The driver's seat on my 2002 XK8 has developed a problem with the backrest recline mechanism. First it reclined fully and would not respond to the seat switchpack although I could hear a faint buzzing when I operated the switch. I took the seat out and checked the module and was able to repair a slightly damaged trace on the printed circuit board. I reinstalled the seat and the seat is now in the fully upright position, too far forward to drive properly. I have removed the seat and the backrest cover to find that the motor that controls the tilt was very hot so clearly it has power. It looks as though there is a gear reduction mechanism in a black plastic housing that transfers the power from the motor to some sort rotating mechanism that adjust the tilt of the back rest. Has anyone had this problem and could the gear reduction mechanism be jammed or broken?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am an avid reader of this forum and have learned a great deal about the XK8 from it.
Robert

 

Well, I will have to answer my own question and explain what I did. I followed what seems to be the collective wisdom of this group and swapped the passenger seat module and placed it on the driver's seat which immediately operated perfectly I had to install the obviously faulty module in the passenger seat only to have the seat back move up to the most upright position. There must be some defect in the printed circuit that I probably cannot fix wthout some sort of electronic diagnostic information.
I did learn that the only practical way to remove the module is to remove the seat which is easy enough to do, but the seat must have power to do so in order to move the seat fore and aft to reveal the holding down screws.
An interesting way to spend a rare wet Sunday afternoon in Southern California working on a convertible.
Any leads on a reasonably priced replacement module would be greatly appreciated.
Robert

 

Hi Robert,
If you carefully take the cover off the faulty module and inspect the circuit board you may find that one of the leading edge tracks may be damaged.
If it is a track, then you may be able to repair it yourself.

You should also check the micro switch at the back of the seat is working correctly. It is at the back in the bottom corner.

I remember a thread on here with pictures and what you would expect to see. A search in the XK8 forum should find it.

Hope this helps.

 

A break in a circuit board track is the regular issue with the Seat Module.



The module cover has 10 'tongues' which engage with slots in the case. The case is sufficiently flexible to insert a flat bladed screwdriver into the gap and release each 'tongue'.

You'll need good eyesight or a magnifying glass to check the tracks! Easily repaired by soldering a bridge across any break.

Graham

 

Very informative!

I just did my repair on the right seat controller. (passenger seat)
The clear coat over the "tracs" was hiding the breaks. By using a smal skalpel I managed to remove the coate and revealed that the copper had dimolished. Then by soldering in a thin copper core it was working like a sharm! :-) I figured out that the very outer "track" was for the recliner/seat back.

Jon