New guy with wiring questions!!

[Ryan Buck]

Hi everyone I'm new to this form it's actually my first form I never even been on. I'm used to always Googling stuff when I have a question , it's one thing to look at it a set of instructions but another to talk to someone that's actually done it. So tonight I just picked up a whole interior out of a 04 Cadillac Escalade seats door panels console everything but the plastic Dash and The gauge cluster. The question I have is my truck is a 2002 Chevy Tahoe LT 4x4 is the Escalade was a 2004 so I noticed that the plugs on the door panels that go to the window switches and locks are different. So I went ahead and cut the pigtails off the Escalade and brought them with me to same thing with the seat wiring harness my main question is has anybody put a newer style door panel on one of the older Styles like that? I know by looking right away the plugs are different and are not going to work from mine to the new switches but are the wires the same? I'm hoping so that way I can just cut my pigtails off and wire the new ones on and be able to run the windows if anybody has done this please I can use some info thank you

 

[PG01]

‘00 nbs, ‘01-‘02.... things are set up a little diff than the ‘03-‘06 models. I would think power wdos and locks cant be all that different but ya never know with GM. Look at colors, schematics and get a test probe out..

 

[ScottyBoy]

Nope. No, no-way, no-how. Ain't gonna happen.
Trust me, I tried. Lol
The problem is not just that it's a different switch, but it's a COMPLETE different wiring architecture from 02-03. The 02 and older trucks actually use regular old switches that actually open and close a circuit. When you press the window switch, the switch actually e the circuit and current flows through the switch to the window motor. But in 03, they changed the entire vehicle to a Databus wire system. So instead of each switch being an actual "switch", it's now different computer modules that talk to each other over the Databus. They did this mostly to make testing and diagnosing things easier at the factory and at dealerships. But all this testing needs to be done on a Tech-2, and even 15 years later, most DIYers still don't have access to a Tech-2.
With a Tech-2 and the right software, you can roll each window up or down, buzz each door speaker one at a time, turn the wipers on or off, lock and unlock the doors, and MANY other things on the electrical system.
So in a nutshell, the ONLY way to make 04 window switches work on a 2002 is to transplant the ENTIRE 04 electrical harness and ALL the 04 computers (and there are MANY) into your 02 Tahoe. And I'm sure that you realize it's not worth it. I have heard of it being done before on salvage rebuilds, where a guy took a badly wrecked 03-06 and transplanted EVERYTHING to a solid but badly flooded 00-02 truck.
But on a side note, I have discovered that you CAN make the rear door switches work. There's a catch though. The rear switches are the same exact shape as the 00-02 window switches, so you can pop them apart and use the bottom half (actual electrical switch part) of the 02 switch and pop the top half of the 04 switch on to it. Then you can at least use the rear door panels and switches. As far as the front, my suggestion would be to use your 02 switches and switch bezels on the 04 door panels.

 

[PG01]

See, i told ya......

 

[Ryan Buck]

Nope. No, no-way, no-how. Ain't gonna happen.
Trust me, I tried. Lol
The problem is not just that it's a different switch, but it's a COMPLETE different wiring architecture from 02-03. The 02 and older trucks actually use regular old switches that actually open and close a circuit. When you press the window switch, the switch actually e the circuit and current flows through the switch to the window motor. But in 03, they changed the entire vehicle to a Databus wire system. So instead of each switch being an actual "switch", it's now different computer modules that talk to each other over the Databus. They did this mostly to make testing and diagnosing things easier at the factory and at dealerships. But all this testing needs to be done on a Tech-2, and even 15 years later, most DIYers still don't have access to a Tech-2.
With a Tech-2 and the right software, you can roll each window up or down, buzz each door speaker one at a time, turn the wipers on or off, lock and unlock the doors, and MANY other things on the electrical system.
So in a nutshell, the ONLY way to make 04 window switches work on a 2002 is to transplant the ENTIRE 04 electrical harness and ALL the 04 computers (and there are MANY) into your 02 Tahoe. And I'm sure that you realize it's not worth it. I have heard of it being done before on salvage rebuilds, where a guy took a badly wrecked 03-06 and transplanted EVERYTHING to a solid but badly flooded 00-02 truck.
But on a side note, I have discovered that you CAN make the rear door switches work. There's a catch though. The rear switches are the same exact shape as the 00-02 window switches, so you can pop them apart and use the bottom half (actual electrical switch part) of the 02 switch and pop the top half of the 04 switch on to it. Then you can at least use the rear door panels and switches. As far as the front, my suggestion would be to use your 02 switches and switch bezels on the 04 door panels.

Yeah I figured it out last night and what I decided to do was to use my 02 switches and panel. I just had to do a few modifications to get it to lineup with the newer style armrest but it only took maybe 20 min. A little cutting and grinding is all. Now I just have to figure out a way to fasten it to the door pannel and it will be good to go. As far as the back doors go, they plugged right in and the panel is the exact same. Wish I did more research tho because I would have. Looked for stuff out of a 02 instead!

 

[ScottyBoy]

Oh, and as far as wiring up the 04 seats......
You can get the seat movement and lumbar functions working, but give up on the memory functions and the heated seat functions. To get the power seat movement/adjustments working, look for the very thick orange or orange with a black stripe, and then an equally thick black wire. Those are the two wires that you need to hook up to power and ground. Orange is hot and black is grounded. If you already have power seats then you can splice these in to your existing wiring. When I installed my 04 Denali seats in my 2001, I did this. I cut the plug off my original seat and spliced it on to my new Denali seat. Then the airbag plugs were the same so I plugged those right into the plugs on my floor. I "HOPE" they work at least, lol. I've never had an accident so I wouldn't know. And then there's the seatbelt indicator wire. I believe that was a thin black wire with a white strip on it. That needs to be connected so that the seat belt light doesn't stay lit on the dash, it goes out when you buckle your seat belt.

 

[Ryan Buck]

Oh, and as far as wiring up the 04 seats......
You can get the seat movement and lumbar functions working, but give up on the memory functions and the heated seat functions. To get the power seat movement/adjustments working, look for the very thick orange or orange with a black stripe, and then an equally thick black wire. Those are the two wires that you need to hook up to power and ground. Orange is hot and black is grounded. If you already have power seats then you can splice these in to your existing wiring. When I installed my 04 Denali seats in my 2001, I did this. I cut the plug off my original seat and spliced it on to my new Denali seat. Then the airbag plugs were the same so I plugged those right into the plugs on my floor. I "HOPE" they work at least, lol. I've never had an accident so I wouldn't know. And then there's the seatbelt indicator wire. I believe that was a thin black wire with a white strip on it. That needs to be connected so that the seat belt light doesn't stay lit on the dash, it goes out when you buckle your seat belt.

Nice! I still haven't had time to do anything with it too busy at work but what I'm thinking about doing man is just peeling leather off of the Cadillac seat and use my old frame that way everything still works and just take basically the skins off the Escalade front seats stretching over mine then I got new leather in new phone and I won't have to worry about nothing not working just a thought if I can't figure it out but it seems a lot easier to go that route. And so far I only have the passenger rear door panel off so I might just say the hell with it and put it on Craigslist for sale and not have any headache LOL the only real problem with my interior is only the driver seat is all messed up from the heat of Arizona

 

[ScottyBoy]

Yeah, I did a lot of research on the heated seat functions and once I realized that the computer controlled the heated seats, I gave up. Besides, I won't be using heated seats very much in Louisiana anyways. I'm sure that you won't have much use for them in Arizona either. I was SOOO glad to get the movement functions working, I just left it at that. Plus the Lumbar support functions also work and my old seats didn't have that feature.

 

[Ryan Buck]

Yeah, I did a lot of research on the heated seat functions and once I realized that the computer controlled the heated seats, I gave up. Besides, I won't be using heated seats very much in Louisiana anyways. I'm sure that you won't have much use for them in Arizona either. I was SOOO glad to get the movement functions working, I just left it at that. Plus the Lumbar support functions also work and my old seats didn't have that feature.

So I thought about what you said as far as wiring the new season and I don't know why I didn't think of this before hand but what I've decided to do is since my truck already has power heated seats in it I'm just going to take the leather and foam off of the Escalade seats and put it on my existing frames and that'll be the end of that I don't have to rewire anything cut any plugs so hopefully that'll work out pretty good.

 

[swathdiver]

Hi everyone I'm new to this...

Howdy Ryan, are you from Florida by chance?