klynam

My daughter and I switched out the seats in her 1996 GT. Everything went fine until we got to the driver side electrical connection...

• The electrical connector on the 00-GT seat has four round prongs
• The 00-GT seat has the seat belt on the seat
• It appears the electrical connector for the power assist units AND the seatbelt switch both run through the 4-prong electrical connector

• The electrical connector on the 96-GT has two flat blades
• The 96-GT has the seat belt connected to the transmission tunnel
• The electrical connector for the seat is ONLY for the power assist units

Two questions...

1. Where can I get the 4-way CAR side (male?) connector for a 00-GT driver side electric seat?

2. Which leads on the 4-way 00-GT driver seat connector are for the power assist units and which are for the seatbelt?

Thank you

klynam

Even a scan of a 2000 GT wiring diagram showing the electric seat connection would be really helpful at this point

hbk_136

Ok this is very easy, i just did this on my 96 GT.

The 96-98 have a 2 prong connector, while the 99-04 seats have a 4 prong connector. What you do is cut off the connectors of the one in your car, and the one on the seat, as close the connector as possible to leave the most wire for you to work with.

From here, you will notice your 96-98 car connector has a BLACK (ground) and a BLUE (power).

The 99-04 seat connector has 2 GREEN (both power) 1 BLACK (ground), and 1 BLUE (for the seat belt connector sensor).

What you will do is solder both of the GREEN wires on the seat together into 1 wire, then connect that one to the BLUE wire from your car. (I used quick disconnects so i could still unplug it and remove the seat) Then connect the BLACK wire from the seat to the BLACK wire from your car. The BLUE wire from the seat is to be capped off and not used.

It's really that easy. Here are the complete directions:

BLUE WIRE: Seat belt warning light indicator (on the '03 seats, unlike your '98 seats, the seatbelt buckles are connected to the seats. Trash those and use your factory buckles bolted to the floor. Unplug the wire from the buckle connected to the seat when you trash it.) Basically this powers the thing that starts dinging on the '03's if you havn't buckled up. You have to remove the seat belts from the 99-04 seats, as you have to use your 96-98 seat belts, so leave this wire alone.

TWO GREEN WIRES: These power the seat. One wire does the motor that moves the seat up, down, back, forth, tilt, ect. Plice/ solder those two to the one blue wire comming from your '98 harness that comes out of your factory seat. When you cut the harness connector off the stock seat, cut the wire as far back as you can so you have plenty of room to work when re-connecting it to the '03 seat.

ONE BLACK WIRE:I'm sure you figured out this is ground. Tie it to the black wire comming out of your stock seat harness.

After you connect all these wires, simply set the seat in the car, connect the harness, and BEFORE YOU BOLT THE SEAT IN, TEST ALL THE BUTTONS ON THE SEATS MAKING SURE EVERYTHING WORKS! No reason to bolt and unbolt these seats if you have a bad connection. You shouldn't have any more issues.

Some guys have told me that it is not a good idea to splice the two power wires together, but it won't make a difference. Nothing is going to overheat, and you only use these buttons for a split second anyway. If you are finding yourself playing with the buttons for an hour at a time, seek medical advice.

klynam

Coolio - so the blue wire on the '00 seat is for the seatbelt and isn't necessary. Both green wires are for power and both are necessary. Black is ground. That's exactly what I needed to know. Thank you sir !!!

klynam

Seats are in and working fine!!!

I went an alternate route for the electrical hookup and made an adapter to go between the two electrical connectors. This way I didn't have to cut anything.

And here is my complete procedure in all it's glory just in case anyone else decides to replace a 3-way 1996 GT power seat with a 6-way 2000 GT power seat...

( I know, I know, t.m.i...but I document procedures at work and tend to be very through )

Supplies:

• 24" of 12ga auto electrical wire (preferably two colors, but one will do fine)
• 2 x "blue" male "spade" (flat) solderless connectors
• 3 x "blue" female "bullet" (round) solderless connectors
• 1 x "yellow" wire nut
• Electrical tape
• Electrical wire strippers
• File or Dremel tool w/ sanding attachment
• 15mm and 17mm open end wrenchs

Notes:

• The 96GT (car) has a 2-prong power connector
• The 00GT (seat) has a 4-prong power connector
• Using solderless connectors and 12ga wire, we're going to construct a simple adapter to work with the factory connectors
  
• The spade connectors are for the car-side connection - they will (probably) be ever so slightly too wide for the car-side connector
• The bullet connectors are for the seat-side electric seat - they will definitely be too big for the seat connector
• We'll fix this both of these in a minute...

Remove seatbelt latch from the 00 seat...

• Follow the wire from the seatbelt latch - it goes to a connector just under the edge of the seat and is barely visible
• There is no "securing" latch on this connector - just pull the wire firmly and it will detach
• Pop out the plastic retainer holding the wire to the seatbelt bracket
• Remove the seatbelt with a 17mm open end wrench
• Put the nut back on the stud and screw down so that the threads don't quite come through the nut - just to help prevent snagging on carpet or gouging the center console

Remove the existing seat...

1. Unbolt the existing (power) seat using a 15mm open end wrench
2. Tip the seat back and carefully separate the electrical connector (note the securing clip, pry that up and pull the connector apart)
3. Pull the seat out of the car
4. Set the 00-GT seat in the car but upside down, so you can see the motor/track mechanism
5. Notice the seat-side power connector is very short (main reason I decided to make an adapter rather than cut wires)
6. Look at the seat-side connector - you'll see four, round, male poles in the connector
7. Coming into the connector are four wires: two green (power), one black (ground) one blue (seatbelt)

Prepare the solderless connectors...

1. The spade connector is too wide, you need to file it down.
2. Using the file or dremel tool, remove just enough metal from one edge of each spade connector so they can slip in the connector
3. The bullet connector is too big, you need to crimp it down CAREFULLY
4. Cut off about 1/4" of the hard plastic insulator from the big end of the connector
5. You should now see a seam/split in the metal
6. Using your wire strippers, carefully crimp one side of that seam inward so it's inside the other edge
7. Now crimp the "tucked in" edge slightly more - and crimp the other edge down on it
8. Be careful - work slowly - keep the overall end shape circular, not oval
9. Test fit the connector onto one of the four round poles on the seat-side connector
10. If its a good snug fit, you're done - if it's too loose, crimp down a little more - if wont go on, you crimped it too much, open it back up a little with a screw or nail

The solderless connectors are ready, now prep your wire...

1. Cut two 10" lengths and one 4" length of wire
2. Cut one of the 10" wires about 4" down, strip one end of each length
3. Strip one end of the 4" wire
4. Twist all three stripped ends together, secure with the wire nut, wrap with electrical tape - this is your power "splitter"
5. Strip all three ends of the power splitter - crimp a spade connector on the single end, and a bullet connector on each wire of the double end
6. Strip each end of the uncut 6" length of wire - crimp a spade connector on one end and a bullet connector on the other end (this is your ground wire)

You're ready to hook it all up...

1. Power Splitter: spade end goes to the car connector, matched up with the blue wire - bullet ends go to the seat connector, matched up with the two green wires
2. Ground wire: spade end goes to the car connector, matched up with the black wire - bullet end goes to the seat connector, matched up with the black wire

Test the power switches. If they don't work, trace your steps. If they do work, wrap the entire "adapter" with electrical tape including the connectors at each end. It's not like the wire under the seat gets a lot of jostling around, but you also don't want the hassle of pulling the seat out later to re-connect anything.


Bolt the seat back down, and enjoy your new 6-way power seat!!!