heated seats

the passenger works fine but the drivers never has. anyone an idea of what a relative novice could try first to fix it on my own?

cheers

a hot water bottle? lol

have you visually checked any connections or a fuse?? start with little bits matey

presuming two wires to the heated seat, if so disconnect and then a continuity test with a voltmeter on the connections from the seat. Should show any breaks.

if in doubt compare the results with the other seat as that works.

From my very limited experience with heated seats, trouble usually comes from either the relays or the heater elements.  Other than that  :dontknow:

hot water bottle wud be nice with this weather - neither of us like these frosty foggy 7am starts  

yeh visual checks of wires and connector seem ok. will wiggly it around unplug it and plug it back in  :roll:  i did say relative novice

just abit gutting my passengers get the cosy seat.

(may try a steering wheel conversion hmmmm)

and pete where is the fuse diagram? i dont know which fuse relates to which part….unless iv missed it and its in the manual

eeek

my cigarette lighter and ashtray light doenst work either and never has.

the plot thickens

Heated seats in Mk1s are fairly easy to figure out. Each seat has four connections to it, 2 from back rest and 2 from seat base itself. They are looped together at the connector. Like dkheap22 said, pull the connector apart and stick a multimeter across the terminals which corrispond to the backrest and seat base and it should show continuity. If not, then you have a break in the elements somewhere.

There is also an extra 2 wires which go into the seat base to a thermistor. This resembles a button battery, however its simply a device which tells the relays to switch off when the seat is warm enough (for safety). The two cables are attached top and bottom to this little device. I think (from memory) that when cold it should read around 15 ohms (could be kohms, cant quite remember). If you cant get a resistance from this, then I would bet that its almost definite that the two wires have broke free from this unit (its right under your arse so it constantly gets flexed). Now, if your quick and dont apply too much heat, you can reattach the cables to this and it should be fine (take the bottom seat cover off, and follow the cables).

Of course, it could just be the relays!

awesome reply thanks. if element has gone then its goodbye heated seat dreams rite?

multimeter/voltmeter….are they the things with two prongs connected to a box with a gage on it? my mates a leccy hell surely hav one

cheers guys will let ya know (when i eventually get a day off - boo)

The dreams not over. I have repaired an element succesfully by tracing through the wiring until I find a break, then applying a little solder to fix it. It worked very well, didnt break when sat on!

I was experimenting using elements from other cars, but sold my car before I could put it into practice (was a mk2). I will probably have to do the same with my heated seats on my mk1 but Im a long way off that at the moment!

Yep a multimeter has the two prongs. Very useful little thing once you know how to use them, especially problem solving car electrics! Get a cheap one and have a play with it.

from? and whats cheap for one?


ps thanks, i wont be able to reply tonite now

Ebays your best bet. I think you can get them for under a fiver on there. This comes at a cost though, i.e. you could spend 200 quid on a proffesional one with really high accuracy etc. however for continuity testing etc. its not really worth it.

or even better and cheaper, borrow your mates lol,

if it has boobies or wheels it will cause you problems!!!!

i'm having problems with both but atleast i still love the golf lol