How To: Wire up leather powered RX8 seats
03-22-12, 08:05 PM
#1
How To: Wire up leather powered RX8 seats
There are smatterings of info on this so I thought I'd consolidate it.
The wire colors are:
Seat Motion
There seem to be as many "My seat heaters dont work" threads on RX8Club.com as there are "3800rpm hesitation" or "bouncing idle" threads on RX7Club.com and mine failed the FSM continuity tests so I couldnt verify the seat heater on the driver side. I did back probe the white wire in the seat heater and it had continuity with the Purple ground so I'm guessing it is a shared ground.
I removed the RX8 seat belt and wires (saved the 4-wire pigtails for a future project). I also removed the 2-wire pigtail with the solid green and solid orange wires. I assume the 2-wire harness is for a "is someone sitting in the seat" switch for the air bag system but I dont know for sure.
I used a Painless 6-wire weatherpack connector kit only needing 5 of the six wires. I used a Bussmann ATC Fuse Tap - 10 Amps which I put in the Antenna fuse because it is unswitched so you can always adjust the seat. I put a 30amp fuse for the seat which is what is used for the RX8.
I ran that line down the under the carpet and up thru the hole in the carpet for the stock seat plug. I split the power line into two and fed two of the terminals in the Weatherpak corresponding to the Grey and Yellow w/RedStripe wires.
On the car side of the Weatherpak I joined the two grounds and then ran them via a ring connector to the 12mm bolt that mounts the EBrake. There is a flap in the carpet that makes it convenient.
I went ahead and ran the Blue seat heater wire to the Weatherpak with just a wire on the car side so I could dink with it another time. I also went ahead and put wires in the unused terminal of the Weatherpak in case it ever became useful.
The seat positioning and lumbar all work fine. I found that initially the seat wouldnt go backwards so I pulled the control handles off and them pulled the trim back. The switches are protected with a rubber cover which i pulled back and sprayed some contact cleaner in there. The more I used the switch the more consistent it became so all is good now.
None of the RX8 seat wiring diagrams I found showed wire colors within the seat. So in case they vary based on which company built the seats, I'll show the wire colors by location looking at the seat plug from the back. The top of the plug has the lock on top and a grey push-in fastener on the bottom. It has 2 rows of wires with 7 wires in each row. A slash followed by a second color indicates a stripe.
If the seat heater had been viable, I would have used another Fuse Tap in the ABS fuse since my car doesnt have ABS it is unused. There is a good diagram of the fusebox at the following URL. The moderators have the forum automatically censor the other forum's name which is childish and petty beyond belief.
http://*************.com/rotary_foru...9&d=1306619412
Hope that helps. If anyone has any definitive experience with getting the seat heaters to actually work it would be great if you can share.
The wire colors are:
Seat Motion
Grey - +12v
Purple - Ground
LumbarPurple - Ground
Yellow w/red stripe - +12v
White w/yellow stripe Ground
Seat HeaterWhite w/yellow stripe Ground
Blue - +12v
The yellow plug is for the Air Bag in the side of the seat. I just cut the plug off to get it out of the way. You can't remove the airbag because the cover is the trim at your left shoulder and it is attached to the airbag. Be careful with the wires. In theory it could explode for any reason so you're on your own.There seem to be as many "My seat heaters dont work" threads on RX8Club.com as there are "3800rpm hesitation" or "bouncing idle" threads on RX7Club.com and mine failed the FSM continuity tests so I couldnt verify the seat heater on the driver side. I did back probe the white wire in the seat heater and it had continuity with the Purple ground so I'm guessing it is a shared ground.
I removed the RX8 seat belt and wires (saved the 4-wire pigtails for a future project). I also removed the 2-wire pigtail with the solid green and solid orange wires. I assume the 2-wire harness is for a "is someone sitting in the seat" switch for the air bag system but I dont know for sure.
I used a Painless 6-wire weatherpack connector kit only needing 5 of the six wires. I used a Bussmann ATC Fuse Tap - 10 Amps which I put in the Antenna fuse because it is unswitched so you can always adjust the seat. I put a 30amp fuse for the seat which is what is used for the RX8.
I ran that line down the under the carpet and up thru the hole in the carpet for the stock seat plug. I split the power line into two and fed two of the terminals in the Weatherpak corresponding to the Grey and Yellow w/RedStripe wires.
On the car side of the Weatherpak I joined the two grounds and then ran them via a ring connector to the 12mm bolt that mounts the EBrake. There is a flap in the carpet that makes it convenient.
I went ahead and ran the Blue seat heater wire to the Weatherpak with just a wire on the car side so I could dink with it another time. I also went ahead and put wires in the unused terminal of the Weatherpak in case it ever became useful.
The seat positioning and lumbar all work fine. I found that initially the seat wouldnt go backwards so I pulled the control handles off and them pulled the trim back. The switches are protected with a rubber cover which i pulled back and sprayed some contact cleaner in there. The more I used the switch the more consistent it became so all is good now.
None of the RX8 seat wiring diagrams I found showed wire colors within the seat. So in case they vary based on which company built the seats, I'll show the wire colors by location looking at the seat plug from the back. The top of the plug has the lock on top and a grey push-in fastener on the bottom. It has 2 rows of wires with 7 wires in each row. A slash followed by a second color indicates a stripe.
Code:
Grey, empty, Green/Red, Blue/Red, Orange, Yellow/Red, empty Purple, Blue, White/Blue, Black/Red, Green, White/Yellow, empty
If the seat heater had been viable, I would have used another Fuse Tap in the ABS fuse since my car doesnt have ABS it is unused. There is a good diagram of the fusebox at the following URL. The moderators have the forum automatically censor the other forum's name which is childish and petty beyond belief.
http://*************.com/rotary_foru...9&d=1306619412
Hope that helps. If anyone has any definitive experience with getting the seat heaters to actually work it would be great if you can share.
03-25-12, 07:00 PM
#4
We bought IIRC 2" angle iron from Home Depot and then using a straight edge, levels, a vise, torch and sledge we made brackets to connect the stock bolt holes to the rx8 seat rails. We had the brackets tig welded to the seats.
These seats are leather/powered and works well for the driver side. The passenger side sits high. Im 5'10' and my hair just touches the inside of the vert roof. I think Just Startin cut his passenger seat up and rewelded it to get it to sit lower. I do not believe he has documented it anywhere. My kids girlfriends all fit fine so no hurry!
These seats are leather/powered and works well for the driver side. The passenger side sits high. Im 5'10' and my hair just touches the inside of the vert roof. I think Just Startin cut his passenger seat up and rewelded it to get it to sit lower. I do not believe he has documented it anywhere. My kids girlfriends all fit fine so no hurry!
