Moosekeeper

Member
An autosparks has confirmed that the seat ECU on my 1994 Softdash Classic needs to go off for overhaul. So any crafty ways of getting it out with the seat frozen in position? In my case, only the front seat bolts are accessible, the rear two covered by the stuck seat. Only thing that I can think of is to jump power onto to the fore-aft movement motor, assuming I can reach it, to get the seat to move. Anyone else have any better ideas?
Many thanks.
Clive
 
The ECU is only clipped to the underside of the seat cushion with a plastic turnbuckle. You don't need to move the seat to reach it. Stick your hand underneath and you will reach it. There is enough slack on the cable for you to pull it out and disconnect it.
 
If that doesn't work then you can move the seat by using a drill attached to the cables from the seat motors. You'll have to remove the front cover to expose the motors and undoing the drive cables can be a bit testing but from there, it is actually quite easy to move the seat so you can remove it.
 
The ecu is only clipped on but there are some pretty chunky connectors that often don't want to come undone. I've had mine out a few times and even with good access it can be a struggle. I think you'll struggle with the seat in place. I'd go with Kev's answer if you can.
I've had 2 rebuilt and have been told that whilst intricate its fairly basic as pcbs go so I'd look around for electronic companies locally who might be able to help.
Failing that there is a co on the net who deal with Bentleys and they seemed the best rebuild options - period bentleys use the same ecu but they have one under both seats. Alternatively get on ebay.com and buy the wiring for the lhd passenger side seat (so our drivers side). Its the same hard wiring system we have for the passenger one. Seat will work but not the mirrors.
 
Thanks for all that. The mechanic at Williams Classics managed to get the ECU out and I found a firm on the IOW called Avilec Ltd who restore them for £260, inclusive of vat & postage and with a 2 year garantee, turn-around time usually 3-5 days. This was after lots of Googling and prices do vary widely from "new" units for £1K and some recon ones going for £500. And I like the idea of my own unit being rebuilt as we know its history, in a dry, low mileage car which has never had any rough use.
 

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