Heated seats

[straggler]

Hi all,

The heated seats on my 96 406 Executive don't work. I've checked the main fuse box and that's fine. Any ideas?

[Ares]

maybe some cracked wire on seat or switches there.

[jonsowman]

Undo the plug under the seats and check there's 12V present when the engine's running and the switches are engaged.

It's not unknown for the actual elements to fail, and these are a total pain to replace!

[straggler]

Undo the plug under the seats and check there's 12V present when the engine's running and the switches are engaged.

It's not unknown for the actual elements to fail, and these are a total pain to replace!

I'm guessing it's not the elements as both heated seats are not working. Unless it's some cunning French coincidence.

The switch lights up when they're on, if that helps.

[steve_earwig]

Check for voltage at the seat connectors.

I'm guessing it's not the elements as both heated seats are not working.

96

I wouldn't bank on it...

[jonsowman]

The lights on the switches are separate to the actual heater supply (switch is double pole, single throw), so just because the lights are on does not mean there's a complete circuit through the heating element

Edit: Speaking of which, when you've got the plugs out, measure the resistance across the heating elements with a multimeter. Should be a few Ohms. More than 10 means they're broken.

[straggler]

Thanks for the replies. I'll have a poke about under the seats and see what happens.

Is all that gubbins under the passenger seat to do with the heated seats?

[marty1979]

I have heated seats in my executive, which up until Friday never worked since I've owned the car. Lights came on but no heat. The passenger seat had a broken wire which was very easy to fix as it was at the very start of the wiring that goes up into the back of the seat. The driver side was a bit different. I had to completely remove the leather that covers the seat so I could look at the heat pad itself. No broken wires this time, but a faulty thermal switch. It basicly pops when a certain temperature is reached which cuts power to the circuit. Hope you get yours sorted before the big freeze hits.