Power seat motor broken

I had the same seat recliner/raiser problem and worked around it. There is a gear shaft that runs across the back of the drivers seat just behind the split between the seat and seat back. It is broken.

The motor that runs the gear shaft is located on the side of the seat closest to the drivers' door. It works fine but only moves the gears on the drivers door side of the seat. On the console side
of the seat the gear doesn't turn at all because the shaft is broken where it meets the gear on that side. You can see the end of the gear shaft on the outside of the seat hinge on the console side and if the shaft is broker it will not move when the lever is pushed to raise the seat back.

I removed the seat (basically pull off the plastic button covers, remove four seat bolts, and disconnecting two wiring harness clips) and I was able to raise the seat "manually" as follows:

On the very end of the gear shaft itself you'll see a small alignment groove in it that would normally align with another groove on the seat hinge frame. (I suppose when they are aligned, that is the factory setting for the upright seat back position)

I put a straight slot screwdriver in the groove on the gear shaft and used a hammer to drive the gear clockwise (to raise the seat back; you'd go counter-clockwise to lower it).
With each hammer strike the gear moved a little bit until the grooves were aligned. The angle of the seat back raised a bit with each clockwise movement of the gear shaft. (I actually went a little further than the alignment of the markers to assure the seat was raised far enough). When I was satisfied with the seat back position, I reconnected and rebolted the seat.

Anyway, the seat back is now raised to about where I wanted it. The shaft is still broken, of course, and the vertical motor is now bound up and doesn't work... so this is now my permanent driving position... but it's much better than driving with the seat reclined!
And for a 1998 Avalon XLS with over 300,000 miles, I can certainly live with that.

Hope this helps someone else. I'll be pleased to answer any questions you may have.

There is a cable that goes from the motor mounted on the right side rail that runs to a small gear box on the left rail, more then likely the cable has popped out of either the motor or the gear, it’s flexible and can be popped out fairly easily, even having bottles under your seat can cause this problem..

The plastic gears in the motor break off a couple teeth. Dealer will try to sell you a new rack. You can also replace the motors and shafts, or you can replace just the gears. I just got done replacing one shaft and have the other one ordered. This seems to be the cheapest option.

this can be a few things, you may have a bad motor, or a broken cable to motor or seat track and last maybe a broken track, the best way to diagnose would be to remove the seat flip it over while still conected,meaning; remove the bolts at the bottom of the seat then push seat back toward the rear seat this way you can see the track, now move the controls as you watch the track,it may go sideways instead of straight back or foward this will show you what side is not working from there you can see if its a cable broken or track or motor not turning .

Power seat quit working on driver side.

ITs the power seat motor itself. unplug the harness conected below the seat switch and check if it reciving and current when the switch in on if it does then reconnect it and chech the current on the other wires when u move the switch if it doed then bro u need a new motor .There are four bolts located below the seat.open them and check for a new motor...

This is not necessary...as many have stated...use a hammer with switch in reverse position. Hammer the seat back...it will catch...

Doubtful. The seat will need to come out.

Under your seat you should have motors like shaft move them arround because you have ether have a broken shaft or bad motor.BUT you should be ableto move the shafts arrould

Look very careful inside the track and see if anything is interfering with the gear mechanism. It doesn't take much to lodge in there and cause the gear to lock up. If everything is clear, there is a cable that attaches the motor to the gear, that cable may be stretched or broken.

Bret
RepairPal.com

If it's anything like seats in GM's there is only one motor for each "function". They use a small gear box, with shafts and gears to distribute the movement to both sides of the seat. You will see a few motors under the seat also. Depending on how they made them, the recline motor may be under there too.

The cost will vary, and that's only IF a replacement part is available. Sometimes you have to get awhole new seat (some leather Caddy seats are close to $2500 EACH - ouch). You can always scour ebay (just do a search for "concorde seat" - theres actually a guy selling the entire lower rail assembly as i'm writing this)

Some seats have a factory unzippable cover. This may or may not allow you access to poke around in there.

I would check for any obstruction caught up in the pivot of the seat or near the area where the shafts / gears meet the tilt mechanism. It could be anything really, but coins tend to be the majority of the culprits! I've found that trying to lay on your head to find them is a pain, and you always miss something. It's easier to unplug the power to the seat, take out the 4 bolts, and turn the seat upside down in the driveway and shake out whatever is caught up in it.