As a follow up.

I took a magnifying glass to the wire. It is not separated. And yet it does have a crack in the insulation.

What does this mean?

 

Well I did it. I took the seats out, it makes life a lot easier, and sure enough there was a burned wire. In each seat. I soldered replacement wires in. Put some electical tape over the joints. It is too late now to go for a ride. I will be checking it out soon, though. I am going to Montana next week. That ought to test them out.

 

I have a ? My seat gets real hot then shuts off. On both sides. Is that normal? Also do all seats have heaters on the back? I dont feel anything on my back while its on.

 

What vehicle do you have ?
If you have a Super Duty you should have lumbar heat

 

I have an 03 Excursion Limited

 

Yep, heated seat and lumbar. Both front seats. I too have an 03 Limited Ex.

 

Any idea why its getting real hot and shutting off? Do they shut off automatically??

 

They do get warm (hot).
They do shut off when they get warm.
If they get too hot just turn them off.
If they get cold just push the button again.

Wouldn't a thermostat that you could set to a certain temp be nice!?!?!?!?!?!

 

Yea. The Denali I had stayed warm and on until you turned them or the truck off.

 

there are thermal switches in the heaters that will turn them off when hot then back on when cooled down enough.

 

Does my 00' Ex Limited have heated seats in the bottom and back both? I have to fix mine. Is there a little wire that breaks in the back/lumbar part ? (if I have it).

 

03 Limited Ex has heaters in the back and the bottom.

From what I have read no-one has mentioned any wires further back than the connectors between the thigh and the butt heaters.

My burns were in the front of the thigh section. One in each seat.

I have yet to see if the repair worked.

 

Yes, you have both......the wire breaks in the bottom part. The lumbar does not work if the bottom is broke. I used this to fix mine.....Read it all !!
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...ted-seats.html

 

good stuff guys, i will be atempting this soon and documenting it for you all.

 

I purchased my 01 Excursion 7.3 about a month ago. This is my first Ford and my first diesel and it's been a joy so far (for the most part). We bought it mainly for towing our travel trailer but my wife wanted it to have heated seats. We searched near and far for the one we found and eventually found it in OK, about 1200 miles away from CA. Anyways, long story short-the heated seats didn't work. I found this thread and went to work on the seats. The lights on the switches would come on and the fuses were fine, but there was no heat. I started with the passenger seat and checked the continuity and there seemed to be resistance (I am no electrician, but I checked the 3 and 5 wires and my multimeter moved to a different number besides the number one on the ohms setting). I pulled the seat cover up and checked the heater area on the cushion actually hoping to see a burnt area but there was none, so I put everything back together. I tested it again and there was actually some heat. I don't know, however, if it is as hot as what others are talking about. Am I just expecting too much or could this mean the heating element under the seat is slowly going bad?

I started working on the driver's seat and there is power going to the switch on the seat trim but there is no resistance between the 3 and 5 wires. Would this be a symptom of the wires being burnt under the leather, a bad Bosch heating element or something else? I haven't gotten around to removing the whole driver seat yet. Any help would be greatly appreciated.