Arkady

Hey guys, working on getting my seat heaters to work. I haven't looked at the drivers side at all yet, since I drive from that seat, but I've been working on the passenger seat for now.
I pulled out the seat and checked all the wiring - I checked with the method the manual suggests and continuity was fine. I checked every wire individually for continuity and the thermistors or whatever those little blocks in the lower section are. No opens anywhere.
I put the chair back together and re-installed it, and checked the fuse. Continuity is fine on the fuse as well.
The manual says to check the switches for continuity as well, so I'll be doing that tonight.
My question is this: on the image I've embedded below (Link here if image doesn't show up) the fuse #3 is labelled as being for the seat heaters. On the diagram, there's the obvious fuse that is #3, and also some other thing that is also labelled #3. I pulled the non-fuse thing and it has the diode symbol on it, but I've no idea what it is.
Anyone got any clues on what that is and whether it could be related?

Thanks in advance for any advice at all, guys.

01acls

Diode is a one way valve for electricity. It's use to control current flow in one direction only so the current doesn't flow backwards.

Diodes are also polarized so it must be install in the correct direction.

Diodes can also burnout like a fuse.

Since diodes are directional when you test them you should only get continuity reading in one direction.

Iggy

If you have verified there is power getting to the seats I would say the next step is to start pulling seat covers off and visually inspecting the heater elements. It will be obvious if there is a break in the line, usually accompanied with a burn mark.

The design on these heaters did not allow for strain relief very well and tend to break. common problem

Arkady

Hey guys, thanks for the responses.
I had already pulled the passenger seat apart to check with my tester for breaks - that heating element was fine but I still wasn't getting heat. I checked and then replaced a dead relay under the hood (advice from another thread on here) and I had heat in the passenger seat!
The driver's seat required more work, as I had a break in the element once in the lower section, and two separate breaks in the top section.Nothing that a quick visit from my soldering iron couldn't patch up. Got to keep my buttocks nice and warm on the drive home, almost made me forget that I didn't have heating! :P

Hey 01acls, any idea what this diode is doing here in the fuse box? I've also only got one of them installed in the three holes available for diodes - I'm not sure if that's OK or not haha.

01acls

The diode is there to keep the current from taking a short back to the battery.

The other empty hole are probably for different models of vehicles.

Arkady

Ah, that makes sense. Pretty sensible to just use the same fuse box across different models, only filling in the fuses that are needed.
This fix has been long done now but thanks for the reply and clarification!