bigdo26

As a followup to an older thread about repairing the heating element in the seat, some people had asked about a fix for the heating element in the back portion of the seat as well. I didn't see anything posted about this, so I've got a little writeup of what I just did.

Both the seat and the back heating elements were out on my car, I fixed the seat portion a month or so ago, which as many of you know turned out to be what seems the typical problem with the heated seat: the wire connecting the two pads burnt out. After I'd put my seat back together, I found out there was also a heating element in the back portion of the seat (bought my TL used last summer). So today I decided to take a stab at fixing the back portion.

To remove the leather cover, first you have to remove the back portion of the seat, where the kangaroo pouch is. There are two clips on the bottom of that which hold the panel on. I removed them by force (not the right way, but it worked). It appears that to remove them properly they must be pressed towards each other. I forgot to take pics of them for reference, sorry! Anyways, once those are unclipped, the panel will slide off by pulling it downwards.

Removing the seat back is fairly simple, easier than the bottom piece as there are only 2 metal rings that need to be undone. There are 4 big plastic hooks that hold the cover to the seat, undo those, and then you can start to remove the leather. Additionally there are 3 sets of clips that must be removed that attach to the backside of the seat (if you're looking at the seat from the rear, they're on the left). Once all the necessary clips are removed, you can peal away the cover enoguh to gain access to the necessary portion of the heating element, as pictured below.

The problem with the heating element turned out to be essentially the same thing as with the seat portion. The two wires were burnt out, as seen below. Notice the wire on the right is burnt for several inches. To fix the issue, i cut into the heating element pad to get access to the unburnt wire, then stripped the rubber coating from the heating element wire, spliced in a new wire (again as shown below), and the repeated for the other burnt out wire.

After putting the seat back together, I tried it out, and it works wonderfully. Heats right up, appears to be back in good working order.

Another free fix (and saved $xxx that the dealer would have charged!)

Hope this helps!

01tl4tl

Wow that looks like a major fire hazard, thanks for the DIY!

mezzerTL-S

nice , I figured thats what it looked like but haven't gotten to it yet... Thanks

c0v3rr1d3

iTrader: (4)

wait the back of the seat is supose to heat up just as much as the bottom? haha damn it i have to check mine now, cause i never feel the back heat up just the bottom in my 02 tls

jfltl00

I've had the same issue since I bought my '03 in October; no heated seats. I asked the dealer to fix it since I still have about 5000 miles until my warranty expires, in addition to replacing the dash pad which was warped (another common problem). Long story short, my car has been at the dealer now for 8 days and I am going through withdrawals!!! On a positive note, they did send the seats to a trim shop to do the job right (they are even getting the 'butt prints' out). I feel like I own the loaner at this point...

bigdo26

haha yeah i didnt realize it until recently either. its nice having the back heat up tho, i'm thinking it will be beneficial after a day of skiing when my back is aching.

and on a side note, i just took my car to the bank (10 minute drive or less), back heated up real nice, but now the butt heater quit on me!!! wtf?!?!?!

get one part working, other one says "screw you" and quits. Now the seat is back on my floor here with the bottom being torn apart, again.... arghhh

bigdo26

Turns out when I carried my seat inside to fix the back heating element, I managed to pull the connector wire from on the seat element apart. Finally got the seat working 100% now, gonna be nice and toasty for tomorrow's ski trip!

Da_iLLeZt_TL973

so wait a minute only the 02-03's have the back portion heated right??.......they always seem to leave out us 99-01's

bigdo26

According to the website below, years 2000-2003 have the back heating element on the drivers seat.

http://www.acuraautomotiveparts.org/...prddisplay.jsp

And according to the specs from the same website on the 1999 TL, both the driver and passenger seat have back heating elements:

http://www.acuraautomotiveparts.org/...prddisplay.jsp

hope this helps!

TpSC3crT

iTrader: (1)

I have a 99TL and both back and bottom heaters work, that is... when they finally start kicking in... they take quite some time.

Luke7

The 99tl has BACK seat heaters. I have one and both the drivers side and the passenger side seats heat on both the butt portion and back of the seat. If your back doesn't heat up then there is a problem

ac5320

So all the sudden nothing heats up on the drivers side...the switch goes on just nothing warms up....i took it to the dealer they said i need new pads and it would cost 650....screw that....i keep hearing about changing the elements...do i need new elements or pads? are they same thing? do the elements get changed when you change the pads? i am so confused.

fsttyms1

its all the same. You need to replace the whole thing, unless you use the DIY and fix it yourself. If your not comfortable doing that you can replace the heating pads yourself

Buy them here
http://www.acuraautomotiveparts.org/...catdisplay.jsp

rp_guy

i fixed my back a month ago on my CL, but i didn't have good wiring so i used electrical house wiring, which was too thick and not stranded (probably 10guage). i just wired up my fogs, and lo-and-behold, i knocked the wiring loose (even though it was soldered, the heating element wiring is really thin). so now i have to take my seat apart AGAIN.. GRR

JDM Inspired

i would attempt this project, but i would like a much more STEP by STEP way, to see how the leather is removed and shit, i cant afford messin that shit up......so if anyone can show the steps it would help me alot.....cuz mines aint working either.....

AMGala

iTrader: (4)

Get some heat shrink and seal up the connection tightly.