Hi Gang,
New member here, just picked up a 2001 xk8 my first jag after years of dreaming.. I love the car, but I'm a bit disappointed that the passenger seat only goes back and forth, no tilt. Has anyone here rebuilt the seat to tilt? I was thinking about just picking up a drivers seat and putting the lower mechanisim into my passenger seat (just rebuilding the seat completely with a drivers seat bottom) , and maybe using my old cover and button assembly for proper placement, maybe seeing if a driver seat switch could be adapted to the passenger side for all the controls to be correct? not sure if this is even possible, just brain storming at the moment. any suggestions greatly appreciated.

MAtt

 

This is not the XK8 forum...one of the moderators may move this post to the correct area.

Probably the easiest way would be to retrofit a used drivers seat from the UK, which is RHD.

 

Hi Gang,
New member here, just picked up a 2001 xk8 my first jag after years of dreaming.. I love the car, but I'm a bit disappointed that the passenger seat only goes back and forth, no tilt, no up and down it does have what looks like all the necessary power buttons ( same arrangement as the drivers side) but the one that lifts the seat on the drivers button assemble only moves back and forth, It appears from my search of this forum that non lift and tilt passenger seat in the XK* is common, and few, if any came with passenger seats that tilt or lift. Has anyone here rebuilt the seat to tilt? I was thinking about just picking up a drivers seat and putting the lower mechanisim into my passenger seat (just rebuilding the seat completely with a drivers seat bottom rack) , and maybe using my old cover and button assembly for proper placement, maybe seeing if a driver seat switch could be adapted to the passenger side for all the controls to be correct? not sure if this is even possible, just brain storming at the moment. any suggestions greatly appreciated.

MAtt
2001 Jaguar XK8
1989 Lincoln Mk VII LSC
1988 Cadillac Allante
1990 Chrysler Imperial

 

Only my opinion, try to find a seat with a manual tilt. You maybe able to swap your covering over if need be, not sure. The power tilt would not be very feasible, wiring may not be there, for sure the module won't. You would be opening up a big can of worms try to install a power tilt seat in a car that doesn't have it already. Others might have a better idea for you. Good luck.

 

Does the seat have the control knob to tilt? The driver seat should have three knobs; F-B/U-D, tilt, and lumbar. If you only have the one knob on the passenger seat, you will have to get a replacement seat, but remember if you get a Driver side seat, the control knobs would be on the Inside part of the seat, against the transmission tunnel. Of course, you could buy a driver side TRACK and hook it to your passenger seat, but then you wouldn't have the Lumbar, and you'd have to get into the harnesses underneath. Not terribly difficult, but necessary. I would, after all that, find a replacement PASSENGER seat with all three options, the UP-DOWN/FWD-BACK knob, the TILT knob, and the LUMBAR knob. Keep in mind that the Lumbar harness runs into the back of the seat where the bladder is located. Since all controls are on the seat itself and power comes from only one source, everything should work if the new seat operates. But, KEEP your old seat control module! They sometimes go bad.... which brings me back to the first part.... if you DO have at least two knobs on your existing seat, maybe the seat module is the culprit. There are threads in the forum on this, usually an easy fix.

 

My wife understands the problem. She is short and would much rather drive then fell like she is sitting in a pit on the passenger side.

Your three switch arrangement on the passenger side sounds like mine. It has everything but lift. The front switch only does front/back, not that plus up/down like the driver's seat. The center switch does the same tilt function and the back the same lumbar.

The frame of the seat is different in that it is a single fixed platform rather than the double configuration with the elevating motor on the driver's side. Don't think modification is an option. (Maybe somebody on the other side of the pond can send you a driver's seat base to use on the right side)

The switches are not interchangeable. Besides being mirror images, the passenger side lacks the contacts on its circuit board for up/down.

The seat modules are interchangeable, which makes easy troubleshooting. Just switch them and see if your tilt works. If not, it might be the circuit board foil cracking where the connectors attach. The repair is shown somewhere on the forum.

If not the module, the switch is difficult to remove without breaking the mounting tabs. You might want to identify the appropriate wires going into the module connector and jump them there to isolate whether the switch or motor is malfunctioning.

I think you will solve the tilt issue, the up/down is a whole different problem.

 

You being in the US, could try sourcing a driver's seat from UK, Japan, NZ or Aus.
Should then be an easy swap!