[ZLRob]

Mine has been on the fritz for a while and has been spotty as to when it works and doesn't. It finally failed recently and just plain point blank period doesn't work anymore out of nowhere. After doing some rudimentary diag work to ensure that it is indeed the switch I found that it actually is failing. Yes, the fuses are fine. Anyone else had it fail on them? I tried pulling the thing apart to see if I can see any burnt spots on contacts or something but the thing is pieced together ridiculously well so as to prevent any internal access.

I'm referring to the driver's seat adjustment switch on the side of the seat, not the memory seat adjuster (which still works the seat just fine).

[ZLRob]

I should have expected crickets.

Well I figured it out anyway. Turns out that as usual, SHIT wiring from GM prevails. A ground on the wiring harness under the driver's seat in a spot that doesn't even see any movement at all broke clean for no reason whatsoever within the fully electrically taped and preserved wiring harness area. This explains why I would sometimes get the drivers seat to work and other times it wouldn't. I wound up running a much thicker ground from the switch pin to the factory 5 wire ground splice so this would never be a problem again, and all works as it should now. No the vehicle was not previously molested in that area at all before you ask.

So heads up. If your driver's seat stops working for whatever reason, make sure you check or get your wiring checked out really good before you replace anything. Just figured I'd update this and help some poor soul out who's having non-op issues at the seat located switch like I was outside of memory seating.

Photo for reference:



The affected area was VERY close to the "J378" splice under the seat. I'd probably say about 5.5-6 inches up.

[Moniker]

Thanks, great info

[TheDocKlopek]

I love this car as much as the next owner but I find it very baffling how much seems to be just hanging off the bottom of the seat exposed to anything down there.

Thanks for sharing this info with the community, just another little thing I need to keep in the back of my head in case I come across weirdness. And I do use the feature for the seat to move back when the car turns off. So, constantly moving the seat when getting in and out.

[ZLRob]

Originally Posted by TheDocKlopek

I love this car as much as the next owner but I find it very baffling how much seems to be just hanging off the bottom of the seat exposed to anything down there.

Thanks for sharing this info with the community, just another little thing I need to keep in the back of my head in case I come across weirdness. And I do use the feature for the seat to move back when the car turns off. So, constantly moving the seat when getting in and out.

Oh no, make no mistake of it, the entire drivers seat harness was fully wrapped and preserved (unmolested by anyone previously). Upon my diagnosis of the issue I found the ground at the switch itself was intermittent and sometimes present and other times was not, so I initially ran a branched out ground which I connected to the seat frame itself in close proximity to the switch and connector. What I found was that the ground was not sufficient to keep up with the demands of the switch the way G301 was capable of doing. This led to round two of attempting the fix, time time done properly (which I was attempting to circumvent by running the branched out ground due to what needed to be done to do it right) which involved removing the seat entirely out of the car and removing the harness from all of its keeps then removing what seemed like miles of electrical tape from the harness starting at the X310 connector working all the way up to the end connectors over to the driver's manual adjustment electrical switch. Upon approaching the wiring 5.5-6 inches past the J378 splice the wiring just came off the electrical tape and this was after I moved the broken ground wires away from the primary wiring bundle or harness so the photo could clearly identify what I was dealing with.

This finally explains why the seat would work sometimes and others it would not. It must have been hanging on by a strand for a long time and it must have finally just let go and broke clean at last.

The previous owner before me did some questionable rinky dink things to the car as far as mods are concerned which I spent some good time undoing over the course of this last year and a half of ownership of the car. Despite that, however, I can actually say for the first time that this issue was 1000% through no fault of his own.

[dmcmahan60]

I had an air bag warning light that would randomly go off but only when the outside temperature was over 80 degrees? You could hit ok on the steering wheel to remove the message but it would still go off a couple of times on the way home. You could also push on the left side seat bolster to make it stop. Was just going to buy a new seat because mine has a hole in it from wear over the years. GM does not sell a complete new seat assembly. After a friend of mine that works at a dealership talked to some of the Tech's, he ordered me a new wiring harness for the drivers seat. $150 for the part and about and hour to install, Problem solved

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by ZLRob

The previous owner before me did some questionable rinky dink things to the car as far as mods are concerned which I spent some good time undoing over the course of this last year and a half of ownership of the car. Despite that, however, I can actually say for the first time that this issue was 1000% through no fault of his own.

Hm, I'm wondering if the previous owner might have attempted the seat recline fix and pulled hard on or weakened the harness while doing so. Just a thought triggered by you mentioning "questionable rinky dink" mods that came with the car...

[Mark114]

I have a friend with a 2017 ZL1 with the same problem. IIRC it was a similar fix for his car. He bought the car new and hasn’t done any modifications so it would seem to be a bad wire harness in his case.

[Tibby ZL1]

RobZL1 great information for the Camaro community. The crickets early on were due to the fact that you were probably the first one to have this happen in the community and thankfully the first one to post it and post the repair. I ahve been in your shoes before and it is lonely, but very satisfying when you figure it out. Cheers to you.

[ZLRob]

Originally Posted by dmcmahan60

I had an air bag warning light that would randomly go off but only when the outside temperature was over 80 degrees? You could hit ok on the steering wheel to remove the message but it would still go off a couple of times on the way home. You could also push on the left side seat bolster to make it stop. Was just going to buy a new seat because mine has a hole in it from wear over the years. GM does not sell a complete new seat assembly. After a friend of mine that works at a dealership talked to some of the Tech's, he ordered me a new wiring harness for the drivers seat. $150 for the part and about and hour to install, Problem solved

I know EXACTLY what area was damaged then. All it is, is two wires and a plug that route by the left side seat bolster. He could have easily fixed that for pennies on the dollar. All he had to do was remove the plastic cover on that covers the seat frame and he would have had easy access to it and seen where the break in the wiring was.

Trouble is $150 only bandaids the issue with a new harness. Based on how thin the wiring is, it appears that ANYTHING could set it off and cause it to break evidently and since the seat sees so much movement on a regular basis despite the harness being fixed in it's retained positions on the factory seat frame, I guess it's just a matter of time before something happens to the wiring internally like it did mine. Still makes zero sense as to why it broke entirely to me.

Originally Posted by arpad_m

Hm, I'm wondering if the previous owner might have attempted the seat recline fix and pulled hard on or weakened the harness while doing so. Just a thought triggered by you mentioning "questionable rinky dink" mods that came with the car...

Interesting. Perhaps he did, because I know at one point, they did have to disconnect the seat entirely from the X310 connector and bent a pin on the inside for the low voltage sw reference black/blue wire. Like I said whoever owned this car before me was a hack and has no business ever putting his hands on any vehicle based on how bad of a job he did on this car down to the "tune" that it had done on it with HPTuners.

I have seen the seat fix before but I don't think mine goes that far back to be honest. I could be wrong, but regardless, the amount the seat reclines currently in mine is plenty in my eyes. The seat has heavy witness marks on the bolts that hold it to the lower frame rails. I don't know what the hell this guy was doing in there that warranted needing to remove those but whatever he did, he sure did leave his mark on the car. Metaphorically speaking. Lol.

Originally Posted by Mark114

I have a friend with a 2017 ZL1 with the same problem. IIRC it was a similar fix for his car. He bought the car new and hasn’t done any modifications so it would seem to be a bad wire harness in his case.

Maybe mine was a bad wire harness as well. I'm thinking it was, but given the questionable history on this car, I have no idea at this point.

Originally Posted by Tibby ZL1

RobZL1 great information for the Camaro community. The crickets early on were due to the fact that you were probably the first one to have this happen in the community and thankfully the first one to post it and post the repair. I ahve been in your shoes before and it is lonely, but very satisfying when you figure it out. Cheers to you.

Perhaps I was the first, yes. It is indeed a lonely thing, I agree... Which is why half the time I don't even bother asking the questions here and just investigate the causes of issues myself. Take care!