Drivers Power Seat Control Issue

New member here. I hope this is the right section for my question. I just had my drivers seat reupholstered in my 996. Now the up/down seat control appears to be reversed. When you push the lever down the seat goes up and when you pull lever up the seat goes down. My immediate thought is they must have reveresed the wires when they removed and reinstalled the control. Before I start taking things apart, I would like to ask the experts here what the solution is. Thanks in advance.

1) Take it back to them and have them fix it. 2) Sounds like the wires are reversed. Raise the seat so you can access the controller screws, reverse the connections for the up/down seat control, check it works right and reinstall the screws. Simple enough.

Thanks will try it.

Quotes source post: 19865585

I just bought a 996, private party, at the end of December and it had a similar issue of reversed controls. I'll be curious to see what you learn on this one.

Quotes source post: 19866195

Be extra careful when removing the ***** because the unit uses super small springs that function to return the ***** to a neutral position. If you're not careful when pulling the ***** off, you'll yank them loose and they'll fly off. Obviously, they're about impossible to find when they shoot out. Without them, the **** will not work correctly and can NOT order them from Porsche. Word to the wise! When I have my seats reupholstered I told the shop to NOT touch with the seat adjustment unit because of this risk. I carefully removed the ***** myself and then taped the control board to protect the switches and those wicked little springs. When I got the seats back, I carefully cut the hole the seat adjustment unit and remounted the panel and *****.

The seat up/down **** is in the correct position. It is not reversed or upside down and I don't know why they would have removed it to begin with. They would have just unscrewed the control panel, pulled it out, and pushed it through a hole in the new seat bottom leather and serewed it back in. Or maybe they unplugged the control panel, upholstered the seat bottom then resintalled the control panel. When I look at pictures of the back of the panel, it appears to be a wring harness with a plastic connector. I have never seen a Porsche connector that could be plugged in reversed. They only go in one way. I can't figure out what the upholsery shop could have possibly done to cause this issue.

What type of seat do you have? I have full power with memory, so the seat control plugs into the memory unit under the seat. And yeah, you can't get it wrong. But if you don't have memory or just a basic seat the wires, it is different. Especially, if you just have the basic seat. With the basic seat the controls only have the two power and ground (red & brown) wires and they have to be extracted from the main seat plug under the seat to remove the seat control. You can certainly get them reversed when reinstalling the seat controls. That might be causing your problem.

I have the same seat as in your picture with memory and seat heaters.

ok, you have a full comfort seat w/memory. Which controls are malfunctioning and how? Choices are: Seat bottom front (up/down) Seat bottom rear (up/down) Longitudinal (forward/rearward) Seat backrest angle (up/down) Lumbar (Heat heating wiring is totally separate)

Quotes source post: 19871746

I have a new-to-me 996. It has all of the controls except for the circular one in your picture.... and I'm experiencing similar issues as JMS1275. Out of all of your choices the only one that is working for me is Longitudinal controls .... but it only moves forward/back for about 1/4 of what the travel should be. Because I'm tall, I can still drive the car, comfortably, in the limited range of travel that I have. I have not yet removed the seat to investigate.

Newbyan, the round button is Lumbar. So you likely only have "full power" seats. Do you have memory? - the buttons on the threshold? Full power seats usually do not have memory. That is important as the wiring is very different for the different for each type of seat. Also, JMS's seats were working and now, after recovering, they aren't. We can surmise that the motors are all good, etc. Troubleshooting will follow a certain path. Your situation is totally different. Could be anything. I recommend you get this sorted out soonest as you must be able to move the seat forward and back to get the seat unbolted. Finally, because you situation is different, I recommend starting a separate thread. I'd add in all detail you can about your seat configuration and explain exactly what the problems are.

First, thanks for the help. The only controls that are reversed are both front and back up/down. All others are operating correctly.

It would seem to me then that this is a seat control to memory unit problem and not a memory unit to motor problem. The seat control to memory unit connection is a 3 piece plug near the middle of the memory unit. The three pieces/connectors are, left to right (see photo) white/blue/black Looking at the wiring diagrams it looks like the wires corresponding to your problem are in the blue and black connectors. And looking at the plugs, it looks like you can actually change the arraignments of the connectors and still have them go into the socket. (I didn't think that possible.) Check the connectors and see if your seat cover guys changed the order. I think they swapped the blue and black connectors.

I will try it and let you know the result.

I did a thread awhile back on my seat memory module. I had some good pics and diagrams in there. I'll try to find it. I finally determined that, after installing a new battery, my seat memory module refused to come back to life. Fortunately the seat positions are exactly where I want them. I even went as far as undoing the white clips under the front of the seat to lift the entire seat bottom up so I could check all the wiring, motors and seat controls. It came down to no signal/voltage from the seat memory module to any motor or switch. At roughly $2500 to replace I simply gave up. Since the seat will not move forward or backwards, I would have to rig up a power cable and operate the motors manually in order to remove the whole seat. I'm industrious but not that industrious. I guess from all the recent seat threads that we are now getting to know another area of faults in our 20+ year old cars. Here is my other thread on seat problems, pics and diagrams https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...-no-power.html

Quotes source post: 19871937

thank you keywest996! Based on what you have stated, I have some kind of miss match�. I do have memory buttons but no lumbar switch. I will start a new thread.