SINISTER-TYPE-S

My driver side seat heater has stopped working. Is this a common problem? Is this an easy fix?

Thanks in advance.

myron

iTrader: (4)

haha mine too and I read somewhere on here that it is a common problem but its not easy to fix.and not cheap if you take it to the stealership

01tl4tl

Is just the back or butt alone working, or the heater is totally inop?

Light at switch to indicate power?

its just removing the seat and its cover and some basic wire repair
If you can install a stereo you can do this

Scroll down the gen2 threads for Fixed my seat heater for 3 bucks

pnthr30

I just fixed my driver seat (but portion)......not all that hard, but it is time consuming......cost me all of $0.70 in wire from Lowes. One point of note, make sure you disconnect the battery when you do this, or else your SRS light will stay on when you plug the seat all back together.

myron

iTrader: (4)

ok so what happens? the wireing gets loose or breaks or what? my seat warmer isnt working in the back or butt portion so would the fix be the same for both. I think I will have to do this this weekend cuz its realy getting chilly here at -30C

myron

iTrader: (4)

oh sorry and how do I know if its the wireing or the pad itsself?I dont wanna have to strip the seat and then see that the pad is f'd then go order it.

fsttyms1

Only way to know is to test the voltage going to the seat and by pulling the seat out and pulling the cover off.

fsttyms1

Heated seats are for sissies!

myron

iTrader: (4)

hahaha thats what you think, but come over here where I live and try driving on in the -50C weather for 6-7 months and then tell me that. it gets so cold that my ass actually goes numb.

pnthr30

Fortunately, I didn't have to screw around with the back portion, as mine still works - but I assume it is the same in principal. Once I stripped the seat and took the leather off, it was rather obvious what the problem was........one wire was FRIED and burnt itself out. I simply cut it back a bit further, added a new (and stronger) wire and soldered it back together. I also put out a small notch in the foam to house this wire to try and stop this from happening again. I also did the same on the other side of the seat...it wasn't broken/burnt yet, but I figured that since I had it taken apart, I might as well fix it all. I assume the back is the same issue?? In short, the but portion is just a bad design with wires that are too thin. One wrong move with a wallet in your back pocket and it could mess things up. This is a very common problem with our cars, unfortunately.

I hear you about the heated seats, man.......it was 15 out (and not even December yet) this morning. Glad I just fixed this. haha

There is another post with some pictures (he has same issue with burnt out wire) that will give you a good idea of what to expect. If you can't find it, let me know........I think if you search for $3.00 and heated seat, you should be able to find it.

pnthr30

Here is the link to the post with pictures:

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

myron

iTrader: (4)

pnthr30: yea I saw that thread but I dont understand how you would out the leather back.in those pictures it says you cut the cable ties which hold what? do you have to re-tie something with the new ones? man this seems like a long ass process and I dont want to go through all of that stuff and then its not the wire, especially since both my back and my bottom heaters went out, I am pretty sure at the same time. one day they just didnt work.

fsttyms1

Still wouldnt use it. (never have used them in over 7 years and i have been in -30+ weather. Let the car warm up for 15 min or so before driving and every thing is fine. And i still stand by my previous statement

myron

iTrader: (4)

hahaha well you are a freak of nature then haha jk. I dont know I drove a corolla before and i didnt have seat warmers in it either and I drove it in the winter but it wasnt leather. leather just is so freaking cold in the winter. if I can fix it myself then good, if I cant, fuck it, I am not giving dealership any money, they are rich enough.

pnthr30

Once you start taking things apart, it will make more sense........there are some metal rings on the underside of the seat (after the plastic trim is removed) that hold the leather to the seat itself. Once those are off, you can simply peel the leather back/off of the foam seat. Additionally, there are some more metal attachment rings in the middle of the seat that need to be taken off to fully pull back the leather. After that, you will see what you are working with with regards to the heating element. As far as putting things back together........you can reuse the metal rings (which I did), but if I did it again, I think I would simply use zip ties - the rings were a PITA for me to try and put back together correctly (especially the ones in the middle of the seat. To be honest, the leather fits over the foam very tightly, so there isn't a lot of pressure/pulling on the rings (or zip ties). Overall, the project isn't that hard, just a lot of screwing around. I suggest bringing the seat inside and doing it in front of the TV with some beers. Let me know if you have any other questions.

precisionpar

Do you have to use a specific type of wire? I was thinking of using fusible link wire so that if it "blows" again the jacketing would protect the seat.

fsttyms1

thats a nice attitude

If all else fails buy new elements and put them in yourself. Also did you check to see if the passenger side unit is working? There is a relay under the hood for the seat heaters.

myron

iTrader: (4)

ok thanks for clearing that up, I think I will have to do this tomorrow. winter is coming and my car is outside during the day while I am at work. realy need those on the leather seats. I am usually iffy about doing things like this just cuz i am scared about fucking shit up but I guess I have no choice, so what happens happens. if I had any more questions I will hit you up for sure man.

burnerjunky

does the 99tl have butt heaters, the back works on both, but ive never noticed heat caressing my buttox

myron

iTrader: (4)

passanger seats dont have the back heater so I dont know how that could work but the drivers has both. if it doesnt work on yours could be wires and shit. common problem so I am told.

fsttyms1

Correct. and yes its very common. The only reason i know mine didnt work was from my girlfriend complaining that it didnt work, and as i dont care for them i never saw a need to fix them. Now if it was a Air conditioned seat id love it.

pnthr30

That is what we need! haha Those are VERY nice!

myron

iTrader: (4)

hey is it right that my passanger seat DOES have a heated seat on the lower back? haha cuz I thougth they didnt, and then my dad was driving my car adn I was in the passanger seat and I turn the seat heaters on and the back got hot. but my seating part didnt. I guess my TL is just special then huh? hahaha

burnerjunky

yeah, mine does too on the lower back and butt, just the same as my driver seat. maybe we just have the coolest tl's around

myron

iTrader: (4)

well my drivers seat doesnt work at all, and my passanger only lower back I believe so the 1 heater I wasnt "suppose" to have actually work lol there is a kick in the balls right there.

y2kardell

iTrader: (1)

On the 99 models both the bottom and top portions of the seats heat up. 99 MODELS ONLY!!!!!!!

myron

iTrader: (4)

99 only probably cuz there is no side impact air bags lol who needs that anyways. haha go to the gym and buff up and nothing can hurt you LOL jk jk

Sust Man

I have mine apart right now. One of the wires is burnt up, but I don't have any "high temp" wire. I have tons of various wire from car stereo and alarm installs. Will this be ok? I have to put my seat back together in order to go get the hi temp wire. If I have to do that, I'm not going to pull it apart again, so I need to improvise. Also, should I use bare wire or leave the jacket on? The burnt up wire looks like it didnt have a jacket around it.

01tl4tl

Must be a Canadian car thing~

01tl4tl

use the link on page 1 to the - fixed my seat heater for $3
It tells you what wire is acceptable and many good tips

craiger62

My drivers side heater stopped working (bottom and back side).
The switch lights work in high and low.
Is the burned out wire only a fix if your butt warmer stops working? Or is that a fix for the backside as well?
I noticed that it stopped working after I installed my XM radio and had the dash and center console panels pulled apart. Is there a connector that could have come lose under the dash or console after the switch?

Many thanks,

Craig

Sust Man

Check the fuse. Otherwise, its probably a burnt out wire on the element. If the switch came unplugged, it would not still light up. My butt and back heaters quit working at the same time as well. I just fixed the butt heater, but didn't mess with the back.

craiger62

I'll check the manual to see if it tells me which fuse it is. I need to buy a service manual.
I find it odd that both of your elements went out at the same time, but fixing the wire only fixed the bottom.
Do you think it is possible that another wire burned up in the back element as well?
Have you seen any threads on this?

Sust Man

You dont need the manual. Just pop off the fuse cover (one on either end of the dash with the door open). The cover tells you which fuse is which. As for my seat, I can't be sure when my seat completely stopped working because I hardly ever used it. All I know is that when it quit working, neither the back or butt worked. Im sure there is another burnt out wire between the butt and back that could be fixed, but I didn't want to mess with it.

Dennik

Had the same problem with burned wire... Fixed it yesterday... Thanks for advises and pictures!