My driver's side heated seat is kaput. The passenger side seems to work. Does this eliminate the possibility that it's just a fuse? Thanks if you can help...

 

FYI Pass seat only gets butt heat- side airbag issue
Driver gets butt and low back

Common prob we havent seen since early spring!
See thread in gen 2
Fixed my seat heat for $3
There is a set of wires under the seat leather- looks like an electric blanket made from cheap wire- a wire breaks- burns - bad things....
If extended warranty- get entire new heater unit
If on your dime- get out the wire and solder and shrink wrap and repair the damaged section
requires removal of seat from car- read threads on that and Airbag sensors before removing- ie battery hot- key hot-OR NOT etc etc

 

Thanks 01tl4tl. I did a search and read through your instructions on how to do this, but I find it a little daunting given my general lack of skills. So I guess if it was just a fuse the switches wouldn't light up?...

 

number 1 failure of the seat heat is the broken wire
An upholstry shop can do it too, otherwise they get like 150+ for the entire seat heat insert and the seat still has to come out!

 

yeah, its not a fuse. I had to fix my burnt out wire twice last year. It's not a hard thing to do, just takes a little patience and time to understand how the leather is attached to the seat. Once you've figured that out, its pretty easy to get the leather off and have access to the heating elements.

 

its not a fuse. its a common thing for the element to burn out.


I do have a question, what in the world are you trying to use the heated seat for in early sept?

 

Did your repaired wire fail again in the same location?

 

Thanks for the help guys. I figured it wasn't a fuse but I was hoping it would be that simple.

I don't actually need the heat to work yet. It went out last winter and have been deciding whether to get it fixed or not. Don't have the confidence that I can do it myself and I don't want to get azz raped at the dealer. I'll probably just let it go since I never used it all that much - just would like everything to be functioning...

 

More or less, yeah. the wire that connects the front portion of the seat element to the rear portion burn out, so I replaced that, but did not replace enough of the original wire apparently. Another piece of the wire right near my new wire burnt out a couple weeks later. I soldered in a 8 inch or so piece after that, been good to go.

Additionally, on my second repair job, i found the wire leading to the back element also was burnt out, so I replaced that one too. I tried the seat out the other day (had a 40 degree night) and it seems to be fine still.

 

Thanks for the additional information. How difficult was it to access the wiring?

The driver side heater on my 1999 TL is not working and I'm considering a repair attempt.

 

thanks for the help

 

I had my drivers side fixed just recently (bottom only). I paid about $160 total. I bought the part on line, and found a local upholster shop to put it in. Works great,and far cheeper then the dealer!

 

Here is a link to the DIY

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ht=seat+heater