Power seat motor - possible to have modified?

[GMBoy]

I've worked on this lady's car 2 times in the past 2 years for the same issue...he driver side power seat motor. She is an extremely overweight woman who used the easy exit feature everytime getting in/out of the car. This means that she gets in the car and presses the Driver 1 button and the seat moves to her driving position. Then, getting out she pressed the easy exit button and the seat goes all the way back. This is a lot of power seat use made worse by her weight which I estimate is atleast 400lbs. I replaced the motor last year and now it needs replaced again. I think it's too much use and too much strain.

My question - is it possible to have the motor rebuilt to be stonger instead of just replacing the motor with an equilavent every year? Either a higher torque motor or gear reduction? I also put A LOT of lube on the tracks to help the motor but that is temporary. I checked the seat frame and it is surprisingly not bent.

 

[punisher]

Not really a fix for that.

Truth, I will swear to it: Our new "Assisitant Service Manager" (ombudsman) had a couple on the service drive one morning. They were complaining about the number of times they had to have their seat tracks replaced on their Towncar. This couple had 750 lbs between them easy. With a straight face the manager said "Well, they're not half ton seats you know". The lady started crying, the husband got p***d, the manager stood there with a "What did I say?" look on his face. No repercussions from that episode strangely enough.

I ran into situations like that all the time. I am not a lightweight by any stretch of the imagination, but my power seats still work.

Could voltage drop be causing he motors to overheat?

 

[NHGUY]

Hope she does not keep the car long enough for the floor and seat supports to rust away...that could be a dangerous situation.

I would think the cheaply made motors are to fault themselves.They were never meant for the duty cycle they are being put thru,and they are probably Chinese made to boot.

 

[bdcardinal]

The overweight thing is real hard to deal with. When I worked at Sears we had issues with overweight customers always coming back complaining their alignment was way off. Finally I got permission from management to let one of the customers sit in the drivers seat while I made my adjustments, magically it was perfect.

Are the replacement motors factory or aftermarket? If using aftermarket maybe try using a factory part if still available?

 

[flanso]

Slot car and electric RC car enthusiasts rewind DC motors with longer lengths of finer wire to get more power. A hobby shop could help you identify someone with that skill and perhaps it could be applied to a seat motor.

 

[morris]

yep put a heavy duty motor in, then the wire will over heat and catch on fire, or blow the fuse if your lucky.

 

[mechtech2]

Different gearing is a long shot to implement, but your best bet here.

 

[Stu_Rock]

Maybe putting finned heatsinks on the motor?

This type of issue is getting more and more common. I bet manufacturers feel like they need to use beefier motors in new models, which contributes even more to the alarming rise in vehicle weights.

 

[Trav]

Put a manual seat track in it, a little exercise wont hurt.
Tell her the truth these things are not load tested for that much weight.

 

[Stu_Rock]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Put a manual seat track in it, a little exercise wont hurt.
Tell her the truth these things are not load tested for that much weight.
I doubt there's a manual seat track available for the car. With memory seats and given that it's GMBoy, it sounds like a big H-, G-, K-, or C-body car. I've never seen one with manual seats.

 

[spackard]

Back in the late 70's I remember seeing a few full-size cars outfitted with driver seats that pivoted 90 degrees on a turntable that locked into place at both full-forward and full-sideways.

There may be someone that could fit that type of seat to her car.
http://mobilitysystems.com/products/
The Tummy/Tummy Orbit
Alas, 330 lb weight limit.

 

[Knox]

Originally Posted By: spackard
Back in the late 70's I remember seeing a few full-size cars outfitted with driver seats that pivoted 90 degrees on a turntable that locked into place at both full-forward and full-sideways.

There may be someone that could fit that type of seat to her car.
http://mobilitysystems.com/products/
The Tummy/Tummy Orbit
Alas, 330 lb weight limit.


Swivel bucket seats. I've only over seen one set in person on a 76 monte carlo.

 

[Trav]

Probably true but i was thinking about adapting the passengers seat track from a W body.
A fabrication job for sure.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: spackard

The Tummy/Tummy Orbit
Alas, 330 lb weight limit.

 

[yonyon]

How about opening up the next dead motor to see how it failed?

 

[chrome]

If you can identify the failure, it can go a long way to help improving the motor. Typically for a DC motor, the brushes or commutator wears out. If the brushes are worn, perhaps a set of heavy duty hard wearing brushes may help? An auto electrician can probably give some advice...

 

[SteveSRT8]

In the old days we would simply drop the motor off at the electrical specialist and they would rebuild it to better than new.

Sadly that shop is closed now.

 

[SHOZ]

Use a starter motor.

 

[GMBoy]

All the responses were great! Quite a few comical ones, too LOL! Anyhow - this replacement motor was an OEM unit so this time the lady agreed to let me drop it off at a small electonics shop that rebuilds alternators and such. The guy will root cause the issue and rebuild it using the best components he can. In the mean time, I cleaned up the seat tracks, made sure they were good and level/straight and lubed them. We shall see.

By the way, the car is a Toyota Avalon.

 

[meep]

that's over 1/2 the vehicle's carrying capacity. the car itself is what, 650 lbs?

GMB-- you are doing the best you can by taking the motor to a specialist. I suspect that the above post about brushes/commutator is spot-on. I'd expect brush failure from standard wear and tear-- it's seeing a lot of daily use.

M