Rivage heated seats

Sorry another question. The heated seats on my Rivage don't work on either side. The switch is definatly getting power, so I presume that the seats themselves aren't working? Are they problematic? Can you get replacement parts to fix the seats, bet they're super expensive if you can. Is there any obvious fuses etc I should check? :dontknow:

Cheers for any help.

Don't know what fuse it is but it will obviously be a higher rated one so check those first.

I don't have heated seats in mine but have to say it's very unusual to find a pair that still work. I would imagine the element is what goes first.

If you really want to get them up and running again you could look at investing in a pair of Corrado heated seats and taking them apart some how.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Tian :dontknow:

The corrado subframes fit the mk1 runners tho, do you recon that vw used the same heated connerctor on the loom? Could be a direct swap?

Could be, you never know,  you'd have to find a Corrado owner to check, plenty to choose from on other forums.

Tian :wink:

Had a fair bit of experience with heated seats on a mk2, and will have in my rivage when I get round to it. The circuit is fairly easy to understand. The 6 plugs that go into the seat are basically 2 feeds for back and seat base elements and the other two relate to a thermistor on the base of the seat, which stops them overheating.

Now, the thermistor itself is a small silver metal disc, like  a button battery. If you take the cover off the base of the seat it sits towards the rear, near the element connections (you might have to cut a slight hole in the element cover but no one will be able to see it anyway). Anyway the connections to this usually break off, due to people sitting on them so its worth checking them (one to top and one to bottom). If i remember correctly I should have a resistance measurement at home for you (i think it was 15 ohms cold, 9 when warm). If i can find it, you can just check this using a multimeter in the plug rather than taking the seat apart.

Aside from this, if it is the elements you can trace where the breaks are using a multimeter to check for continuity. Failing that, replace elements, but you will have to keep the thermisitor because this tells the relays to switch on and off. I suppose theorectically you could wire a resistor across the gap at 15 ohms instead, but then relays wont switch off.

Anyway, hope some of this makes sense.

anyone had any joy with this.

i also got a Rivage and the heated seats dont work, if it something i could do myself than i would attempt it,

since ive had mine the drivers side never came on but the passanger would always stay on so i knew that it worked, after a long while i could smell plastic burning evertime i turn the ignition on, i traced it down underneath the passanger seat and the plastic thing that holds the wire was burning so i had to cut a wire for disconnection, but i would really love em to work again…

Someone could have removed the thermistor on the passenger seat maybe? that would probably make them stick on if the switch was on? unless the switch was faulty?

Try some of the above on the drivers seat, see what happens (test the connections to the thermistor and see what resistance you get)

Found these for a fraction of the price, would it be hard to fit the original switch? pricehttp://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-seats-heated-seat-seat-heater-fits-VW-Golf-6-Sagitar-fit-Golf-6-seat-cover-/160984881172?hash=item257b725814

Bob there's two relay controllers in the cross member under the seats in a foam housing Which is stupid considering how these cars leak. I bet the controllers are fubared. Not sure if I updated this on my project page? But mine were rusted to heck. Not because of my roof either.
It turned out my heater matrix was goosed so was leaking into the footwells.
Drove me mac and wondering why my coolant level was going down. Wasn't until I took the over mats and under mats up that I saw pink crystals from the coolant. I must pay better attention lol.

I was lucky to of picked up a complete loom inc switches a couple years ago with relay controllers so just put them in. Now my buns are all toasty…
Iirc you need relay 59 from a Mk1 mk 2 iirc the mk3

may work too plus same age passat. Just done mine replaced them packed away into thick plastic bag, cable tied up.
They relocated them to under the seat base on the later Mk3.
Hmmm I wonder why lol.
Check Canadian eBay because a lot of cars were shipped there with heated seats.  So better chance of getting controllers.

If the seats then don't warm up you may have a break in the elements them selves which can be soldered back together.

Here's what mine looked like

Marshall if you want aftermarket pads to work as per OEM you'll need a pair of donor seat base pads and strip the wiring with plug and thermistor from them over to the new pads (plug so they plug into the VW loom, and thermistor so the relays know how hot the pads are so the dial works.

you can bypass the thermistor with a resistor, this means the pads will only work at 1 temperature and wont be adjustable as per oem.

some info I have saved, cant confirm if the themistor data is correct for the VW pads though:
To bypass the sensor, replace it with a 15K Ohm resistor to ground. You can do this at the switch, or under the seat.
With this bypass, the heat is either on or off and you must control it manually.

Negative Temperature Coefficient (NTC) thermistor
Most systems contain a thermistor to monitor the element temperature. A thermistor is a temperature-sensitive variable resistor.

Heat   GHC High Density Heat
Source   12-16 volts DC
Current   3.3 amps
Watts   40 watts
Surface Temp   120°F +/- 5°F at 32°F @12v
130°F +/- 5°F at 32°F @16v

Resistance values: 2.2Ohm to 47kOhm,
Resistance tolerance: ±5%, ±10%, ±20%
B values (25/85): from 2668K to 4535K
Minimum operating temperature: -40°C
Maximum operating temperature: 125°C
Silver Laver Electrode
DC (Dissipation Constant): from 5mW/°C to 12mW/°C typical in still air at 25°C