02clcleohio

Hey everyone,
My first post.

I want to thank everyone for the help and their discussion I've been reading.
I just bought an 02 CL in march w/ 125,xxx and now i'm @ 138,xxx - I love to drive. I have questions, but for now, i will post. Hope it helps.

My seat back in the driver's seat was not heating. I was reading about how some fixed it. People wanted photos. I fixed my seat back this morning in an hour. With 2 pairs of needle nose pliers, sodering gun, electrical tape, halogen lamp, and a sock. I'm 24 and I have very little mechanical training.

Luckily it was only my seat back. Or i would of had to take the seat out.
You will notice where the problem is, under a medal bar that is sewed into the leather upholstery. It is clearly a manufacturing defect.


Start:



Remove seat back, Pull out bottom. The clips wont come out but you'll have to take em out later. Only unsnap bottom. then pull cover down, notice top plastic holders! dont bend out and break




Undo upholstery all around, and then clips on the door side. Pull up leather, thru the underside of seat.



Meet round circle clips from hell. They hold the bar sewn into the leather seam to the seat. You have to rotate then 180 degrees then you'll see where you can open them up, twist and release.



The round clips from hell, hold the rod so tight it caused it to short out. Problem identified. * I dont know how the hell you "replace" the pad, it seems mine is all stuck to the foam.



Heats whole seat.


I though i looked good.
My set up.



The wires are VERY frail. It must be like 34 gauge wire. Speaker wire I wouldn't recommend because of the heat. I was easily able to stip the isulation off the wires with my fingernails.

I never put in new wire. I re routed the old wire in front of the rod so there would not be the problem in the future. On the other side I pulled the wire out a little and made sure a new section was in the place under the bar. I also cut a old sock and placed it under the bar so it would not affect the fix.

Clip and soder. I have had no prior soder experience except when I was very little with my dad. Notice at first I did not recline the seat i was like this is hell, I was sodering and i was thinking this smells, oh shit the foam! But it's all good. Leather is unharmed. Recline seat, thenit's easy. Put a small piece of cardboad on the seat bottom. Electrical tape !



Pull leather down. Pull thru bottom.



You got to get these little white clips out.



Put clips in back. Slide back ON, UP, IN. Make sure you press the top far enough in, or you'll have a small gap.



Done and warm. It's amazing.

Now i need help with ball joints, rear bearing, my passenger seat wont recline, i've had the motor out and it works but it wont go back.

Let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy.

andrewcjduong

Wow thanks so much for this DIY. My CL passenger seat doesn't heat anymore but the switch light still went up. Asked dealer and they charge $600.

I'll definitely do this soon after I fix some other dumb problems.

aznboi2424

iTrader: (10)

Welcome! Nice first post! Thanks so much for this, my driver's seat back isnt working either.

hermtm2

What kinds of wire did you use for connecting the broken heat wires?

Tosh

Thanks for the tips! Got it bookmarked for eventual failure.

Lowriderhps

sweet now i know how to fix that.... still have no luck on how to fix my recline tho..... anyone????

krazykrnboi

didnt even know the backs heated... just thought the bottom portion was heated. good to know.. guess time to do this... even though cold season is almost gone.

jkr_j32a2

Werd to that.

early spring here in TX

Cruz_msl

Only the DRIVER'S side will heat the seat back. The Passenger side does not because of the passenger side air bag.

jkr_j32a2

my passenger seat. Explain this?

aznboi2424

iTrader: (10)

He means the passenger side back.

Drivers: back and bottom heated.
Passenger: bottom heated only.