switch removal

Maybe some of the mat got wrapped up in the mechanism and is keeping it from rotating. I recently had a similar issue on my m3. I pulled the seat out and played around with the motor and shaft. Removed the shaft and ran the motor back and forth a bunch of times. It needed some help getting started. Lubed it, and it started working normally again. It may have stiff grease that needs attention from limited use.

When I got my 355 the windows were really slow, they got better the more I used them. Still slow, but not painful. IMO, my 355 does a lot better the more I drive it. Whenever it sits for an extended period of time, it punishes me with some little issue like you have.

 

I fight this issue all the time, and I only win 50% of the times.

There is only 1 motor for each Spider seat and it only moves the seat front and back. It is totally controlled by the top ECU in the rear of the center console. The switch merely sends a signal the ECU to "ask" for it to turn on the relay.

There are a dozen reasons why the seat will not move ... here are some I have fought:

1. Motor drive tips have fallen out of its position
2. Seat is not aligned on top of its two slider plates
3. Spider top is not totally up or down position
4. ECU board is burned
5. Some random bits have caught itself in the sliding mechanism
6. Bad seat potentiometer

About the only way to recover from this is to apply 12 directly to the motor under the seat to move it front or back. Only do this after you have disconnect the top ECU board.

It is possible that you can apply 12V directly to the motor of that seat using the connector at the ECU board. You do have to figure out which 2 pins to apply voltage to. That is the hard part because no one I know has a schematic to that ECU. And, I did not keep notes of which 2 pins those are.

Sorry, no great news, I am afraid. The bit of good news is I have never seen a "bad" seat motor, just other things. So, if you can apply voltage to it, it will move.

 

Great info, yelcab.

So it's unlikely that there are external relays (which could be interchanged for faultfinding)? Those motors look pretty heavy duty. I thought a small control box might not be able to handle the currents for such motors.

I don't suppose the motors have resettable thermal trips? I'm wondering how they react to jams.

 

The relays are on the ECU board, and you can change them. I do not believe the motors have reset thermal trip. They just hum when jam.

 

Thanks!

I also found this message thread in the meantime which may or may not help Steve...

F355 Spider Power Seat Issue - FerrariChat.com

 

Did you fix the pot or replace it. Inquiring minds want to know.