Memory seats
 

Hello guys, today I noticed that my 3 memory seats small buttons are not properly functioning anymore, I can move the seat perfectly fine like it should in every position with the big knobs, but when pressing the small buttons to move the seat into a preset memory position (one of the 3 little buttons) it doesn't do anything. But funny thing is, it works setting new memory positions (pressing M button and then one of the 3 little buttons) because I can hear the beep which confirms the new set position. As far as I can see, I can set new memory positions but when I press one of the 3 buttons to move into one of the new positions, it does nothing, even though all the motors work properly when pressing the big knobs to move the seat in any way I want, any ideas?

Also to notice that Toaf and Delphi diagnosing shows no errors regarding this matter.

Sounds like k buds issue...
Pull the battery negative for 30 mins.
If that does not fix it check the wiring under the drivers seat. .

And what should I do about the "k buds" besides the battery reset for 30 mins?

Also, tried looking under the seat but I can't properly see or understand a single thing that's going on under there... btw today I noticed that when I keep pressing on a big knob to move a part of the seat, in the meanwhile if I press one of the 3 little memory position buttons, the seat stops moving even though I still keep pressing on the big knobs, so it kind of receives the button pressed signal but doesn't send it forward to the ecu or motors or wherever that signal should go to...

Maybe it has to do with the fact that I installed an aftermarket car amp (360w RMS) in the boot and ran the power wire near the driver's seat under the floor carpet (near the door sills)? I was very careful while running the cable and neither touched any other cables that were already there nor disturbed anything that was in place... And even if I would've touched anything, that cable bundle under the carpet at the driver's side seat would be impossible to move in such ways that it would unconnect anything from the position where I was running the new cable under the carpet, the floor carpet is very thick and it wouldn't let things move so easily under it...

Tried reconnecting the battery after almost 1 hour, still nothing, I would start checking under the sear or elsewhere if I'd have a clue where to look at :shrug:

Just unplug all of the connections and make sure they are all clean...

Are the seats original to the car or added later.?

Have you added or taken away any other parts.?

If a tourer... Is there water in the wheel well in the back?

1. Did the memory buttons ever work?


2. Are you sure the three positions memorised are not the same positions?
It will beep a few times, if it is already in the correct position, or once it has reached its new position.

klarzy, the seats are original and no, I haven't added or taken away any other parts. I just installed the amp in the boot, and I have a saloon, but still, what's the thing about water in the wheel well, do you mean in the spare wheel place? Anyways, in the boot or in the spare wheel place there are no signs of water at all, are there somewhere connectors that has to do with the seats?

Harry, yes, the memory button were working perfectly fine, even though I don't use them all the time because I am the only driver of the car, and that's why I don't know how long they haven't been working and of it has to do something with the amp installing. And thing is, for the 3 buttons I always set different positions, it beeps when I memorise them, but when I press a button to go into the already set positions, it does neither beep nor move the seat to the set positions.

Hi Rsnail

The memory seats controller is connected to the k-bus communications network in the car as are most of the systems.

If the k-bus is disturbed my short circuit, water ingress or items removed from the system or added... like a radio or amplifier.. this can stop the complete system from working correctly.

The reason for asking with the spare wheel well is there is sometimes some control units for Sat nav or stereo in this place... water collects here and causes a problem... this is usually in estate cars though..

I would lift the seat and check the wiring is good on the black connector from the car floor and into the switches themselves behind the seat panel...

Also try unplugging your amplifier and taking the battery off again for 30 minutes... If your amp wiring is causing an issue then the seat may start working again and you know where the problem is...

Well, regarding the sat nav, I pulled the the navigation unit halfway out it's retaining "cage" in the boot, I did this in order to be able to move the black boot wall cover for finding a good earth connection for the amp, maybe I disconnected a connector behind the sat nav that also has to do with this k bus system? I really have no idea, hence my question, actually I have never ever used the original sat nav of the car, never put a cd in it and was also never able to turn it on because on my old symphony unit the buttons for the sat nav were dead... Will try my luck tomorrow for the connectors under the seat and disconnecting the amp and the battery again for half an hour, thanks for now! I'll come tomorrow back here with an answer :bowdown:

Tried again the battery trick with the amp completely disconnected, not a single thing changed... Looked in the boot spare wheel well and I can't see ANY connector in there, just a rubber grommet and a cable bundle going through it kind of on the left outer car part of the well, also, no signs of water in there. Also, pulled the cover away from the right side of the boot, and noticed that there are 2 connector that are not connected to anything, one blue and one red, they have the same shape as the 2 that go into the sat nav unit, those are also there and connected to the sat nav, one blue and one pink, but I never touched them before and the seats were also working properly so I don't think it has something to do with that.

I looked again at all points where I ran the cables for the amp when installing it, all looks clean to me so I'm kinda standing here clueless and it's really annoying :o

EDIT: Looked a little bit deeper into the RAVE CD for the memory seats system description and figured out some things, the communication between the 3 memory push buttons and the seat memory ECU is intact, because 1st: it can store new memory positions, and 2nd: did a seat memory self test mode and that also confirmed that the buttons are communicating with the ECU. Now, the problem is, as far as I can see, the ECU receives the command from one of the 3 push buttons when they are pushed, but somehow, doesn't send it forward to the motors, also, if a relay inside the ECU would be faulty, it says that it would show on diagnostics, and I am pretty sure that either my Toaf or Delphi would've picked them up. Another thing that I don't know, is that the ECU communicates with the BCU also, but doesn't state for what, my guess is that only for the lazy seats part of the system, because the memory seat positions are stored in the seat memory ECU, and also, regarding the K bus, how can I know if that really is the issue for my problem? Can I measure the K bus wire somehow and tell if it works by measuring it's voltage for example? And also, what is the role of the K bus wire for the memory seats in my case and what would happen if it wouldn't work properly?

AFAIK the k-Bus is used to take the remote signal from the EWS / remote receiver and tell the memory seat ECU which key is being used to open the door and thus which default position to move the seat into.

if the only think you have done is fit an amplifier then please recheck the wiring connections as a voltage drop may be causing this...
IIRC if the kbus voltage goes too low then it stops communicating and may cause issues with windscreen wipers and indictors etc...

the car stereo is also on the k-bus so this is possibly the root of an issue if the wrong wire is connected

I have a similar issue (going on for two years now - I am not that bothered that the memory doesnt work, since I am the sole driver)

After discovering the wiring present, I obtained and fitted a set of electric memory seats. (into a mk2 ZT diesel auto). I have an aftermarket stereo initially Kenwood, and latterly Alpine, with a single 4 channel amp. The seats were fitted after the amp and Kenwood stereo. They were plug and play. Memory, heat and electric operation were all fully operational. They still operated after the Alpine was installed, and power cable for the amp re routed.

I assume them to have remained operational until I had the crank pulley and injectors replaced. I know it was put onto a T4 at the time, as the map was adjusted. It was about a fortnight after I discovered the memory was not operational. I didnt contact the guy that did the work (he is a very trustworthy and capable specialist) as since it didnt bother me, I didnt want to disturb him lol, and besides I can assume it just as possible to be a coincidence.

I have read up, and it seems the memory ECU can be a possible issue - non memory apparently do not have the ECU (?). A couple of weeks ago, I serviced it, and resetting the oil service indicator with Phil's IPK tool, I started up TOAF to have a look at it. All seat functions were accessible on TOAF. The seat ECU showed the VIN from the car they came from, and I did not know if or how I could change it (but it shouldnt matter since it worked previously, unless the T4 has seen an issue with the mismatch and disabled it?)

So is it possible that T4 has disabled it due to the mismatched vin? or could it be a seat ECU issue on RSNAIL's car, with the kbus being a coincidental and additional issue?

I don't think the vin so much as the ZCS coding

Well, the ONLY "modification" I made for the radio (I have an android radio which didn't ever disturb the memory seats evem after having it installed for 1 year) is that I cut the blue wire of the 17 pin loom of the radio for the amp to receive the AUX signal and start when the key is in AUX position, that is a normal 12v wire that only gives the amp the signal to start and I can't imagine how that would disturb the seat memories. Also, as I said, I disconnected the amp completely, left the car more tham half an hour disconnected from the battery, than connected the battery without connecting the amp wiring to the battery, still, memories not working.

Also, when unlocking the door and if the seat is in another position than normally set with the key in the ignition, it doesn't move amymore to it's default position set by me like before, so the lazy seat function is also not working anymore :shrug:

I had a similar problem with my seats the memory button beeped but the 3 buttons did nothing.
Turned out the seat ECU was faulty, got hold of another from Mickeyboy and not had any problems since.

So you're saying you've had the exact problem like me and the fix for that was a ECU replacement? I'd try to do that also because I was thinking that if the motors work, the memory positions can be stored, the only problem is in between which would be the ECU... Now it could also be a K bus problem or something similar but I really don't know how the K bus system works and can't say if it really is that or not

That's what I did, for the price it cost I thought it was worth ago.
After reading on the forums different threads I came to the conclusion it had to be that.

I'll try unplugging the connectors and then connecting them back in again, hope it'll work, if not, I'll also try replacing the ECU unit of the seats, now I remembered, when I installed the amp, I've had the plus wire already connected to the battery, and then I accidentally pulled the wire out of the glass fuse that is connected to the power wire of the amp and burned the end of the wire that goes into the fuse a little bit, maybe that had also to do with disturbing the system, I can't really imagine how because all the current went to the car's body metal ground, maybe the + original wire of the car that is connected to the battery picked up that huge battery power loss caused by the short of the amp wire and screwed up the system of the seats... I can't know this for sure, was just saying
..

Unfortunately the slightest thing can trigger problems & these things can just fail for no apparent reason.

When I converted a drivers height memory seat to the passengers side the memory function worked fine when I took the seat from the donner car, but when I put it all back together, Nothing.

Changed the Control unit & it all worked fine. I'd not played around with it, it just stopped working.

Change the Control unit for a known working one, then if there's still an issue check the wiring working back from the seat.

Good luck with it.

Regards

Paul

Hello everybody after a year and a half not updating this thread lol. So as I said, bought the memory seats ECU a year and a half ago and decided to do the 15 min job to swap it today lolll. Done that together with fixing the airbag connector from under the passenger seat, which was an eaxy fix, just tightly wrapped one cable tie around the connector to firmly hold it in place and error doesn't appear anymore regardless the seat position. So to get back at the memory seat ECU; replaced it, now it seemed that the memory seats won't store new positions and would only move to positions set before on the donor car. Gave it up and fixed the seat back in position again. After 2 hours drove the car and just thought well let's try and set a position, and voila! Surprisingly, I could all of a sudden store positions and also move the seat to the stored positions by preasing the position buttons. So the problem was indeed the memory seat ECU.

I at first did not see this was an old thread, I would have asked if the forward and back switch worked. I seem to recall a thread saying the ECU's on the seats are known to fail.

macafee2