I have a ’96 Accord 4-door sedan, with gray cloth interior seats. During a recent visit to a local junkyard, I saw a ’97 4-door Acura (model unknown) with gray, six-way power leather front seats in good condition. I am thinking of “upgrading” my current front seats with the Acura seats. That said, does anyone know offhand if the Acura seats are interchangeable with the ones currently in my Accord? The distance between the two front bolts on both seats is approximately the same. The Acura seats come with the entire wiring harness from the power supply to the seats.
Thanks in advance,

 

i would say yes but you will have to modify the brackets. unless its a CL then they are direct swap no mods

 

If it's a CL they'll swap otherwise you'll need to fab brackets

 

4door = not a CL

 

Thanks to all for the advice. The '97 Acura with the 6-way power seat was a TL model. I pulled the driver's seat from that car today, and it didn't quite line up with the bolts in my '96 Accord LX. No problem - I fabricated some brackets, and it should be good to go for installing in my '96 Accord. The seat base from the Acura (TL) is narrower (by appx. 1.5 inches) and longer (by about the same distance). The previous owner of the Acura had a cover on the driver's leather seat, and it's in great condition. Plus, all the three electric motors for the power seat worked as advertised. A lucky find, considering it's out of a junkyard car. Next step - getting the pax front seat out.
A great tool that helped me a lot during this process was investing in a power supply from Black & Decker. It's called "Simple Start". After it's charged, it's designed to plug into your cigarette lighter to charge your dead battery. I bought it for that, but it also works as a 12V DC power supply to test things (like power seats in a junkyard), and to electronically move the seat forward and backward to get to the bolts. It only weighs a couple of pounds, so it's easy to haul around at a junkyard to test electronic stuff. I don't work for B&D, so I don't get some kickback from them...I'm just passing along some useful info about an item that worked for me.
Cheers,

 

Greetings.

I have a question related to swapping / repairing a seat, and I thought this is a good place to post.

I have a 1996 Honda Accord EX 4 Door w/Leather Power Seat. The cable that connects the track motor from the right side of the track to the left side is broken, and so the seat has almost no forward - backward mobility.

I used to be able to put the cable in and get some mobility, but eventually the cable started to get worn, and won't fit any more.

I inquired at the local Honda Dealer's parts store, and was told that the entire power assembly costs around $700. The guy at the store recommended that I get a whole seat from a junk-yard.

I really only need the power / motor assembly, but getting a whole seat would probably make it easier to swap.

I searched at http://car-part.com/, and it appears that there are quite a few seats available nation-wide, but none are in close proximity. Also, while there are quite a few seats, available, when I narrow down to leather and power, there are lot fewer of them. I also checked on http://www.hondapartsdeals.com/honda_parts.php, and it appears that 1994 and 1995 seat assemblies are not the same as the 1996.

I was generally looking for an advise on how to best approach the search of the part and the replacement / swap.

I would be happy to get any seat (power / no power) as long as the color and leather matched.

Also, assuming I found the right part at some junk-yard, what is the advisable way to proceed. Should I try to get an entire seat, or simply get the tracks / power assembly? If I were to have the power assembly ship by some junk yard, how can I ensure if the motor, etc, are working?

Thank you in advance!

 

what kidn of seats u getting?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tolamapS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> The cable that connects the track motor from the right side of the track to the left side is broken, and so the seat has almost no forward - backward mobility.
I used to be able to put the cable in and get some mobility, but eventually the cable started to get worn, and won't fit any more. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Since yours is an EX, I’m assuming that your driver’s side seat has three motors – one for moving the seat forward and backward, and the other two raise and lower the front and back part of the seat. I’m also assuming that all three of these motors work, but the issue in your case is just the broken cable. If that’s all you need, try going to a local junkyard and, if you’re able to remove a power seat similar to the one in your EX, simply unscrew the cable from the junkyard seat and replace the broken one in your car with the junkyard cable. Bring the broken cable with you to the junkyard to ensure that the cable you remove from the junkyard seat is the same length. See my earlier thread on this issue, because you will need to apply 12VDC power to allow you to slide the junkyard seat forwards and backwards to remove the bolts that anchor the seat to the floor. Hook up the positive wire from your battery supply to the white/red and white/green wires in the wiring harness, and ground the neg wire – you should be able to then slide the seat electronically in the junkyard car to remove the anchor bolts.

If you’ve gotten to this phase, you can just remove the power seat base from the junkyard car (remove the plastic trim, and unscrew the 4 bolts holding the seat base to the rest of the seat). Don't forget to disconnect the wiring to the female end of the seat belt. Then, replace your power seat base with the one you got out of the junkyard car. If the leather in your seat is worn and cracked, you may also want to consider purchasing the entire driver’s front seat from the junkyard car, assuming all the seat motors work and the leather is in decent condition. It cost me $30.00 to get a power seat out of a ’97 Acura in the junkyard, and that seat had four motors. Even if the seat is a different color, SEM offers rattle can paint to dye your junkyard seat to match the color in your car.

Good luck-

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by brose &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Since yours is an EX, I’m assuming that your driver’s side seat has three motors – one for moving the seat forward and backward, and the other two raise and lower the front and back part of the seat. I’m also assuming that all three of these motors work, but the issue in your case is just the broken cable. If that’s all you need, try going to a local junkyard and, if you’re able to remove a power seat similar to the one in your EX, simply unscrew the cable from the junkyard seat and replace the broken one in your car with the junkyard cable. Bring the broken cable with you to the junkyard to ensure that the cable you remove from the junkyard seat is the same length. See my earlier thread on this issue, because you will need to apply 12VDC power to allow you to slide the junkyard seat forwards and backwards to remove the bolts that anchor the seat to the floor. Hook up the positive wire from your battery supply to the white/red and white/green wires in the wiring harness, and ground the neg wire – you should be able to then slide the seat electronically in the junkyard car to remove the anchor bolts.

If you’ve gotten to this phase, you can just remove the power seat base from the junkyard car (remove the plastic trim, and unscrew the 4 bolts holding the seat base to the rest of the seat). Don't forget to disconnect the wiring to the female end of the seat belt. Then, replace your power seat base with the one you got out of the junkyard car. If the leather in your seat is worn and cracked, you may also want to consider purchasing the entire driver’s front seat from the junkyard car, assuming all the seat motors work and the leather is in decent condition. It cost me $30.00 to get a power seat out of a ’97 Acura in the junkyard, and that seat had four motors. Even if the seat is a different color, SEM offers rattle can paint to dye your junkyard seat to match the color in your car.

Good luck-
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks for your very informative answer.

Yes, the EX '96 w/ leather seats has 3 motors: (1) forward / backward, (2) up / down, and (3) tilt the angle of the bottom of the seat. All three work, and the only issue is the broken cable.

I wish there was a nearby junk-yard that had the exact seat, but I searched and I did not find any.

But it looks like I have several options: (a) find just the cable, (b) find the power assembly, and (c) find the entire seat, even if it is a different color. I am sure one of these will work out.