2005 LX470 Lseat Leather Front Cover Install and Aftermarket Seat Heater Using Factory Hi Lo Switch (1 Viewer)

[corleykj]

I want to thank @GH1291 and another member (can't find the thread at the moment) for putting some helpful information about the wiring for the seat heaters on ih8mud.

This will be my overview of recovering the front leather seats in my wife's 2005 LX470 with about 250k on it. We ordered seat covers from Lseat's in the silver grey for the fronts only, and it was about $350. The color is really close to the factory light grey already in it.

Some small bolt cutters really help cut the hog rings off the old seat covers. After I removed the old leather, I accidentally cut a couple seat heater element wires. I chose to go aftermarket Dorman because I could get them the next morning at 8am at our Orielly's, which was the fastest place in town or online. It was $75 per set. Part number 628-040

I added 1" thick foam from a craft store to fill up the right and left sides of the upper seat, because our Lseat covers looked loose in those areas.
I really wanted to use the factory switches for turning on and off the heating elements. I did some testing with a hot light, and used another thread for information and got it figured out. I think you will want to use the Dorman wiring harness, and there is a relay that someone explains turns it from Hi to Low on the Dorman heaters. I chose to cut the switch off the Dorman harness, and that is where I connected the Toyota wires to the Dorman Harness, all under the seat of the car.
This is the plug on our Lx with wires you need.

For those interested, here are the colors of wires on a 2005 lx470 and which ones to connect to the Dorman harness.
Drivers Side - Toyota High is a Red and Green, connect to the Dorman Harness Red and Blue wire. Toyota Low is Black and Red, connect to Dorman Harness Red and Yellow. Toyota White and Black is a ground, but it is shared by the power seat motor/controls, therefor do not cut the wire (you could tie into it, but do not disconnect it...I made that mistake and had to reconnect). Connect the Dorman Brown ground wire to a good ground.

Passenger Seat - Toyota High is the Red and Blue wire, connect to the Dorman Harness Red and Blue wire. Toyota Low is the Black wire, connect to the Dorman Harness Red and Yellow wire. Dorman Brown is the Ground.


As for the seat leather quality and fit from Lseat on a 2005 LX470, it was really good. Just a little extra space in the upper bolster (I believe is the term). The headrest is one of the hardest pieces to install, and my wife had to use a blow dryer to heat up the leather to get it on. The leather grain is a little more rough than the factory LX leather, so it looks a touch different, but the color matches really well (in my opinion).
The seat heaters come with crappy hog rings and even worse pliers. I would recommend buying a decent set of pliers and hog rings (tractor supply is where I got mine).
Overall I think it was worthwhile. Coming in at about $500 total, and some time, the front seats are ready for more years of abuse.

I hope this helps others with our old 100 series projects.

 

[GH1291]

I’m glad that it all worked out for you! The Dorman heaters are a great alternative to the aging factory heaters.

 

[uHu]

Thank you for a good and inspiring writeup. This will be a good reference when the time comes for my seats.

Q x2:
Do you have pics of the good and the bad hog rings? What was the problem with them, too small/big/thin, or too weak?

The plug you show on the pic, is that a part of the car harness, and plugs in to the seat harness? And do I guess correctly that two of the wires (including the shared ground) are also used for the seat adjustment system?

 

[corleykj]

Good questions @uHu
I don't have pics of the bad hog rings. The ones that came in the heated seat kit didn't work with my traditional hog ring pliers (they were thin and had a different shape), and the pliers supplied in the seat heater kit were worthless. So I was just recommending a person get descent hog rings and pliers. I don't have anything fancy, but they were probably $15 and a hell of a lot better than the ones supplied in the seat heater kits.

The tan plug goes into the bottom of the seat, and the supply wires going into the plug are what you need.

The white and black wires on mine were grounds to the seat heaters and the seat adjustment motors. So I ultimately ended up tying into them for the heaters, but had to keep it connected to the plug for the adjustment motors to work. I believe another member left the factory white and black ground to the plug untouched, and ground out the seat heaters to the vehicle, which is what I would recommend.

 

[corleykj]

Airbag and seatbelt dash lights are on, so I will have to troubleshoot that.

 

[awesomeissquid]

When I did my first seat it seems like most of the OEM hog rings are 3/4”

 

[ChrisintheNorth]

Did you replace both upper (back) and lower (bottom) seat heater elements with the Dorman kit? The person I bought my LX from replaced the lower bottom leather, but threw out the lower heating element. Hoping to just replace the bottom to save time.

 

[corleykj]

Did you replace both upper (back) and lower (bottom) seat heater elements with the Dorman kit? The person I bought my LX from replaced the lower bottom leather, but threw out the lower heating element. Hoping to just replace the bottom to save time.

I replaced the upper and lower seat heater elements. You should be good just replacing the bottom.

 

[shouldibuyit]

Did you recover the console as well, or was it still good? Mine needs some TLC.

 

[corleykj]

Did you recover the console as well, or was it still good? Mine needs some TLC.

The before pictures have armrest covers we installed and had them on for years. I don't think I put a cover on the center console at that time. And I know we didn't put the console cover on with the full seat set. SO I am thinking that is factory.

 

[shouldibuyit]

Thank you. My seats are in rough shape and this seems like a very affordable option, especially when some seat covers are more than the cost of these.