Another question. When I turn on my heated seats I dont feel anthing. If the light comes on can the wire still be dameged
Thanks

 

I used 12 Guage stranded insulated house wire for my repair. Technically, it wouldn't need to be insulated, but I wouldn't take that risk. Finding 8" of stranded wire shouldn't be too difficult.

 

I have 05 F250 Lariat, with the same issue, passenger seat works fine, no heat for the driver!!!

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

 

BINGO!! Same problem mine had. The wire was COOKED and the foam pad was crispy and melted. Big time fire risk. And you were generous with the 18 ga.....I'd say it is 24 at best. I've seen telephone wires bigger than that.

can't wait to go for a drive!

 

I need a better description of how to do this. It's 16F and snowing and I can't find this wire. I got the front of the leather cover unhooked, now how do I peel it back far enough? I can get my hand up between the cover and the foam but I don't feel any wire or heating elements. Damn it's cold out here. My butt been freezing on this seat for 4 years and this is the closest I've come to being able to fix it. I'm willing to go back out there and fix it tonight because I got to drive it tomorrow at 7:00AM when it's going to be damn cold!!!

 

Get an 11/16" deep socket and a T-55 Torx bit and take the seat out and bring it inside - MUCH easier.

After you get the cover up, you'll see the white cotton heaters. On the driver's seat, mine that burned was on the left side as you face the seat. The heaters are glued to the foam so I carefully peeled the heater from the foam.

The cover is hog-ringed to the foam so I had to twist the hog rings off with some needle nose pliers - they come out real easy. IF the issue is the burned wire, it will be rediculously obvious - about a 3" burned trench. It's along the little 1" or so section where the butt heater meets the thigh heater.

If you don't see it, it might not be your problem - my passenger side one was not burned. To test, unplug the connector off the bosch controller under the seat. It's a 10 pin connector with 2 rows of 5 wires. Test the continuity (Ohms) between wires 3 and 5 (they are labeled on the connector) of the PLUG (not the controller). These are teh heater element wires.

If you have no resistance there, then your wire isn't burned/broken and you have another issue.

 

Here is my drivers cushion. The element was burnt in the forward pad. This about 22 gauge stranded wire loomed through the cloth.




Note: This is not the passenger cushion. I'm pointing to the crossover wire for demo. You will know if they are burnt, it will be black.
On my passenger cushion the crossover wire was burnt that connects the two lower cushion heating pads. This is about 18 gauge stranded fiber re-enforced wire. You can see the shadow of the heavier wire in the cloth.



FYI,
I repaired the cross over wire that was burnt in the passanger cushion, it worked fine for a month. The seat failed agian! I took it apart and the other crossover wire had fried......suggest you change both wires the first time.

 

Doh - good point. should've done both of them.

Used the heater for the first time today - took a while to get warm as expected, but once it did - holy crap that thing is HOT!!!

 

Oh, but it feels so nice.

 

HEY!! I don't have a thigh heater! No Fair!!!
Were you able to repair the burnt wire within the element itself?

 

Yep.......use the same size wire or bigger!

 

Would this work in a 2003 Expy? My heated seats are out plus the lights don't come on. Fuse looks to be good.
Craig

 

I see why the wires burned. After just a few minutes on that thing I swear my coconuts are smoking. It gets HOT!!! Wonder if it was just too small a gauge of wire - which also explains the extra heat.

 

I have similar problem with the heater not working on my 04 Exp. The AC doesn't work right now either. Today I took apart the center console to check the switch since the lights do not come on either. The passenger seat works fine so I tried to exchanging the switches. Had to take apart the switches since the connectors are different but still no luck. When I turn on either the AC or heater for the passenger seat I hear a click on the motors below the seat. I get absolutely nothing from the drivers seat when I hit the switch. Tomorrow I will probably remove the seat and see if anthing pops out at me. I will check the ohms as Jay95gt said in his post. I will try to post my findings after I work on the seat. If anyone has any other info or suggestions, please let me know.

 

I had the same no heat issue as many of you with the light going on and no heat. I had the Ford dealer look at it and they tested the continuity and said there was none. He said he thought it needed a new heating element to the tune of $400.00---UUUHHH no way Jose!

So I did some surfing and found this website. I printed out this thread (all 11 pages at the time) and gave it to my hubby. After we pulled up the seat cover the problem was obvious! The wire connecting the thigh heater with the bun heater was completely burned in two and the foam was a little black and melted too. Geez. Is there a reason these seats are so hot? ( I had a Montero that had hi/lo switch at least.) Anyway my hubby says the wiring diagram is what made his day. He tested the wires indicated and there was resistance, then he had me put the two burned ends of the wire together and poof no resistance. So he knew there was only that one burned wire from the thigh heater to the bun heater. He fixed the break in the wire and now the heater works again! We took pictures if anybody wants them.

If not for you guys and this forum I can't tell how much money we could have spent trying to fix the seat heater. We live in North Idaho and the winters here are pretty darn cold. Especially this year!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!