[tjs72lemans]

As I was working on the interior, the seat lock solenoids kept clicking. I usually disconnected power to keep them from working. Now, they quit working and the seats are unlocked. I know the fuse is good, because I'm working the power top up and down occasionally and power door locks work.. Did I burn something out?

[gto4evr]

the door switches for the seat solenoids work differently than the switches for the dome light as they jump 12v in the door open position to hold the solenoids open to unlock the seat, they don't ground the circuit like the dome lights. if the seats are staying unlocked that means they're still seeing 12v and one of the switches is thinking the doors open when it's closed. disconnect your battery and see that the seats should be locked. sounds like you've got a bad switch...and good luck finding them. I gave up on the extra setup I had that's missing them. though I did think up a way around it by just using the door jamb switch circuit to ground a relay supplying 12v to the solenoids just never got around to building it.

[tjs72lemans]

The battery disconnected, the seats are still unlocked.

[tjs72lemans]

Could the relay be burned out or would the seats be locked if that was the case?

[gto4evr]

let me dig out my extra pair to look at, but as far as I remember the function, there's a spring that holds them in the locked position all the time and the solenoids pull them open when powered. without power they should be returning to the locked position and even if they were both burned out, I can't see how they'd stay open against the spring tension. and it's highly unlikely you got both of them burned out.

the set in my car right now, one struggles a bit and makes a buzzing noise fighting against the spring, and if you just press the manual release button in to help it, the noise goes away and it stays unlocked indicating to me that the solenoid's just weak.

It just doesn't make sense that they're both staying unlocked with your battery disconnected. maybe it's binding somehow on the slider?

[tjs72lemans]

Thanks for checking. I'd rather have them stuck locked and manually flip seats with button if have to. Not sure why they both quit functioning when they were both working as should be.

[gto4evr]

okay, my memory's a bit skewed on "the spring" but it does work against spring tension.

my guess is one of two things. one, the pivot brackets are rusty and not allowing the flap bracket to return to the locked position with it's spring. I circled the pivot bracket in the first picture. When the solenoid activates, it pulls down on that bracket which pivots against that little arm with clear plastic sleeve on it and simulates pressing the release flap that the manual button pushes against. this pulls the inner bracket away from the catching edge allowing the internal slider to pull down out of the toothed edge (basically it works the same as a seat belt does)

so either those brackets are stiff and not allowing the spring on the button to push it back, or the spring is broken in that flapper. Or I guess a third possible issue is the flapper is frozen up on it's pivot rod.

Do you have the seat back and button off? if not, when you press the seat button in, does it feel like it has any tension beyond it's own internal little spring within the button itself?

Third picture, I pulled the locking slider out from inside and put it side by side so you could see what goes on. normally that piece with the rectangular hole slides up through the inside of the mechanism to be captured by the little angled shelf that the flapper normally pushes against to lock it in place when the seat's back (just like a seat belt buckle)

I think you need to get your seat backs off to see what's going on mechanically. it's gotta be a mechanical bind with some rust or something locking up either the flapper or the pivot bracket holding it in the open position. I guess the possibility does exist that somehow the solenoids pulled down and are somehow stuck but I can't see how. worst case if that is the issue, you can remove the solenoid from the bracket with the two screws and the mechanism will still function as a regular manual bracket.

[tjs72lemans]

I do remember watching how the solenoid works when I had the seats apart when I recovered them last year. Everything was smooth and functioning fine and nothing was rusty or sticking. I may have to pull the backs off to see what I can. The odd thing is, they both worked and now both don't work at the same time. If one was acting up, I could understand a manual malfunction. It's very hot and humid today, but I'll go out in the morning to investigate. Thanks for your help thus far.

[tjs72lemans]

I didn't pull the backs off yet. It's still pretty warm and humid here. I did notice with my push buttons off the rear seat backs, the metal piece inside is still pushed in on both seats. Not sure why they are not releasing with battery disconnected. In worse case scenario, I will disconnect relay so no power goes to relay and try to unlock both seats and just use manual function.

[gto4evr]

well, with power disconnected, they've got to be hung up. even with the seat backs still on, you should be able to reach back there with an L shaped pick and catch the top of the release lever and pull it forward towards you, if they were just working a while ago, no way they could be stuck so hard that you shouldn't be able to pull them up. then, if it is the solenoids jammed in the down position somehow, now that they're unpowered, you pulling up the lever should allow normal manual control again. if you can pull them up, and then push them down and they stick down, then it can't be the solenoid and must be in the actual mechanism.

hopefully you have a pick handy to test, I need to know!

[tjs72lemans]

Got it!
I could not pull the lever back. So, off came the driver seat back panel. I looked for a bit as to why it was lodged. Then I noticed a screw stuck between the lever mechanism on top. Got the needle nose and magnet and fished it out and the lever snapped back to lock the seat back. Woohoo!
I recovered these seats (2 years ago), and I must've dropped one of the two top seat back cover screws in the hole and couldn't find it. Got it now!
Both sides released once the driver side was free.
Thanks for pointers and help.

[Jimbobeast]

Does your car have 2 door jamb switches in each door?