# 2001 Pathfinder LE remove repair driver seat



## tvmaster (Jun 2, 2009)

2001 with an electric passenger seat.
Up-down and tilt works, but forward-backward does not.
Clicking noise when button/switch is used.

I'd rather remove the seat and check for damage then spend $600 for a dealership repair.

Does anyone have advice on removing and cleaning tracks, switches, etc? What connectors have to be disconnected, if any?
Should I disconnect the battery first?

any other advice? I looked as best I could and couldn't see anything impeding the seat - but if there are suggestions I'm all ears.

thanks


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## ntech (Apr 13, 2010)

There is a TSB for a slide motor repair kit. Four bolts holding the seat down and just disconnect any connectors. Position the seat where it wont be in the way before you disconnect everything.


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## tvmaster (Jun 2, 2009)

ntech said:


> There is a TSB for a slide motor repair kit. Four bolts holding the seat down and just disconnect any connectors. Position the seat where it wont be in the way before you disconnect everything.


Is a TSB somehow covered by Nissan, even nine years later? That would be swell.
I saw the four bolts - but I also saw the "airbags" tag on the back of the seat itself, and I'm paranoid of setting it off.
Where would I find written existence of the TSB and its effect?

thanks for the help


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## ntech (Apr 13, 2010)

If you leave the ignition off, then disconnect the airbag connector you shouldn't set any codes. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I know, bad practice. Or just disconnect both leads at the battery and wait 10 minutes but, position the seat first so it will fit thru the door.

The TSB applies for 2001-2004 path with ADP auto drive positioner only
and it says there is a slide motor kit for forward-back direction Part# 87562-C9925
TSB are for reference and asistance. Won't be covered , sorry


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## ntech (Apr 13, 2010)

oh, it takes more then you think to deploy the airbags while the car is just sitting there.
But, better safe than sorry for someone with less experience.


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## rvogel (Jan 7, 2011)

I priced the slide motor repair kit here in Northern Alberta (Canada) and the dealer wants over $500 for the darn thing. Is there another fix?


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## dhmitchell (Sep 1, 2005)

I took the power assembly from the passenger seat and put it on the driver's seat. On the passenger seat I replaced the power slide kit with a manual one, with the appropriate trim parts (recliner lever etc). That was about $200. A lot cheaper, less problems. I like it better anyway, while in the driver's seat I can with one hand reach over and pull the manual slide adjuster and move the passenger seat up/back manually, which I'd have to get out of the car to do before.
I'd also check that you don't have any loose coins in the track through, or anything else obstructing it. And or disassemble everything to see what the problem is. I found that a plastic worm gear was broken. Of course that 50-cent part isn't available, only the whole $$$ assembly.
I also thought that the repair kit for this TSB was a lot cheaper than the entire assembly...something like $200 instead of $600 for the whole assembly.


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

The slide kit MSRP's for $327 US. It sells for $235.91 at AAA Nissan Parts


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## supraholic (Nov 21, 2005)

First I would check the switch.. check to make sure the power connector to the motor gets voltage when the forward/rev swich is activated. If the power is On to the motor, and the motor is not turning, then the motor is bad. I had my up/down motor go bad (2001 LE). I took the motor apart, and found the small ball at the end of the rotor shaft came out of its grove. I stick the ball back in its location, along with little bit grease. Never had any more issues.. worth a try..


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## rvogel (Jan 7, 2011)

dhmitchell:
Turns out mine is the white plastic gear at the end of the motor that is broken as well. Where did you find a new one? My dealer can't even find me a whole new seat motor. Wrecking yards want to sell the whole seat, etc.
Help!


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## rvogel (Jan 7, 2011)

i bought the slide repair kit mentioned in the TSB at AAA for $235 or so. Turns out I still need a plastic worm drive gear for one of the seat up/down motors. Salvaged one good one out of the old track.


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## body80 (Mar 7, 2004)

I know this is an old post but,

I just ran into this problem. The right side of the seat would move back and forth but would jam because the left side wasn't moving at all. I took it apart and the worm gear for the left side is toasted. 

I guess I'll order the part from the service bulletin.


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## rvogel (Jan 7, 2011)

if you can find just the plastic worm gear let me know where. I just need a gear for the up/down motor for the front of the seat but can't seem to buy just the gear.


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## iBleedGarnet (Jan 11, 2006)

I have part 87562-C9925 still new in box. Bought back in '06 but didn't end up needing it. Was cleaning out the garage today and found it. Will sell at a fraction of the current online price. Just email me: uscolin at hotmail dot com. Thanks.


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## stumck (Aug 14, 2011)

*The final solution!*

OK folks, here's the scoop!
I just finished swapping out the motor/drive shaft/worm gear assemblies in my 2001 Pathy front driver seat. Had the typical problem of getting stuck with the seat all the way back, the right side moving incrementally back and forth with the left side immobile. Pushing seat, pulling seat, tapping motor - zilch. I've lived with this for a few years(!!!) as I'm tall, but my girlfriend and I are going on a long trip and I wanted to get the automatic seat positioning fixed as well. So from the forums (rock on!) I found the link to the technical service bulletin (TSB) for this.
http://www.justanswer.com/uploads/fixurnissan/2009-06-29_222753_NTB00-095a.pdf

I ordered the part listed in the TSB, Seat Slide Motor Kit 87562-C9925. About $280 to the door (Ouch, but forget about going to the dealer!). Came with new motor/drive shaft/worm gear assemblies. ****{One caveat, this TSB applies to Pathys with "Automatic Drive Positioner", i.e. those little buttons on the driver's door, about even with the steering wheel.}**** Not sure if there are TSBs for other door systems?

The TSB was awesome. Here are some pointers:
1) If your seat is all the way back, you need an 14 mm angled hex wrench to get at the rear bolts, because the brackets for the rear bolts don't allow access for a regular wrench. You'll see what I mean!
2) Make sure the seat back is angled all the way forward before you unplug the connectors, and tilt the steering wheel all the way up. The seat comes out the driver door, and it's a heavy sucker.
3) Unplug battery terminals for 10 minutes before unhooking electricals. Something about not activating the airbag....! For the connectors, the two smaller ones to the left have release tabs on the passenger side, squeeze and pull apart. The large white connector has a push tab in the middle, and the yellow connector has an internal tab on the end that you depress with your finger tip.
4) Dis-assembly per TSB, need 10 and 12 mm hex wrench and phillips head screwdriver. The four 12mm bolts securing the seat to the frame were torqued pretty high, so I had to use an extension rod on my torque wrench to loosen them.
5) Assemble in reverse order. Make sure the drive shaft connecting the motor to the left worm gear housing (oriented as shown in the TSB) is properly seated at both ends (square pegs/holes). Each worm gear housing has 3 bolts that go through the seat frame, and if the drive shaft isn't properly seated then the bolts won't slide in easily.
Seat now works like a champ, and I can reset the ADP for my sweetie and me.

So those are my main points, but this is my critical observation about the whole design problem, assuming that pushing and motor tapping don't work for you. The worm gears turn long threaded rods that run parallel to the seat sliders. The seat slider connects to the rod (1 bolt) via a small box that acts as a moveable nut on the rod. The motor turns the two worm gears/rods, moving the nuts (and the attached seat) back and forth. The slider rails are separate from the movement assembly, so the issue is not with them. What I've read from the forums is that the seat gets "stuck in a rut" when the seat is "back". In reality, when the seat is back, the large nuts on the rods are up close to the front of the seat, i.e. nearest the worm gears and motors. No "ruts" my friends. So what stops the large nuts from moving all the way to the front of the rod and hitting the worm gear housings? (wait for it....) A small nut assembly on the rod about 1 inch from the worm gear housing, but only on the rod on the motor side (left or driver's door side when seat is installed)! Eureka! So when the seat moves back, both slider nuts move forward, until the left nut is stopped by the small retaining nut unit. What stops the right side nut from moving? Nothing! So the right side continues forward a bit, yawing the seat. If the two rails become sufficiently out of alignment, I'll bet anything that the motor can't deliver enough torque to unwedge it, hence the success of the "pushing" posts. The other very real possibility is that as the seat yaws, the skinny little drive shaft gets disconnected from the right worm gear housing, in which point the right side will stop rocking back and forth completely. From this, if I were going to push anywhere, I would push the FRONT of the seat on the CONSOLE side to the REAR, while activating the switch.

What's my solution to all this heartache? One I wish I had thought of when I did the replacement. When the replacement parts are just out of the box. put another retaining nut unit (could take from the old part) on the 2nd rod, and tighten it the exact distance from the worm gear housing as the preexisting one on the rod near the motor. That way, both slider nuts are stopped simultaneously, no excessive movement of right side of seat, no wedgies, no disconnected drive shaft, no motor burnout. If the problem comes back for me, I'll pull the seat immediately and place the 2nd retaining nut unit.

My other advice would be that if the seat still yaws on the right, then the motor is still working, so you may not need a $280 part. Disassemble the seat as in the TSB and reassemble, making sure the drive shaft is seated properly. And add a second retaining nut unit to that other rod!

Also, as an added bonus for reading this massive post, it looks like the rod retaining nuts could be moved up a bit giving the taller folks among us a little more legroom, but this is highly speculative.


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## pwhjyh (Jul 9, 2015)

Well, I had the same issue as others in that after 14 years the old Pathy front drivers seat no longer moved north and south. Thats OK for a single driver car but in our case my spouse is short and I am tall so this function needed to be fixed. The $600 dealer cost (higher now in 2015) was reducecd to $320 when I ordered the part off the web (Tasco Ford) and installed myself following the TSB as mentioned. It was easy, took about 2 hours (I worked slow so I didn't screw up) and works perfectly. 
Good luck.


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## tjpgi (Oct 13, 2012)

Old post resurrection

2001 Infiniti QX4 with a drivers seat stuck. Disassembled seat and found the nylon drive gear stripped.Tested the motors and all was good. I did not want to spend $400 on a full assembly and thought $65 for 1 gear from Odometers.com was too expensive,,
so I did some research and found a 2 pack of Dorman 924-074 gears for around $40 on Amazon. The internal dimension of the bore is about 0.03" too small so I gently heated the gear and pressed in on (could also have used a Dremel to shave off a little). In any event it worked perfectly. Use the previous mentioned TSB ITB00-065a for instructions for seat removal and disassembly.


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

Good to know!


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## OviedoPathy (Apr 4, 2010)

Anyone have any idea about parts needed to convert a 2001 Pathfinder pax seat from electric to a manual slide and recline? I checked some junk yards but no luck yet.


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## sharmanp (Jun 8, 2021)

ntech said:


> There is a TSB for a slide motor repair kit. Four bolts holding the seat down and just disconnect any connectors. Position the seat where it wont be in the way before you disconnect everything.


What is TSB?


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

Technical Service Bulletin (from Nissan).


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