Wiring harness swap, for heated/memory seats?

2000 CHEVROLET SILVERADO

125,000 MILES

JOE FOX

MEMBER
1 POST

We’re trying to retrofit a 2004 Tahoe power passenger seat into the truck listed above. Bolts up fine as we were advised it would, but the wiring harnesses aren’t matching up. There doesn’t appear to be a memory seat for the passenger side on the vehicle harness side which is fine - but the connections for the seat heat are also different. The passenger side connector on the 2000 is a 6-pin connector with 4 wires actually in use (2 brown for hot, black and light blue for power to the heat relay and the switch connection, it appears). On the donor seat from the 2004 Tahoe, it’s a 16 pin connector with orange for hots, but can’t figure out which wires to leverage for the switch as there are multiple choices and the schematic, I’ve found doesn’t match color-wise. Photos below are of the 2004 Tahoe connector.

May 21, 2023 at 7:20 PM

STEVE W.

✓Experienced Mechanic
15,308 POSTS

The primary issue is that the 2004 used an entirely different control system for the heating and seat controls. While the 2000 used simple on/off controls that used a small module in the switch and a relay in the seat for the heaters the 2004 has to have the control module for the memory and heat connected to the data network in the truck to work. That network doesn't exist in the 2000. As such the heater controls that mount in the door and control the module through the network won't operate because they cannot be connected.
Attached are the heater controls for both so you can see the differences. Now the power seat adjustment should work as it uses the same orange bower feed for both trucks, but the rest won't work without devising a controller and network to connect them. Sorry.

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May 21, 2023 at 7:48 PM

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