OK, here’s my problem. 1996 850 wagon. Drivers side heated seat does not get warm. Light on switch lights up so I assume there is power to the switch. Where do I start trouble shooting? Should I perform a continuity test on the heating elements? If the elements are bad how hard are they to replace. I know this is a minor issue in the grand scheme of things but a warm butt on a cold Hudson Valley winter morning is nice to have.

 

My '97 850 GLT lost both seat heaters about a month(!) before I received a recall notice regarding the thermometers which were installed on the bottom-side of each seat. The recall was to replace the thermometers that would sometimes fail and cause the heating unit to stay on until they burned out - or worse, cause the seat to catch fire!

When I was at the shop getting the recall addressed, I mentioned to the mechanic that the heaters just failed and I was told that the recall only took care of the the thermometers, not any damage it caused. He mentioned that it would probably cost about $300 a seat because you needed someone to take apart the seats and that involves restiching the leather back together.

 

Hey, do you know if there is a certain yr model that is recalled for mine is a 95' and both seats don't heat up and the last time I tried to use it my sister said it smell like burning plastic.

 

It's pretty common for those heated seats to go. Unless it's something simple, it would probably cost less just to find someone parting a car and grab the seats from it.

 

Look under the seat, on the right hand side as you look at it from the footwell, and locate the power connector for the seat.

It is the large white connector with the Yellow/Red wire and the Black wires.

Use a Voltmeter and, with the seat heater switch on and the key on, check for battery voltage between the Yellow/Red wires and the Black wires. If it measures good there it means that the switch is good and the wiring to the seat is good.



You next need to locate the heater pad plugs, they are just below the front edge of the seat, they are both 2 conductor connectors. One connector is gray and the other is black.

They are pictured here:



Backprobe the red wire on the black connector and check it for battery voltage as well, the black wires on the power connector are a good ground point for the meter.

If you have good voltage there it means that the thermostat and its circuit are good. If you don't have voltage there it means that the thermostat is bad (not likely) or the wiring to the thermostat has come unplugged (more likely). The thermostat is located near the rear of the bottom seat cushion and it has a Red wire and a Red/White wire going to it. Plugging it back in is tricky and is best accomplished from the back seat and having someone sitting in the seat - that someone will get goosed a bit.

Assuming that the voltage is good on the red wire next move to the yellow wire. On a normally working system you should read voltage there but it will be less than full battery voltage.

If you read full battery voltage on the Yellow wire then the seat back heater element has burned out.

If you read no voltage there then the seat bottom heater element has burned out.

...Lee