Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Seat Rails / SVT Power Seat / Electrical System

Sorry this is long, I just can't seem to tell a short story...
My SVT had the problem with the driver's seat wobbling, so I mentioned it to the dealer the last time the car was in for its 30k service and they ordered new seat rails.
So I picked up the car this morning and the sheet they gave me said the installed the new seat rails, then after that it described a problem that a fuse was blowing whenever they reclined the seat. The next entry on the sheet says they checked out some wiring and found some sliced wires (which I'm guessing happened during the install of the new rails?) and fixed those and reinstalled the seat.

Well there is still at least two problems, one minor, one major so the car is back at the dealer tonight and I'm driving a rent-a-speck (at their expense) for the next few days.

The first thing (and minor unless they don't fix it) is that the long bottom switch on the power seat is operating in reverse of what it should in regards to raising and lowering the seat. If you tilt the front end of it up, the front of the seat goes down, etc.
So I show this to one of the service techs and he starts explaining that there is a plug that only goes one way on the switches and there is no way they can fix this and that is just how the car is and that the seat is moving so it is working fine and on and on... After a polite but long argument explaining the car was not like that before they worked on it, that if it wasn't the switch that something was in fact wired backwards and that no ford car with a properly operating power seat works like that and that they better fix it he finally writes it down with a question mark on the sheet and doubtful look..

The second thing that happened was after I originally picked up the car (having already noticed the seat and figuring it was the sort of thing that could wait till I had to bring the car in again), and got to work and then left for lunch again. The car had heated up some so I flipped on the A/C and turned the fan to the second highest setting. It ran for about a second and then completely shut off, seemingly blowing one of the fuses that controls the fan.
The other hvac controls worked (I could hear the vents switching) but the fan knob now did nothing and no fan came on.

In the dealers defense they took the car back today, after originally saying I should wait until Friday or Saturday. I insisted I would not be driving around a car with no air, no defrost and no telling what other electrical problems for that long. And they put me up in a rental car, which is the second rental car I've had in two weeks paid for by a ford dealer, but that's a different story, different car, and different dealer...

Sooo I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on what could be wrong with the seat (and why the dealer is full of **** about it), and how the fan fuse could be related because I'm sure it is. It could be an extremely unlikely coincidence but I've never had any electrical problems before and it sounds like they really botched something up with the seat wiring.

The service guy was also of course insisting the fan switch was not related since the seat still worked. I of course said otherwise.

I'd appreciate some more input on this and something better to tell them other than 'I know you @$#%$ed this up but I can't tell you how.'

Thanks..

-CtrAltDel

Boy, it sounds like your dealer and my dealer are related somehow. But on the plus side, you seemed to have handled the situation properly. I can only suggest that you don't accept the car back in less than the condition it went in. As a last resort, call the ford 800 number from the dealer, and wait on the line until you get some satisfaction.

Good Luck!

Well your right about seat; either factory wired it wrong or dealer when repairing sliced wires. Either way it's their's to fix.

There have been recalls on both fan (blower) switch and blower resistors. I don't know if they apply to your '00, check with dealer. I think this must be coincidental problem, since I see no commonality between seat and heater circuits on my '97 wiring diag.

And this is one of the better ford dealers in town. Their service has been excellent in the past (for ford service). Most of the dealers in town I've been to before and won't set foot in again.
I didn't see any recalls (or tsb's even) on the 2000's relating to the blower or blower switch. I'm thinking even if there isn't direct links between the system they could have indirectly bumped or disturbed or broke something else in the repair that affected the blower circut. They were moving the seat in and out of the car, playing with the fusebox, stuff like that who knows.
I'm thinking while they're paying for the rental they'll have incentive to get this fixed soon. I expect to hear from them today and I'll update the thread when I do.

Unrelated but I saw my first SVT Focus when I took the car back yesterday. It was sitting in a service bay with the temp tags still on. *snicker*

-CtrAltDel

Thanks for the input guys.

Talked to the dealer this morning. I was right on both counts. The wiring on the seat was backwards - he said he was mistaken that they only plug in one way. As for the blower switch, he said they take all the fuses out to test the electrical system (!) and they switched the 10 and 30 amp fuses when they put them back..
I'll be picking it up over my lunch break today.

-CtrAltDel