Silverado Desperado

What all has to be done to install 3LT seats in a 1LT seat C6 ???

I'm guessing there is more to it than buying a set of 3LT sport seats and just bolting them in the 1LT car...

BEZ06

I looked in your profile, and it looks like you have a 2006.

If so, your 1LT seats don't have

• Side airbags
  
• Heat
  
• Adjustable lumbar support or side bolsters
  
• 6-way power passenger seat
  
• Memory feature

Do you have OnStar???

The 3LT seats will fit right in, unless you have OnStar - in which case you'll have a box under the passenger seat that you'll have to move, as outlined in Forum member Ray Kawal's great DIY info:

http://www.kawal.net/power%20seats.htm


And here's the Forum thread about doing the Kawal seat mod:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-z...for-a-z06.html


I have a 2006 Z06. It is a 2LZ (top trim level for the Z06 that year) and had side airbags, heated seats, and the memory feature. However, the early Z06 did not have the adjustable lumbar support or side bolsters, and a power passenger seat was not available - and I wanted those things.

So, I got a pair of seats out of a wrecked 2007 base C6 with 3LT trim level, put my Z06 seat skins on them, ran the power wire as in Ray's DIY info, bolted the seats in, and I have full everything now!!! (it doesn't have OnStar, so that made it very easy)

Butt.....in your case, when you put in 3LT seats I don't think you'll ever get the side airbags working. I don't think the side impact sensors are installed, and I dont believe the wiring harness to connect the side airbags under the seat are in your 1LT, and even if you did put them in you'd need to get a dealership (or somebody with a Tech 2) to activate the side airbag feature.

The memory function woul be very difficult to install - you'd need to install the switches on the door panel, wiring from there to the module under the seat (which should be under the 3LT driver's seat) and also use a Tech 2 to activate it. And, I don't believe you have the telescoping steering column - and that being one of the memory functions, you may not be able to activate the memory feature at all.

To get the seat heaters to work you'll need to install the switches (one on each side of the ash tray) and the wiring. The heated seat controllers I believe should be under the both of the 3LT seats. Whether the wiring harness in your car has connectors to plug into the switches you'd have to install, or if the harness under the seat contains wires to power the heaters, I dunno! And, you'd probably need to turn on that feature with a Tech 2.


So.....so far the news is kinda gloomy - however, you may not need all that stuff above!!! What you probably really want is the power passenger seat and the adjustable lumbar support and side bolsters.

My Z06 didn't have either of those features, but when I installed the seats and hooked up the connectors under the seat, the lumbar and bolsters worked just fine.

For the passenger side, if you don't have OnStar, it's very easy to run just one power wire (see Ray's DIY info in the links above) to power up the seat adjuster and the lumbar and side bolsters. After I ran the one power wire and hooked up the new seat, everything worked great.

So....the good news is that I think if you just bolt in the 3LT driver's seat and hook up the wiring harness connectors that you'll probably have adjustable lumbar support and side bolsters - at least I "think" the wires for those bladders may be already in your wiring harness.

Likewise for the passenger seat, run that one required power wire and I "think" you'll have a full power adjustment and adjustable lumbar and bolster bladders on that side as well.

Bottom line - I think it would be easy to get the adjustable lumbar and bolsters both sides and the power passenger seat.

However, I think it would be quite difficult to get the side airbags, seat heaters, and the memory function to work.

Good luck!!!

Bob

Silverado Desperado

Holy Cow! What a GREAT reply, totally helpful and very appreciated!

Thank You BEZ06!!!


After reading Ray Kawal's posting about the OnStar box I think I read that the box is under the passenger seat only on a Z06 and is in the rear cargo area somewhere on a regular C6? Is that correct?


What will happen if 1LT seats are installed into the 3LT car?

timd38

I upgraded my 1LT seats to "sport" seats by upgrading the covers and foam. The frames are the same. I had the covers made without the side airbag provision and got the foam from Corvette Recylers.

spaulsen

Very nice write up! I have a question. My seats have everything but heat. Is heat able to be added and would the connectors ect. be there for this?

BEZ06

Yes - that's correct. It's in the right rear cubby hole in the base C6, but the battery is in that cubby on the cars with the dry sump oil system.


Depends on what model year the 1LT seats are out of, and what year the 3LT car is. In 2010 ALL trim levels on all models of the C6 got side airbags. The list below is for the ZR1 (1ZR, 3ZR) and the Z06 (1LZ, 2LZ, 3LZ). I haven't done the research on the base C6 seat changes over the years.

First of all, the 2005 had an entirely different system for turning the passenger airbag on/off - it was manual. All models starting in 2006 have an automatic system with a PPS (Passenger Presence Sensor) in the seat bottom that turns the passenger airbag on/off depending on whether a passenger over a certain weight is sitting there or not. Using 2005 seats in some other model year, or later year seats in a 2005 will be a little more problematic.

In 2009

• there are no side airbags on the 1LZ or the 1ZR
  
• only 3ZR has adjustable lumbar support and side bolsters
  
• only 3ZR had power passenger seat
  
• no heated seats on 1LZ or 1ZR
  
• no memory package for seats/mirrors/telescoping steering column on 1LZ or 1ZR

For the 2010 and 2011 models

• all trim levels got side airbags
  
• 3LZ got power passenger seat like the 3ZR has
  
• 3LZ got the adjustable lumbar and side bolsters like the 3ZR has
  
• heated seats on 2LZ, 3LZ, and 3ZR
  
• no memory package for seats/mirrors/telescoping steering column on 1LZ or 1ZR

So....if you put low trim level seats in a car that came with a high trim level, you're going to lose some features - heat, lumbar/bolster bladders, side airbags, memory, power passenger seat adjuster.

The high trim level BCM is programmed to make those sytems work and monitor how they're doing. You'll likely get a CEL and store some DTC's if some of those features aren't working unless you turn them off in the BCM.

The lack of side side airbags in a car that is built with them will give you an airbag light. There are MANY sensors associated with the airbag system and SIR (Supplemental Inflatable Restraint) and the SDM (Sensing and Diagnostic Module) is the heart and brains of the system. If you look in the Service Manual you can read that if any of the dozens of sensors or parts in the airbag or seatbelt systems are inop, some may turn off that component, some may disable several components, some may just disable one side (driver or passenger), but MANY will disable the entire airbag system.

The problem is that, like the TPMS, the seatbelt/airbag system is Federally mandated and can't be deactivated - except that a Tech 2 may be able to turn off the side airbag feature because some cars were built without it.

Many owners that track their cars install race seats without side airbags, but they run a harness system instead of the stock seatbelts and don't care about the airbags - they would probably rather have them inop. They either just ignore the light, or they get a cable or connector plugs to attach to the connectors under the seat that simulates the resistance the system should see if airbags are connected properly. It turns out the airbag light, but most track drivers who get it want it to maintain the functionality of the telescoping steering column. Even with an airbag simulator that turns off the light on the IPC, nobody knows for sure if the airbags will work or not - no crash testing has been done!!!

Bottom line - you'll lose a bunch of features, may throw some codes, the airbag system may become inop.

If you have an airbag light you just don't know what parts of the system may still be working - if any.

Bob

BEZ06

I'm surprised you don't have heat!?!?

Generally, if you "have everything" else (side airbags, adjustable lumbar support and side bolsters, power passenger seat, memory, etc.) you'll also have seat heaters.

However, I think you can add them fairly easily - I did a quick search and came up with several threads about it:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-z...a-1lz-car.html


http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...a-used-c6.html


http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...t-heaters.html


In that first thread I posted up that the wiring may be in your car - you might be able to put a fuse into the empty slot for heated seats. Scroll down to read the posts by the expert on the seats, Ray Kawal. He says the same thing and explains it.

In that last thread there's mention of aftermarket heated seats. Apparently many C5 owners have done that and like the results very much, and it may be much easier than trying to install switches and wiring and reprogramming the BCM to work with the seat heater module under the seat in order to get the OE heaters working.

Bob

OrangeSV

I know this is an old posted hopefully somebody is listening... Just installed the drivers seat, (haven't gotten to pass seat yet)... I have checked and have power at both A4 and A6 terminals in the plug. the lumbar pumps work but the power seat does not. The 3lt seats have a third plug which my 2009 does not have that harness for. It is presumably for the seat memory module. Shouldn't the seat work without that plugged in, manually with the switch on the seat? The seat motors work (tested with 12v jumped to the motors) Maybe the switch on the seat is bad? Is there a switch that detects someone sitting in the drivers seat?

SC-C6

What happened did you get the seats to work?
How did you get the power to the seats?
i'm having the same issue and can not figure out what i am missing?

i'm trying to upgrade to 2013 from a lt1 configuration a manual passenger to full power passenger set up, looked at the Kawai site and my connectors didn't have what he was showing so now i'm stuck?

so now i'm going to have to do it another way... any suggestions?


thx,

Proff

'09 Base/ Installing '12 3LT/ Driver's side:
What you describe is EXACTLY what I encountered this evening! What is keeping the seat from working? Is a jumper needed to bypass seat memory? Can I just ignore the side air bags in the new seat? (since my '09 did not have side air bags)

HOW DO I MAKE THE NEW SEATS WORK?

gp2race

i'm in the same situation today. I installed passenger seat no problem, but the driver seat no power to the switch only the lumbars and bolsters. Any fix yet???

gp2race

Have you found a fix?

gp2race

My Guru Tech guy figured it out in 5 minutes. Just add one jumper lead to #3 connector on the 3LT seat with power

.

cold gas

Any chance you could explain this just a little bit better for the guy who hates electrical? Having the same issue swapping seats on my 2008 Z06 right now.

Thanks

Steve Haefner

you wanna thank BEZ06, smack the thanks button on his post.

Larry Phipps

Thread necro, but I am having this exact problem right now... jump the #3 lead to what? the orange power lead?