Advice needed - heated Seat Repair
 

I have a 97 buick with heated leather seats.

Well the driver's seat doesn't heat anymore (Go figure now that it's -30 out.)

Anyway, make a long story short, i swapped the heated seat modules from seat to seat and it made no difference.

Obviously, the element is burned out somewhere since i know that the seat and the back are in series and if either doesn't work, neither works.

Question:

Does anyone here have any experience with repairing the elements in the seat.

I went to GM and they told me that the element is part of the leather and you just have to buy a new leather skin, upper or lower at the low low cost of 800 and some odd dollars each.

Does anyone know if you can skin these seats and repair the element???

Any ideas of what to look for???

cheers

Before i get into it, it's always nice to have an idea or two.

what's a seat cost at a junkyard?

I have no idea.

But you have to find the right model and colour and that's not always easy to do.

I was just wondering if it was possible to repair the element, or if anyone knew of what to look for, or if they are prone to something, etc.

Dunno bout where you live, but as far as i know, its pretty much impossible to find a 97 ANYTHING in a junkyard for you to pick.

You dont' want to repair a heating element. It'll either burn out again or light your ass on fire (literally.)

I don't think the element alone can be replaced, you're probably going to have to go to the dealer.

There are generic replacement elements that you can buy to put under the leather just as OE was. The PITA about this is you have to take the skin off the seat but it is do-able. The replacment elements just stick via adhesive to the underside of the leather and can be had for about 60 bucks.

I had the seat out on the weekend, it's an awkward S.O.B. to be sure. It's heavy and just barely fits out the door. GM is so cheap that they no longer use four bolts to secure a seat, they use two with hooks on the front that key into a slot in the floor.

Getting both those hooks back in was a real pig.

Anyway, I think it can be skinned since it has these plastic stips that essentially wrap around the plastic seat bottom and lock into place. I didn't have time to open the seat up on the weekend since i needed the car.

sigh, this car has very bad electrical. Everything seems to burn out. Even the dash lights, and they are soldered in and you can't source replacement bulbs.

There is one HUGE wrecker about an hour from Toronto (Dominion Auto) that is more like a dealer than a wrecker. They mmaaaayyyy have it, but the problem will be the colour, and they will want to sell me the whole seat and that will not be cheap. And the element will probably be not much better.

Maybe time to buy that new car after all. This one is driving me crazy.

http://www.pfyc.com/store/merchant.m...ory_Code=GPINT Would this heated seat kit help? If you know something about wiring you just might be able to rig it up to work just like new.....

You just haven't done it enough times :) If you tilt the seat all the way forward and slide the seat all the way back it's pretty easy...done it many times in my friends grand am and about the dash lights...you should be able to go to radio shack and find some to solder in

Thanks for the tip on the light.

With regards to the seat, there's a huge difference between a bucket seat from a Grand Am and a pig of a seat from a Park Avenue.

The Driver's seat in a PA is actually the drivers seat PLUS the centre seat. It has only 2 bolts that secure the thing at the back of the rails, so you have to move the seat frontwards, then tilt it up to release the hooks that secure the front of the seat.

I got it out, but trust me, it's a pig.

ooo a bench seat now I can see why it would be a pita to install.

yeah, the heaters died in my Volvo's seats awhile back. I kind of miss that "crap I may have just shit my pants" look on passenger's faces when I turned them on without them seeing.

Carhartt insulated coveralls. Who needs heated seats? :p