TL Seats in Accord DIY?

I just picked up front seats for my Accord, off a TL (2001-2003, not sure which one).

My Accord had the stock cloth, non power seats. As everyone knows the TL has the electric power seats with memory function, heated seats and the side airbags.

I have looked for a DIY but I cannot find a proper wiring diagram. A harness pinout would be really helpful. I do not care about the heated seats, or obviously about the airbags (as they were not in my original seats)

The good part is, they are bolt on. No need to change rails or do any modifications.

If anyone has done the swap, or has resources to see a wiring diagram it would be greatly appreciated

Most here swap the CL seats, some of those threads are still good resources though. Try Acurazine and V6P.net for TL wiring diagrams. Did you try a Google search?

Yeah, I noticed after I already got the seats. I'm not sure if they are the same seats, but I'm pretty sure the wiring is not the same. I have been searching for 2-3 days now, I have not found any information about anyone doing it with TL seats on non-power accord.


I just took off the seat side controls, as well as the wiring harness. Seems like someone at the yard tried taking them out and broke some of the wires. Thankfully there are more TL's that I can get the wiring from.

Does anyone know if there is a separate module, apart from the one built into the seat that is required? I'd assume so as there is a big connector with 11 wires on each side, so 22 in total.

If those are mostly for the memory function, then I'm wondering if you can just give power to certain leads, and ground other ones and the control unit on the seat does the rest of the work managing the movement with the buttons on the side?

The 22-pin harness plug connects to the main harness under the floor carpet that runs all over the place. Some of the wires are for heat, some are for power, others are for memory. You need to power certain wires on that big plug. The only separate plug is the SRS, which if you have a 98-00 Accord, you don't need to worry about.

I'm aware where it connects, as I removed it from the TL in the scrap yard, however I cannot find what wires are for what, and I'm going to bet that there is a separate module that I would need if I was going for the complete stock install. I am not interested in the memory function at all, and the heat function can wait for now.

Now, I'm trying to make my own wiring diagram and figure out what goes where and what it does. Its coming along slowly but surely. I have gotten the recline function to work, and currently moving on to the forward/back motors. I think the up/down motors are hidden under the cushion so I won't get to them today. I got another harness in-case someone has any idea what wires do what, and if just power and ground to specific wires on the 22 pin harness would make the rest of the seat work via the side button controls.

I have already disregarded the yellow harness for the SRS as my car does not have that function.

Any help is appreciated, thanks


Edit: Update : Got forward/back function working. Still waiting to see if anyone knows anything about the harness. If not, tomorrow I will solder on wires to the current switches, to get some functionality. Found the motors for front and rear up/down movement. Trying to make a clean install, doesn't look too bad right now. Still haven't figured out anything with the heated seats, I believe I need a module to regulate the on/off times.

I hope you are taking pics along the way

Just a quick update, I have figured out all the motor movements. Tomorrow I will take apart the harness and see if I can figure out how to wire it based on the motor movements so it remains stock. Worst case scenario, I will have to manually solder and power each motor movement to the side button controls.

I am taking pictures, I plan on posting and explaining the procedure, I haven't never a DIY, and I'm not too sure how easy it would be, but I'll try explaining the procedure overall.

Good to hear! But to clarify, the tl seats bolt in directly in the sedan with no mods other than wiring?

I took out my drivers seat, and I put the TL one in, the 2 front bolts matched up, and the rears looked like they would. I didn't go as far as bolting it all down yet, because It was raining out and I wanted to have a quick check before I started working on the wiring. I'm going to be in for a really big surprise if they don't fit, but I don't think thats the case

I believe 'kennyv' did the TL F/R seats on his sedan.

You can try sending him a pm and seeing if he can give you some pointers.