'02 LS430 UL rear headrests stuck.
05-10-21, 08:20 PM
#1
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
'02 LS430 UL rear headrests stuck.
Hi all, and greetings.
This is my first post after recently signing up, so I'll introduce myself. I'm Nick, located in NZ, and have a 2002 LS430 Ultra Luxury edition. She has 264,000km's on the clock, and aside from a few issues I'm on here to troubleshoot, she drives wonderfully. I did the timing belt, tensioners and water pump recently, and definitely graduated to the next level of shade tree mechanic with that job! Anyhow......to the issue I have.
My rear headrests are in the 'down' or retracted position, and the center console in between the rear seats with all the buttons doesn't work; there's nothing on the little LCD screen, and other than the radio button, none of the buttons do anything. Now, if I push the 'retract headrest' button up front, in front of the shifter, I can hear an electric motor briefly whine. That says to me they're getting power, but as the buttons on the rear center console to control the rear headrests don't work, they're stuck for now. I want to get into the wiring for the rear center console to see if I can get all the buttons and screen going again, but to access this, I need to get the rear seats out, including a bolt UNDERNEATH THE REAR HEADRESTS. There lies the crux of the issue.
In short, I need to get the rear seats out to sort rear console wiring, but headrests are stuck down and cant access a vital bolt in order to remove the rear seats. What are my options here? Can the rear headrests be forced up by hand, or will that damage them? I also wondered if I can pop the little 'retract headrest' button out of its spot on the drivers center console, and wire it backwards....would that make it operate in reverse? Any ideas would be much appreciated!
Cheers.
This is my first post after recently signing up, so I'll introduce myself. I'm Nick, located in NZ, and have a 2002 LS430 Ultra Luxury edition. She has 264,000km's on the clock, and aside from a few issues I'm on here to troubleshoot, she drives wonderfully. I did the timing belt, tensioners and water pump recently, and definitely graduated to the next level of shade tree mechanic with that job! Anyhow......to the issue I have.
My rear headrests are in the 'down' or retracted position, and the center console in between the rear seats with all the buttons doesn't work; there's nothing on the little LCD screen, and other than the radio button, none of the buttons do anything. Now, if I push the 'retract headrest' button up front, in front of the shifter, I can hear an electric motor briefly whine. That says to me they're getting power, but as the buttons on the rear center console to control the rear headrests don't work, they're stuck for now. I want to get into the wiring for the rear center console to see if I can get all the buttons and screen going again, but to access this, I need to get the rear seats out, including a bolt UNDERNEATH THE REAR HEADRESTS. There lies the crux of the issue.
In short, I need to get the rear seats out to sort rear console wiring, but headrests are stuck down and cant access a vital bolt in order to remove the rear seats. What are my options here? Can the rear headrests be forced up by hand, or will that damage them? I also wondered if I can pop the little 'retract headrest' button out of its spot on the drivers center console, and wire it backwards....would that make it operate in reverse? Any ideas would be much appreciated!
Cheers.
05-11-21, 08:16 AM
#2
Instructor
Hi SharpLead and welcome aboard.
First off I would check all of the fuses. There are fuse boxes in the boot/trunk as well as in the passenger footwells and under the bonnet/hood.
I don't know which one would have the fuses for that area, but I would suspect it'll be one in the boot/trunk.
The LS uses a CANBUS so that switch on the centre console only tells a local computer to send a message to the rear-seat computer to lower the headrests and reset the seats.
The motor whining may be the rear seats trying to move rather than the headrests as that one button resets all of the rear seats and headrests to the default position. It even drops the centre headrest.
If all the fuses are all OK, then next port of call would be the rear seat computer wherever that is located.
Do you have a copy of the Service Manual?
First off I would check all of the fuses. There are fuse boxes in the boot/trunk as well as in the passenger footwells and under the bonnet/hood.
I don't know which one would have the fuses for that area, but I would suspect it'll be one in the boot/trunk.
The LS uses a CANBUS so that switch on the centre console only tells a local computer to send a message to the rear-seat computer to lower the headrests and reset the seats.
The motor whining may be the rear seats trying to move rather than the headrests as that one button resets all of the rear seats and headrests to the default position. It even drops the centre headrest.
If all the fuses are all OK, then next port of call would be the rear seat computer wherever that is located.
Do you have a copy of the Service Manual?
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Frank56 (01-01-23)
05-11-21, 12:51 PM
#3
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
Wow, knowledge bomb right there! I knew precisely zero of any of that, so thank you. I've checked the fuses a while ago, maybe half-heartedly, so I'll go back over them all thoroughly to rule that out. I do have a the original service manual that came with the car, so I'll look through that and see where I can find the rear seat computer. I imagine that could be faulty? Cheers for the feedback, very much appreciated.
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BigBoomer (05-11-21)
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