Sponsored

Upgraded to power seats on base S550- surprising solution found!

Brian_S550

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Threads
7
Messages
527
Reaction score
702
Location
Chicago suburbs, IL
First Name
See username
Vehicle(s)
2015 Mustang 3.7L, 2016 Explorer 3.5L
After a lot of research and testing, my friend and I have just finished installing dual power-adjustable leather seats from a GT Premium donor into my 2015 Mustang V6 Coupe- which started life as a package 050 without even a power driver’s seat. As we discovered, there is essentially a factory pre-wired solution for the problem of getting the necessary 12V power supplied to the seat switch and motors in a car that wasn’t originally equipped with them.

These are the plugs that you’ll find underneath each front seat. The two outermost pins are 12V power and Ground for power seat control (Green/Red and Black on one side, Gray/Red and Black/White on the other). Base trim S550’s, and most likely any Premium cars that came with Recaro seats, do not have this corresponding wiring in the door sill junction plug (light gray wiring connectors hidden behind your kick panels on both sides) that would lead from the BJB/fusebox under the hood and back through the firewall.
f9snJdE.jpg



IuizDw4.jpg


Those two empty spots next to the pink 30 Amp fuse is where a Premium car has the fuse circuits for a power driver and passenger seat. As you can see, there aren’t the necessary two pins for each fuse location allowing us to simply install a fuse and let power seats be hooked up. Thanks, Ford...
Sj1Ad6A.jpg


However, the two blue 20A fuses in the next row are actually the key to making these retrofitted power seats functional. There are a pair of unused wires in the light gray connectors I mentioned earlier. One side of the car has a White/Red wire, while the other side is solid Red. They are both 2-3 pins away from where the 12V power would be supplied on a car with factory power seats.
9eCDk8C.jpg



yjFceh4.jpg


So first we need to replace those two 20A fuses found in the BJB with 30A types, and then de-pin and move the previously mentioned White/Red and Red wires over so they will match up with the Green/Red and Gray/Red seat power wires coming out of the same joined plugs.
CKP1U1J.jpg


Here’s why this is an easy retrofit- there are apparently two constant 12V power circuits on S550 models that correspond to left and right side motors that would operate a convertible top. These wires are present in Fastback coupes, too, and are left completely unused even though they have 20A fuses already installed in your BJB under the hood. My original theory was that we’d have to figure out a way to connect and run new wires from Fuses 12 and 13, when in reality the simplest solution was to repurpose Fuses 15 and 17... since there isn’t much need currently for powering a convertible top in my fastback.
LG8hIj5.jpg


2PCqejf.jpg


If you guys have further questions about how I got the new seats operating in my base car, I will be happy to answer with as much additional detail as you want. But I wanted to share this easy fix for those of you who might be interested in adding power seats to an S550 which doesn’t currently have that feature. In all, it took less than 20 minutes to prepare my car for the new seat installation, and the only cost involved was approximately $5 for new 30A fuses (I found a multi-pack on Amazon) to successfully activate them.
Sponsored

 
OP
OP
Brian_S550

Brian_S550

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Threads
7
Messages
527
Reaction score
702
Location
Chicago suburbs, IL
First Name
See username
Vehicle(s)
2015 Mustang 3.7L, 2016 Explorer 3.5L
Oh, and here is the finished product. :sunglasses:

Ac6EKNI.jpg
 

screwu2man

New Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2018
Threads
0
Messages
1
Reaction score
1
Location
PA
First Name
Keith
Vehicle(s)
2017 mustange v6,
Fantastic!!! Something I plan on doing in the future.
 
OP
OP
Brian_S550

Brian_S550

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Threads
7
Messages
527
Reaction score
702
Location
Chicago suburbs, IL
First Name
See username
Vehicle(s)
2015 Mustang 3.7L, 2016 Explorer 3.5L

Sponsored

Brazos609

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2018
Threads
23
Messages
717
Reaction score
268
Location
Texas
Vehicle(s)
2015 GT Premium PP Recaro
That gets 30A power to the kickpanel, but how do you get the power to the seat from there? Where did you source a wire to run from the kickpanel to the plug on the bottom of the seat?
 
OP
OP
Brian_S550

Brian_S550

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Threads
7
Messages
527
Reaction score
702
Location
Chicago suburbs, IL
First Name
See username
Vehicle(s)
2015 Mustang 3.7L, 2016 Explorer 3.5L
That gets 30A power to the kickpanel, but how do you get the power to the seat from there? Where did you source a wire to run from the kickpanel to the plug on the bottom of the seat?
The funny thing is that I didn’t have to source anything. My 2015 V6 already had that segment of the factory power seat circuit in place.

I did find that the correct sized pins are relatively common in Ford vehicle wiring harnesses, so for any S550’s that don’t have the kickpanel to seat wires already installed, you can simply pull some bulk wiring and spare wire pigtails from a junkyard car for cheap.
 

Emilbadal

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2017
Threads
11
Messages
373
Reaction score
136
Location
Socal
First Name
Emil
Vehicle(s)
2016 V6 Auto DIB
Thank you so much for the great info. two questions though, do you know if the heated/cooled seats wiring is in place as well? the other question is, is there any way to have the seat belt guide strap upgraded to leather?
 
OP
OP
Brian_S550

Brian_S550

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Threads
7
Messages
527
Reaction score
702
Location
Chicago suburbs, IL
First Name
See username
Vehicle(s)
2015 Mustang 3.7L, 2016 Explorer 3.5L
I got my power seats from a base 2016 GT that had Katzkin aftermarket leather already installed on them. The wiring for factory heated and cooled seats definitely won’t be present on cars that aren’t already equipped that way. That will probably involve FORScan changes and a lot of new wiring throughout the cabin if you wanted to add heated/cooled seats.
 

Sponsored

Dmesser92

Active Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2018
Threads
7
Messages
37
Reaction score
44
Location
Easley, South Carolina
First Name
Dylan
Vehicle(s)
2022 Ford Mustang Ecoboost
After a few months with my '17 S550 I was disappointed in how little lumbar support the stock seats offer. Even a short drive resulted in my lower back aching for a while. After discovering this thread I decided to give the conversion a try. I sourced a power seat on eBay and got to work switching them out. The instructions provided by the OP for a 2015 worked perfectly for my 2017. From the firewall to the seat the car is pre-wired for a power seat. First I disconnected the battery then replaced the 20amp fuse with a 30amp which I ordered from Amazon. I de-pined the green and red wire to line up with the red wire that will power the seat. After reconnecting the battery the seat worked perfectly! The process took less than 30 minutes to do and there's no cutting or splicing required. If you're interested in adding power seats to your S550 this is an incredibly easy way to make it happen!
 
OP
OP
Brian_S550

Brian_S550

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Threads
7
Messages
527
Reaction score
702
Location
Chicago suburbs, IL
First Name
See username
Vehicle(s)
2015 Mustang 3.7L, 2016 Explorer 3.5L
Awesome to hear that others have been successful adding power seats to their cars. One thought I had is that someone who has factory Recaro sport seats can follow my wiring writeup then replace the manual base that comes their Recaros with the power adjustable type.
 

Maddog1337

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2018
Threads
10
Messages
45
Reaction score
12
Location
Chicago
Vehicle(s)
2017 Mustang V6
Great write up. I'm wondering if anyone would know - for base model owners with manual seats who want to do this mod in the most cost effective manner... Assuming you keep the base cloth seats, in order to convert them to power would all you need to buy is the motorized track assembly? I'm unaware if the seat adjustment switches are actually part of the seat or the track (and if that portion is even modular or not).
 
OP
OP
Brian_S550

Brian_S550

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Threads
7
Messages
527
Reaction score
702
Location
Chicago suburbs, IL
First Name
See username
Vehicle(s)
2015 Mustang 3.7L, 2016 Explorer 3.5L
Great write up. I'm wondering if anyone would know - for base model owners with manual seats who want to do this mod in the most cost effective manner... Assuming you keep the base cloth seats, in order to convert them to power would all you need to buy is the motorized track assembly? I'm unaware if the seat adjustment switches are actually part of the seat or the track (and if that portion is even modular or not).
The motorized seat base can be swapped with the manual adjustment one. On the driver side, I feel like the most difficult part will be putting the adjustable lumbar system inside your backrest though.
 

TicTocTach

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2018
Threads
24
Messages
980
Reaction score
994
Location
DFWTX
First Name
Clair
Vehicle(s)
2018 EBPP
This is awesome! Makes sense that the wiring would be in place, but it's great to see the job done. Plus, those tan katskinz cognac leathers are just right! Should have been an OEM color, so much better than the brown that is offered.
Sponsored

 
 




Top