There are "J" shaped plastic clips around the base that hook onto a metal rod. You have to push down to release the tension. You may have to also turn them outward to get them to pop off the rod (see attached pic).

 

Awesome - ordered the part today so will hit this next weekend or the week after I think!

 

Send me PM's if you have questions after you get started.

 

Power seat switches are junk. Motors go out and area weak link in the seat design. Get a new switch and install it then check the fuses under the hood 30 amp 5 bucks each. Find a motor.
Unbolt the seat, fold the seat forward. Tilt folded seat back against back k seat,Using a short 2x4 underneath to hold the seat up unplug the motor, plug in the replacement and operate the switch If it works swap replacement motor with old one bolt seat back in.

 

My research determined that a common issue with our power seats, especially in the 2011 model year, the epoxy used in the seat motors holding the magnets to the motor case lets go and the motor only bumps or nudges when the switch is engaged. All three of my motors had their epoxy fail. Only one, the rear lift and lower motor on my driver's seat didnt work. I tried everything, switches, relays, fuses. Removed the seat and saw no way to remove the motors apart from the whole assembly. The power assembly costs a small fortune from Ford. I finally found a used seat locally from a '12 for cheap. Now, my seat works great.
I disassembled the bad power /motor assembly by force for an autopsy and found ALL, the motor magnets falling apart from the failed epoxy garbage..

 

Mine died on my 08 and it was still under warranty at the time. The dealer said that Ford knew there was a problem with a wire getting cut by the seat moving back and forth. They pulled the seat, rewired it and moved the wire out of the way. Thats what they said anyway. I never had another problem with it after that fix.

 

Thanks for this analysis - the most in-depth of this thread. My driver's seat motors started whining some time ago, but still worked. Now progressively they howl and sometimes don't work. Sometimes if I bang the seat with my fist or move another motor or try later (perhaps after driving over a bump) it will work again.
Do you think it is possible to repair the epoxy issue or is the whole assembly junk? If not, is it possible to just get another motor/mechanism rack from a wrecking yard or is the whole seat replacement required? Thanks for your help!!

 

Swapping out the seat bases isn't that hard; it's finding one that has a good, working one. I swapped my dead passenger one to a manual seat because it was so much cheaper.

 

Thanks so much for your help!!

 

I was thinking that I would fix my OEM rack and have a spare. I found little info on disassembly of the motors. They are not designed to be serviced and it was a task that didn't work for me. I was lucky enough to find an affordable power seat assembly at a local tearApart out of a 2012 that is working great. Some claims I read that they were able to re-epoxy the magnets back into the motor cases. With the defective epoxy that Mexico used on the 2011 seat motors, Ford should have recalled them, but No. We're on our own...again.