Power seats stuck reclined

[nelsonmr]

First off let me say I've searched the forum and can't find any info on reclining. I did find the fore and aft issues and changed the gears and fixed the passenger seat. Thanks ihatemud.

My drivers seat fore and aft is fine but it's reclined and won't come up. Of note the recline button is missing. The shaft is still there and works to recline but doesn't come back up.
Suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Cass007]

Are you sure it's making forward contact? I used a small pair of pliers to grab mine to go up. Does it sound like it's trying to move up and is stuck or making no sound at all?

 

[BILT4ME]

Unplug / replug your connectors under the seat. That would be my first try.

My knob is also missing. You may be able to use a screwdriver to push it over far enough.

 

[nelsonmr]

Are you sure it's making forward contact? I used a small pair of pliers to grab mine to go up. Does it sound like it's trying to move up and is stuck or making no sound at all?

It does nothing. It goes back fine but when you move the little stud where the button goes forward, nothing, no noise no attempt to move, nothing.

I'll try unplugging re-plugging. thx

 

[kilmarkid]

My passenger seat was stuck in the normal recline.position. Was not.good with the significant other not being able to lay back. Went on ebay and found a used regulator for about 40 bucks.

Removal of the.old involved only 4 bolts and 1 was in.a.very tight spot.

Installed the.new with.only 3 bolts skipping the hard to reach one. Been working great for over 4 years.

 

[Brimley]

This will sound crazy but mine does the same thing but now one of the other levers moves the recline back up. Go figure. Some crazy switch gremlin stuff.

 

[nelsonmr]

My passenger seat was stuck in the normal recline.position. Was not.good with the significant other not being able to lay back. Went on ebay and found a used regulator for about 40 bucks.

Removal of the.old involved only 4 bolts and 1 was in.a.very tight spot.

Installed the.new with.only 3 bolts skipping the hard to reach one. Been working great for over 4 years.

Would you guys change the switch first or the regulator??

 

[MattL]

So I had my incline switch become inoperable last week. Now that I had time I decided to dig into the issue. In my case, much like the OP, the seat back would not incline but would recline. The switch physically felt odd. It sort of snapped in the recline position and would continue without me holding the switch. Then in the incline position I would hear nothing and it wouldn't feel like anything was happening.

So here's what I dug into. I pulled the seat out, pulled off the switch fascia, then pulled off the switch panel. It took some pressing onto the plastic tabs but I was able to get inside the switch housing (breaking some small portions on the way but nothing vital) until I was able to see exactly what was going on. Turns out the switch contact and plastic that moves it was both burnt and melted. I gave the contact a clean and rebuilt the prong on the switch with some plastic that broke upon removing the panel using a solder iron. After reinstalling things weren't quite right due to the new plastic being a bit too big. I pulled it again and shaved down until it was almost identical to the existing prong. Reinstalled everything and now it works just fine.

I hope this helps others as I haven't seen much of a fix for this in threads going back to 2011/2013:
DS Seat will recline, but not move back
Power seats won't incline

 

[MattL]

The final piece with new plastic.

 

[Saito]

The final piece with new plastic.

View attachment 1864717

This was the case with my PS seat too. Stuck reclined for a good 3 months until I tore into it and reformed the plastic like you did. It’s all gtg now. Been ticking again for 2 years and my 3yr loves to move the seats around.

 

[HomersCanyonero]

So I had my incline switch become inoperable last week. Now that I had time I decided to dig into the issue. In my case, much like the OP, the seat back would not incline but would recline. The switch physically felt odd. It sort of snapped in the recline position and would continue without me holding the switch. Then in the incline position I would hear nothing and it wouldn't feel like anything was happening.

So here's what I dug into. I pulled the seat out, pulled off the switch fascia, then pulled off the switch panel. It took some pressing onto the plastic tabs but I was able to get inside the switch housing (breaking some small portions on the way but nothing vital) until I was able to see exactly what was going on. Turns out the switch contact and plastic that moves it was both burnt and melted. I gave the contact a clean and rebuilt the prong on the switch with some plastic that broke upon removing the panel using a solder iron. After reinstalling things weren't quite right due to the new plastic being a bit too big. I pulled it again and shaved down until it was almost identical to the existing prong. Reinstalled everything and now it works just fine.

I hope this helps others as I haven't seen much of a fix for this in threads going back to 2011/2013:
DS Seat will recline, but not move back
Power seats won't incline

View attachment 1864700

View attachment 1864701

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View attachment 1864703

View attachment 1864704

I know this thread is like 5 years old, but thanks for the photos. These photos gave me the insight to disassemble the front passenger seat on my old 1996 FZJ (my son's rig for the last 10 years). The seat was almost fully reclined and my son was driving like that. The seat wouldn't incline at all...no noise at all when you moved the button for the seat to incline back up.

Today 7/30/2023 we disassembled the seat and took great care not to break any tabs or clips (broke one only on the top brown cover). The contacts on those brass tabs were dirty (a little less than these pictures show). Nothing was melted, but some of the plastic teeth were a little shorter on one side (but not bad). We ended up just cleaning everything with rubbing alcohol, q-tips, and a final cleanup with CRC Electronic Cleaner.


We were so happy when the controls worked again and we were able to get the seat to recline and incline. I didn't take pictures, but wanted to say the knowledge base on here is so great. It's way easier to search than FB.