within this car.

Bruce.

[dochawk]

Clearly, it's haunted.



You should bring it to Hawkins Holistics, where our trained exorcists will drive it for 6.66 years, and return it to your free of demons . . .

[GBrown #8092]

Gremlins have been exorcised for the mean time.
Now if i can only get the troll that lives in the HVAC system to move on!  It works well but only when he decides he wants to. (Has been suggested that a new BCM will force him to do so).

GB

[dochawk]

Now if i can only get the troll that lives in the HVAC system to move on! 

Leading us to wonder whether it works better when under a bridge . . .