Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > Interests > Tilted Motors


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 01-18-2004, 12:37 PM   #1 (permalink)
Junkie
 
james t kirk's Avatar
 
Location: Toronto
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.
james t kirk is offline  
Old 01-18-2004, 12:40 PM   #2 (permalink)
Unbelievable
 
cj2112's Avatar
 
Location: Grants Pass OR
what's a seat cost at a junkyard?
cj2112 is offline  
Old 01-18-2004, 01:53 PM   #3 (permalink)
Junkie
 
james t kirk's Avatar
 
Location: Toronto
Quote:
Originally posted by cj2112
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.
james t kirk is offline  
Old 01-18-2004, 04:33 PM   #4 (permalink)
Junkie
 
Location: San Diego, CA.
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.
__________________
Dont cry kid, It's not your fault you suck.
Peryn is offline  
Old 01-18-2004, 05:13 PM   #5 (permalink)
MSD
The sky calls to us ...
 
MSD's Avatar
 
Super Moderator
Location: CT
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.
MSD is offline  
Old 01-18-2004, 05:40 PM   #6 (permalink)
Psycho
 
Location: MN
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.
__________________
The local track whore
Spyder_Venom is offline  
Old 01-19-2004, 05:36 AM   #7 (permalink)
Junkie
 
james t kirk's Avatar
 
Location: Toronto
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.
james t kirk is offline  
Old 01-19-2004, 05:39 AM   #8 (permalink)
Junkie
 
james t kirk's Avatar
 
Location: Toronto
Quote:
Originally posted by Peryn
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.
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.
james t kirk is offline  
Old 01-24-2004, 08:22 PM   #9 (permalink)
Buffering.........
 
merkerguitars's Avatar
 
Location: Wisconsin...
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.....

Quote:
Originally posted by james t kirk

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.
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
__________________
Donate now! Ask me How!

Please use the search function it is your friend.

Look at my mustang please feel free to comment!

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=26985
merkerguitars is offline  
Old 01-27-2004, 07:07 AM   #10 (permalink)
Junkie
 
james t kirk's Avatar
 
Location: Toronto
Quote:
Originally posted by merkerguitars
[url]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.
james t kirk is offline  
Old 01-29-2004, 04:15 PM   #11 (permalink)
Buffering.........
 
merkerguitars's Avatar
 
Location: Wisconsin...
ooo a bench seat now I can see why it would be a pita to install.
__________________
Donate now! Ask me How!

Please use the search function it is your friend.

Look at my mustang please feel free to comment!

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=26985
merkerguitars is offline  
Old 01-30-2004, 08:40 PM   #12 (permalink)
Junkie
 
Ilow's Avatar
 
Location: Pats country
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.
__________________
"Religion is the one area of our discourse in which it is considered noble to pretend to be certain about things no human being could possibly be certain about"
--Sam Harris
Ilow is offline  
Old 01-30-2004, 10:13 PM   #13 (permalink)
Insane
 
Location: On a gravel road rough enought to knock fillings out of teeth.
Carhartt insulated coveralls. Who needs heated seats?
__________________
Judge me all you want, but keep the verdict to yourself.
BoomTruck is offline  
 

Tags
advice, heated, needed, repair, seat

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 06:51 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360