Ok, last year under warranty the dealership replaced the burnt out (butt) portion of my driver side seat heater. They also replaced the working (back) portion saying it too would soon fail. Everything was great until last week.

Now the butt portion only works on high, the back portion SOMETIMES works and not over a large area either. Nothing works on the low setting. Passanger seat is fine.

It's not under warranty anymore and the dealer is saying the back portion needs to be replaced, but my ? is what about the low setting? The switch checks out fine, but I don't see how replacing one portion of the seat heater will give me the low setting again. Any info???

 

im my 03tl the seat heaters never work in teh morning when its cold. they work in teh evening when its alright outside. if i had time id probably take it apart and look at the heaters and wires, but its too cold outside to do it.

check your wires, might be pinched, or cut somewhere

 

Open wires- try repairing it yourself or http://www.heatedseatkits.com/ for replacement elements. Reasonable prices.

 

And the dealer wont warranty or help out with any of the work even though they just replaced it last year? Id check on that.


And seat heaters are for pansies. Especially on Nov 1st.

 

I ran mine yesterday, here in California, it was a cool 50 degrees out. My butt didn't get warm but my back did. I will be pulling my seat apart.

One of the dealerships I had service my car had a 4 month or 4K limit to parts/labor. Check your receipt of the last job to determine their liability.

I think you could open up the seat yourself and fix the wire that's broke.

 

using the heated seat in 50deg. I would like to see you in -20. 50 is still T-Shirt and short weather.

 

I lived for many years with winters that would see -40. I dont like the cold.

 

LOL, I'm going to the dealership tomorrow. It seems to only act up when it's really cold out. Today it was warmer and both parts and settings worked. It's been in the low 30's here late at night and in the early AM when I go to and from work.

I'm just going to let them look at it. If it needs new parts I'm going to my other dealership where my friend works to get it at his cost, I'll have him print me out instructions from the Helm's and do it myself.

Honda/Acura makes really shitty heated seats.

 

Well if you buy the OEM replacement elements it'll be more of the same.....

 

How involved is a DIY on this topic? My Driver's side seat is no longer working but the back is. Is there a DIY posting?
I searched but could not locate.

 

yes their is a diy in the diy section. someone did it with only spending $3

 

easy to fix if you're willing to pull the seat covers off. the reason why it doesn't work in the cold is because the wires are already shorted out and burnt. when it's cold out, the breaks in the wires are exaggerated (thus no contact), and when the wires warm up, they can touch again.
i changed out all the connecting wires in my driver side butt and back, and the passenger side butt. no problems since (changed it out last year with some 14awg wire)

 

14 gauge wire-! That's much larger than what's in there. Does it still actually heat??

 

found the diy.....thanks......here is the link.
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ats+diy+heated

 

i think you're a little confused as to which wires i replaced.. the connecting wires (the ones that commonly burn out) are probably 20-22awg. they connect the heating pads (30awg high resistance heating wires) to the seat electrical connectors and to other pads. if anything, the pads heat faster because of less resistance with larger wires (not that it'd be noticeable).

 

I bought a 02 TL-s about a month ago and when I bought it I pointed out that the driver seat heater didn't work at all. I had someone drive my car the other day and I rode in it and noticed that the pass side back doesn't work either. It wasn't disclosed on the window sticker that they didn't work properly. I was wondering if the dealer would have to fix it because it wasn't disclosed?

Could the driver side be a main power wire or something simple? Both the high and low lights come on when the switches are turned on.

 

Passenger side seat back is not heated. Check in your O/M for more info. Most people, including me, have discovered when the seat heaters aren't working the elements under the cover are burnt open. Be sure to check the easy things first- fuses, relays, etc.

 

Hey! sorry for such a late question, but what specific wire gauge did you use for the heating elements in the seat? Want to make sure I purchase the right one before i tear this car apart.

Thanks!

 

 

I didn't replace the entire wire - just the parts that were broken. I used some scrap wire I had on me. I believe it was 2-3mm in diameter? Nothing too crazy.
Either way I don't think it should matter too much if you're just patching up a busted wire on the seat heaters. If you're re-doing everything then by all means whip out that micrometer but you should be good with any medium thickness wire for this fix.
Check your seat heater relay too by the way - mine was busted along with the heating wires.

 

I personally wouldn't recommend soldering new wire in. I tried it on the passenger side and the fix failed. It's a bit of a pain getting the upholstry rings out (and then back in) without an upholstry tool. The rest of the seat removal/disassembly process isn't bad, but you will destroy the two clips holding the seatback on. So if you pull it off you'll have to replace those and you won't want to do that more than once.

The wires are stranded, probably 16-18 gauge and are very flexible. If your heater elements are like mine, then the wires will be burnt and broken in multiple places. The stretching action from people getting in/out of the seats put a lot of stress on the wires - especially when there's a metal bar used to attach the leather to the seat base with the upholstry ("hog") rings.

You're better off buying a new element and ensuring that there is plenty of slack in the wires that join the two sections of the seat heater, and perhaps even put some foam or something to further insulate them from pressure when people sit on the seat.

This is going to sound freaking rude but my passenger seat heater went out years ago when my wife took the TL to pick up her friend who is a fan of food. If you catch my drift.

 

Looks like we had very different experiences working on our seat heaters, Chojun! Those plastic tabs in the back gave me no issues. But I''ll agree - those upholstery rings were a pain! I ended up not putting half of them back in hahaha
I didn't put the metal bar in the middle of the seat back in because that's where my wire broke, figured it'd be more conducive for longevity of my fix to leave it off.
Regarding the story of how yours broke - LOL
I hear somewhere that if you keep your wallet in your back pocket, that puts more pressure in a single area and helps break those cables down.

 

I've taken my seats apart several times and yes, you might get lucky and the plastics tabs won't break. But they are expected to break when removing the seat back. I cut the hog rings in one seat and replaced with zip ties. In the other seat I removed them with pliers and replaced them by bending them back with pliers, both methods worked alright. I fixed the burned out sections by soldering in new wires, seat bottom still works after two winters but I think the back is busted again.

I haven't kept a wallet in my back pocket in decades - that's bad for your back!

 

Yeah, I found out the back issues it causes on my own, sadly. at least I have a nice office job where I can practice my posture all day long and get paid for it.

 

The heated seat is a great comfort when waking up in the snow. I never did figure out what the KEEP switch selection does, though.