[avmaldo]

SOLVED: Loose front drivers seat?

2011 pro4x powered seats. My drivers front seat seems a little loose. It makes a little clicking noise when driving. Mostly under any acceleration: from a stop, stopping, turning, etc. Anyone else have this problem and/or a fix? Kinda scares me because if I get in an accident it's probably not going to be safe...

SOLVED (I think).

The distinct feeling of shifting side to side and clicking sound finally got to me so I replaced the seat frame from one off ebay (got it for $225, whereas nissan direct is over $1700... so if you need one look on ebay first). But after my discovery I probably I didn't have to replace the frame. I inspected the differences between the new and old frame closely and could only find one difference, and this could've been less than a $1 and 10 minute fix.

Here's what I believe breaks: There are two pinned lever arms that rotate when you actuate the seat up and down. I believe these are some sort of stabilizer for side to side motion. These arms are held onto the pins by two internal tooth washers, which were missing off my old seat frame. I even found one of the washers that fell off. Without the washers these arms are free to clank around and even disconnect. So in this condition they don't do a very good job of stabilizing the seat.

Since I already had the new seat frame and had the old one off I went ahead and installed the new frame anyway. No more motion or sound. I can't be 100% sure this was the problem because I didn't actually put the old repaired frame back in, but I'm about 99% sure this is it because everything else works just fine on the old frame.

As you can probably see all you'd need to do to fix or even inspect this is: disconnect the battery, unbolt the 4 14mm bolts holding the seat to the truck cabin, tilt the seat back to expose the underbelly of the frame, jam on two new internal tooth washers on those lever arm pins, bolt the seat back down, reconnect the battery, and boom, done, fixed.

 

[honda250xtitan]

is it in the lumbar support area? that area seems to come loose pretty easily. dealership fixed mine.

 

[LaxDfns15]

It's a common problem with the power captain's chairs. Some have taken it in to Nissan to fix, don't know what they do. Mine does it, but not all the time. I'm just too lazy to try to figure it out.

 

[LaxDfns15]

is it in the lumbar support area? that area seems to come loose pretty easily. dealership fixed mine.

It's the whole seat while sitting on the tracks. It kind of shifts a small amount, just enough to make noise and you can feel it.

 

[honda250xtitan]

It's the whole seat while sitting on the tracks. It kind of shifts a small amount, just enough to make noise and you can feel it.

ohhhh huh. i havent noticed it on mine. the passenger seat has the notorious shudder though lol. which i guess according to nissan is because the seat is designed to be folded down flat, so it doesn't have enough support to be rigid.

 

[onetruth]

It's the whole seat while sitting on the tracks. It kind of shifts a small amount, just enough to make noise and you can feel it.

Mine does this as well, but only when I take a tight right/down turn into my neighborhood. I thought maybe the previous owner loosened it a bit to stop some squeaking, but since it only really happens as I described above I just live with it.

 

[avmaldo]

It's the whole seat while sitting on the tracks. It kind of shifts a small amount, just enough to make noise and you can feel it.

Yup exactly. It developed in the past couple of months.

 

[LaxDfns15]

If I get time and can remember I'll take my seat out this weekend and look at it. Might just be something that's loose.

 

[avmaldo]

If I get time and can remember I'll take my seat out this weekend and look at it. Might just be something that's loose.

Sweet thanks! Let us know what you find

 

[Paskell]

my seat sqeeks constantly side to side. dealer re torqued and lubed everything its still there and annoying.

 

[avmaldo]

fixed it. see above

 

[LaxDfns15]

Oh man I just read through this and realized I never followed up on my promise of looking at the seat. Thanks a ton for showing the fix, I'll try just getting washers and doing that method.

 

[avmaldo]

Oh man I just read through this and realized I never followed up on my promise of looking at the seat. Thanks a ton for showing the fix, I'll try just getting washers and doing that method.

Lol no problem. It would've been difficult to find this problem without doing what I did or knowing exactly how the frame works anyway

 

[AirtekHVAC]

Old thread resurrection

had the same problem on my 2011…never tried to fix…

My new to me 2013 is doing this….will add this repair to my to do list

 

[Dudelittle]

Thanks for digging this up Airtek! I have noticed mine shifting on some turns and was going to look into it. This will save some time.

 

[ksligerTN]

I had both washers in place and still had a loose front seat in my 2008 LE. I found this post on Club Armada and this procedure got my seat tightened up perfectly!

Loose Front Seat Repair

Hi, Ever since I purchased my 2008 QX56, I had a slightly loose Driver Seat. It didn't move very much it all, but i felt it every time I was braking a bit harder or accelerated. It was just a slight little clunk and movement in the entire seat. At first I suspected a worn out rubber bushing...

www.clubarmada.com

 

[hemlock]

I had both washers in place and still had a loose front seat in my 2008 LE. I found this post on Club Armada and this procedure got my seat tightened up perfectly!

Loose Front Seat Repair

Hi, Ever since I purchased my 2008 QX56, I had a slightly loose Driver Seat. It didn't move very much it all, but i felt it every time I was braking a bit harder or accelerated. It was just a slight little clunk and movement in the entire seat. At first I suspected a worn out rubber bushing...

www.clubarmada.com

Thanks for the post, my seat is loose too just like the OP explains. I will yank the seat and have a looksee.

 

[hemlock]

Finally it was a warm enough day I could check out the seat issue.
Thanks for the posts above, that helped tons.

Disconnected the battery and took the seat out just to get a better look, but hind sight.... you can do this fix without removing the seat.
The plastic tabs are tricky, (there's a gap you need to release) but you can get a hex key in there if you carefully undo the front tabs.
The access is at the very front of the seats on both sides.

I did overtighten at first, and the seat won't move.
Loosened off a bit, and just made it slightly snug.
The seat movement is now gone after a quick test drive.

 

[Warhammer]

I found the post on the Armada forum a couple of years ago, shortly after buying my 2012. Works like a charm! It will eventually loosen up again, but it's easy enough to retighten, once you know what to do.