Installing 12-Way Power Seats

[Diesel]

Has anyone had any success in installing these in a vehicle with 6-ways? Also want to know about swapping bench seats for buckets.

 

[convoyduel]

The 12 ways physically bolt right in where the 6 way seats were. The same goes for swapping a 2nd row bench for factory second row captains chairs. The only thing about the 2nd row swap is that the second row plastic carpeted floor panel cover is unique to a bench. Captains have a 2 piece cover. The carpeting is the same for bench or captains chairs.

Wiring the 12 way seats is more complicated. Harnesses are drastically different and wiring size, color and quantity do not match. I should have a wiring schematic posted this weekend. Heat and memory functions are not easy to do for a vehicle that didn't have the factory harnesses and door switches installed.

 

[Diesel]

So it is possible then. What do you do for the passenger side if it doesn't have power at all.

 

[convoyduel]

Yes it is possible, and not that overly difficult if you are just worrying about the power functions and not heat/memory.

In short, the "power" wire (12V main) is larger gauge redish-pink, possibly with a white stripe (varies on some vehicles). That's the main power for the motors at the driver's seat harness and is present in all GM's with power seats. It's pretty easy to notice as it is 12 or 14 gauge while the rest of the wires are 18 guage. In the LS and vehicles without a power passenger seat, there is no 12V power wire to the passenger seat. Your options are to either run a new 12V lead from the battery or use a automotive grade jumper to pull power off of the main wire at the driver's harness. If you jumper the wire at the harness, I do not recommend operating both power seats simultaneously, although the wire is fused. Plan your circuits and mods ahead of time, because if you are adding a center console to replace the center jump seat, you will need a good 12V supply for that as well for the cigar lighter circuit in the console.

The hassle on these comes in when you have to tie-in the wires for seat belts, weight sensors and system logic functions. As I posted elsewhere, the wire colors do not match up. I believe the LS has a 6 wire harness on the driver side and a 4 or 5 wire harness on the passenger side. The 12 way seats have a 30+ wire harness on each side. You also have to run a new ground wire for the passenger seat motors.

If the new 12 ways are being pulled from a donor vehicle, it is best to cut wires on the vehicle side of the harness about 12 inches back, just removing the harness at the connector leaves you with no real option to connect the seat harness to the vehicle. GM uses a unique wire terminal on these wires that you don't find in a store, so it is just as easy to join wires by soldering and heat shrinking new terminals onto both the seat wire and the vehicle wire.

The major problem with the heat and memory functions is that they are controlled by a computer located in the bottom cushion of the driver's seat. That controller is integrated into the vehicle logistics and LAN, so it does not operate on just 12V alone.

Whenever you are messing around with these, you have to be very careful of the small green wires that are everywhere as those are the LAN system. Hack one of those and you will start to have all sorts of things go haywire. I would suspect that many of the problems listed on this board relating to accesory function "happenings" are related to interference in those wires somewhere.

 

[convoyduel]

To wire the 12-way seats, the following wires must be connected at a minimum:

(the first wire listed is the wire color from the body side harness and the second wire is the wire color and pin position on the 12 way seat harness)

Driver's side:

Green to Green A6
Brown/White to Brown/White A5
2 small red wires to 3 small red wires A3, A8 and A11
Black to Black B8
Large Red/White to Large Red/White A7


Passenger Side:
New 12V Power (Red) to Red/White B9
New Ground (Black) to Black A9
green to green A10
orange to orange A5
black/white to black/white B3
small red to small reds in both B5 and B6 position
red/white to red/white B2

The power and ground (B9 and A9) wires for the passenger seat have to be added by the installer. The power wire for B9 can be split off from the A7 power wire on the driver's seat side, but doing so may draw too much current for simultaneous use. Running a separate 12 V lead fused at the battery is another option. The ground wire A9 on the passenger side can be run to any ground point, body bolt or even the seat base mount, but be sure you have metal-to-metal contact.

The other mess of wires in each harness are for the door mounted memory position switches and heated seat functions. The memory wires in the harness also control memory positions for adjustable front pedals. In purchasing a 12-way seat, you are getting the brains for the memory and heat functions, so all you are missing is the switches with logic circuit function.

Also, please note that the wire sheating color varies slightly from vehicle to vehicle, meaning the pigmentation of the color may be off a bit, complicating matters when you get to red and pink, dark and light green, etc.

I hope this helps a bit. Good luck.

 

[rahrens]

Wow! I picked up some seats a year ago and haven't found any info to get them connected. Thanks for the info Diesel. You said that the brains are in the seats and all that is needed are the switches. Would if be feasible to run the required wiring from the doors to the seats? I will be very happy with just the power features, but more is always better if it's not too difficult. Thanks for the info.

 

[convoyduel]

Is it possible, yes. The amount of work on this depends on what you already have. I would not attempt the heat and memory function on this without the factory switches on the door handles. Depending on the quality of the new door panel, you may or may not have a good run of wire to get you back through the base of the A pillar. I am also not sure of the impacts of not having the adjustable pedals on the logic circuit.

I cannot stress enough how unforgiving these vehicles are with the LAN circuits. Get the wrong thing connected up and you're really looking for trouble.

I'll get around to decoding the rest of the wiring on the 12-way harness and post them as well. All of the information comes from the factory wiring diagrams. Unfortunately though, the diagrams do not show the plugs in question. Each circuit has to be traced based on the diagram for the particular system.

 

[rahrens]

I certainly don't want to go overboard trying to get these seats to work. I wanted to upgrade to leather and thought getting the additional power seat options would be a plus. When the connectors turned out to be completely different, it looked like I wasn't going to have any luck. Your info was the first I found to get them working. Getting the door switches that match the seats would be possible, but I wouldn't have the correct wiring running from the switches to the seats. When it warms up a little, I'll rig together a jumper to see if I can get the power functioning. Thanks for the help. I'll post an update after I give it a try.

 

[Jimzrx1]

wouldnt it be easier to purchase the correct wiring harness

 

[bacin87]

Any one accomplish this yet?

I know this post is alittle old but has anyone been abled to tackle this issue? I bought a 2007 a few months back and want to do this.

 

[wkbrdjeff]

Haw anyone had success with this? I have a 2008 Tahoe PPV and purchased a leather interior from another 2008 tahoe. The plugs are different, my new seats have memory and heaters. I do not need those functions, i just want the seats to move back and forth. I tried what is suggested above, but it seems like the driver and passenger seats need to be connected to each other possibly, drivers seat has 32 wires and passenger seat has 16 wires. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Jesse Tahoe]

Also looking for heat and memory wiring help

I also have an 07 PPv Tahoe which I would like to put 12 way seats and console in aswell I have power folding heated second row seats that I wouldn't mind if those options were available to use. I have a line on a 09 Denali with all the rest of the bits I may need. Not afraid of adding a new circuit or 2 and running non oem controls as long as it works I already wired up the movement of the seats from previous posters instructions. Any help would be most appreciated :gm:
Jesse

 

[arad_na64]

I`m Arad and need help for install two electrical front seat of 2007-2013 chevy tahoe or suburban or avalanche. I have some question about that and wiil be happy if some one can help me on this way.

1- Can I have wiring diagram of front seats? (picture attached) link of pictures: http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages...,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0&format=0

2- I checked socket of seats and find two bigger wire(Red/white and black). I think main power wires are them. But when I connect 12v adapter to wires nothing happened and no movement.

3- I know the seats have many function. But I need anly movement and heat/cool function.

Thanks for reading my post.

Arad

P.s: sorry for my bad english

 

[mikemjohnson]

If i was putting 07+ heated leather seats in my 1991 1500 Regular Cab, base no power anything, all I need to worry about is wiring up a few wires for the power functions, correct? Just jump a 12V source into those, and good to go?

 

[2002yukonxl]

To wire the 12-way seats, the following wires must be connected at a minimum:

(the first wire listed is the wire color from the body side harness and the second wire is the wire color and pin position on the 12 way seat harness)

Driver's side:

Green to Green A6
Brown/White to Brown/White A5
2 small red wires to 3 small red wires A3, A8 and A11
Black to Black B8
Large Red/White to Large Red/White A7


Passenger Side:
New 12V Power (Red) to Red/White B9
New Ground (Black) to Black A9
green to green A10
orange to orange A5
black/white to black/white B3
small red to small reds in both B5 and B6 position
red/white to red/white B2

The power and ground (B9 and A9) wires for the passenger seat have to be added by the installer. The power wire for B9 can be split off from the A7 power wire on the driver's seat side, but doing so may draw too much current for simultaneous use. Running a separate 12 V lead fused at the battery is another option. The ground wire A9 on the passenger side can be run to any ground point, body bolt or even the seat base mount, but be sure you have metal-to-metal contact.

The other mess of wires in each harness are for the door mounted memory position switches and heated seat functions. The memory wires in the harness also control memory positions for adjustable front pedals. In purchasing a 12-way seat, you are getting the brains for the memory and heat functions, so all you are missing is the switches with logic circuit function.

Also, please note that the wire sheating color varies slightly from vehicle to vehicle, meaning the pigmentation of the color may be off a bit, complicating matters when you get to red and pink, dark and light green, etc.

I hope this helps a bit. Good luck.

I know that this is an old post, but I havent found a better one around. I followed these instructions exactly, and I have full movement on the passenger seat, but nothing on the drivers side. I also have an airbag light on. Passenger gound and 12v are jumped off the driver side so I believe those to be good. Has anyone else had success with this? Any idea on where to start with troubleshooting?

 

[JoeD]

I just finished doing the swap in my 2007 Tahoe.

The instructions towards the beginning of this worked for the passanger side but the driver side was incorrect.

Instead of the 3 little red wires you need just the one red wire w/ white stripe, follow the rest of the instructions and you are good to go!

Hope this helps

 

[2002yukonxl]

I just finished doing the swap in my 2007 Tahoe.

The instructions towards the beginning of this worked for the passanger side but the driver side was incorrect.

Instead of the 3 little red wires you need just the one red wire w/ white stripe, follow the rest of the instructions and you are good to go!

Hope this helps

I tried this method as well and still have the same issue, check airbag light and no movement on driver side. Passenger side works great via the jumper.

I did notice that there are 2 small red wires on the vehicle side harness in the same pin (the one that gets connected to the red/white stripe), is that what everyone else sees?

 

[2002yukonxl]

On second thought, is anyone aware of a way to temporarily jump this thing so I can get the seat where I want it and leave it there for the time being?

 

[carson]

To wire the 12-way seats, the following wires must be connected at a minimum:

(the first wire listed is the wire color from the body side harness and the second wire is the wire color and pin position on the 12 way seat harness)

Driver's side:

Green to Green A6
Brown/White to Brown/White A5
2 small red wires to 3 small red wires A3, A8 and A11
Black to Black B8
Large Red/White to Large Red/White A7


Passenger Side:
New 12V Power (Red) to Red/White B9
New Ground (Black) to Black A9
green to green A10
orange to orange A5
black/white to black/white B3
small red to small reds in both B5 and B6 position
red/white to red/white B2

The power and ground (B9 and A9) wires for the passenger seat have to be added by the installer. The power wire for B9 can be split off from the A7 power wire on the driver's seat side, but doing so may draw too much current for simultaneous use. Running a separate 12 V lead fused at the battery is another option. The ground wire A9 on the passenger side can be run to any ground point, body bolt or even the seat base mount, but be sure you have metal-to-metal contact.

The other mess of wires in each harness are for the door mounted memory position switches and heated seat functions. The memory wires in the harness also control memory positions for adjustable front pedals. In purchasing a 12-way seat, you are getting the brains for the memory and heat functions, so all you are missing is the switches with logic circuit function.

Also, please note that the wire sheating color varies slightly from vehicle to vehicle, meaning the pigmentation of the color may be off a bit, complicating matters when you get to red and pink, dark and light green, etc.

I hope this helps a bit. Good luck.

HELP!

I know this is an old post, but I am in the middle of this right now (wifes car can't move). I do not have a little red wire on the drivers side of the vehicle harness. I have a big red, big black, green, tan with white, and BLUE. On the seat side, A3, A8, and A11 are red, blue and yellow. I tried connecting it per above, just subbing the blue for the red on the vehicle side, and I get nothing. I haven't tried the passenger side yet. I can post pictures if needed.

Please help me ASAP.

Thank you,
Carson

 

[Ryan Dietrich]

Ok
Might be a loss cause but I searched this today, was n a stump when my driver side didn’t wrk. Did some more researching and I got it. So I jumped hot n ground from driver to passenger. I still have to wire up the seat belt on that side.
Far as the driver.... there’s two red w/ white stripe wires that goes to the red on the 5 wire side, the thick pink ( seat belt ) goes to the thin pink wire on 5 wire side, brown w/ white stripe goes to brown w/ white stripe, thicker green goes to green on 5 wire side and lastly the thick pink from 5 wire side ( ground ) goes to thick black on seat side. And boom... done. This took me all damn day to figure. Now make sure it’s good on urs before u bolt everything back in. The new seat has an airbag that needs to be wired up, reason for the service airbag light.
Basically if u wanna make sure ur good just trace the airbag, and seat belt wires and the rest is golden.