Disco 1 driver seat swap
 

I needed front electric seats for my 97 Disco 1 with 170K, they were trashed by age and PO. Prices on eBay were high (or I am cheap), plus shipping. Checked the salvage yards, and it seemed like when I did find a good seat it was only the passenger. So I took the plunge and scavenged two passenger seats, which were about $25 a piece (U-pull-da-partz).

Removed old seats. Set aside to keep for spare parts (like motors). Not interested in heated seats, live in an area where it gets below 30 four days a year. Of course the "new" passenger seat bolted in just fine. To make a passenger seat work for the driver's side, you need to swap the seat belt and seat belt female end, on mine these used the same Torx bit as was required to remove the two rear bolts on the seats. Also swap out the two plastic trim parts from the original seat. These are held by plastic push in fastners, similar to door trim.

Photos show typical old seat, and results of swap.

The end result is functioning seats, with the driver seat having the lumbar control knob on the left side. It has enough clearance to pass by the door frame. The motor wiring was the same and plugged right up.

I had problems with one of my replacement seats, the motor for the seat back would heat up and sieze after about 10 seconds of use. All four of the motors are under the seat, and they are the same motor. You can feel the cable from each motor and feel it torque when that motor is activated. Easy to replace, the seat cable is like an old style speedometer cable. Some guys may want to spend time greasing that cable, and the right angle gear reducing drives, but before you spend time on that just remove the cable from the motor end and try it with an electric drill. Since your old speedometer cable could go 50K without new grease, the seat cables can probably make it quite a while because of their low number of hours used.

Thats good to know that a passenger seat will work on the drivers side, I wasnt sure if they would interchange or not. My drivers seat is shot and Ive been looking around for a replacement but seems like everyone in my area all the drivers seats are worn out.

If you are pulling it yourself from the boneyard, get both left and right side seat control switches from the console. They are "handed", and can be re-worked (another post on this forum covers that). The switch units are a small pain to rework, but cheaper than replacements. After looking at how scorched the seat bottoms look on the underside, I won't be hooking up the seat warmer.

All good info, thanks for trying this.

Curious if the adjustment motors could be replaced by themselves from either driver or passenger seats. Mine has a bad for and aft motor on the drivers seat, causes too much current draw and pops the fuse effectively killing both seats.

I believe they can, and they look very similar to ones in Mercedes seats of the era. You can also use a battery drill, chuck up the seat motor cable, and drive a seat to a comfortable position and leave it.