Seat Heater Element Issue (4 Viewers)

[aharlan001]

I am working on a new to me 1998 LC. I am in the midst of recovering the seats. I did the passenger first and now I'm on the driver side. Problem is the seat heater on the driver side has a burn hole in it. Does not look like it burned the cover but did burn itself and a bit of the foam. Now what? I could just remove it altogether, I assume it is dangerous to leave it as it is but I'd really like to have a functioning seat heater. Is there a way to bypass this bad spot in the element or replace the element with an aftermarket but somehow wire it into the existing switch? A new element from toyota is 400ish$ I got this rig for 5K so a 400$ seat heater just isn't going to happen.

 

[Poncherelli]

When my upholstery shop changed mine, they removed one burnt element and it still heats just fine. So not what you were asking, but it’s an option.

 

[aharlan001]

That sounds great but ... how do you remove just one element? The wire that runs to that section is continuous with the rest ...

 

[Poncherelli]

I was hoping you’d know when you saw it. I didn’t watch or see the seat opened up so can’t help too much with the how. I can call them tomorrow to ask if no one here knows and responds first.

 

[Davio6]

That sounds great but ... how do you remove just one element? The wire that runs to that section is continuous with the rest ...

Take a look where the seat heater cable enters the rear of that cushion. I vaguely remember several branches all coming together and joining at that connector. If you can see which branch leads to that segment, you may be able to just cut it.
Good luck,
Dave

 

[aharlan001]

Looks like red and green wires go to "element 1" and grey and orange wires go to "element 2" so looks like ill be cutting heat by 1/4 or so ... the path that the red/green element travels covers the side wings and only makes one loop through the front two sections definitely the better of the two to lose ... I guess ill cut the red/green element and seal off with some shrink tubing ... Unless I find a safe way to repair the break

 

[aharlan001]

This guy soldered the bad section... Seems dangerous ... any thoughts Heated seat repair... done! DIY

 

[Davio6]

This guy soldered the bad section... Seems dangerous ... any thoughts Heated seat repair... done! DIY

I would probably crimp rather than solder. Either way you need to prepare a bare metal surface, which may be difficult. If the heating element is partially broken where that burn is, and you're not going to splice it, you could probably just cut an inch out of it and be done. No need to cut the red or green wire since the circuit involved would then already be interrupted.
Good luck,
Dave

 

[Poncherelli]

That’s how mine was and it’s still plenty hot after losing the one element. Only thing i notice is sometimes it seems to be quicker to heat up then other times, but the heating itself is sufficient.

 

[99toylc]

I have done crimping and soldering as well and it has been working for 3 seasons now. The only issue I had was a loss of length of the wire so had to stich in a piece between the two broken ends.

 

[aharlan001]

Did you put anything over the soldered area?

 

[Pyrenees]

Do you happen to have any other pics of the whole OEM element? My driver's side is dead

 

[bucfl]

Same here.

That leather is cold in morning lol

 

[aharlan001]

I don't but can take one of it helps. Looks like the common issue with the element is a break/burn in the line. I've decided to solder it but have not decided how to cover the repaired spot. I might just steal some felt from elsewhere on the element. Seems like soldering it is common enough and relatively safe.

 

[aharlan001]

Other posts detail upstream electrical issues ... Could be that too if your seat isn't heating. Both elements would have to break to loose heat altogether ?I think?

 

[99toylc]

Did you put anything over the soldered area?

Yes a heat shrink wire connector. I have some photos from the procedure as well as the entire seat heating element grafted from another Land cruiser seat laying over the driver seat so you can see how it is designed.
I may start another thread about that … if only posting pics were not a such pain in the arse...

 

[aharlan001]

So I soldered the wires together today. I took several attempts which resulted in loosing most of the side bolster wiring. I learned in the process that: 1.) there is a purple/red insulation on the wire that I did not notice at first 2.) there are fine fibers/threads in the wire strands which burn and make it difficult to solder (I ended up removing these). I used some heat shrink but it was a little big. In the end the soldering was a bit difficult due to how fine the wire was once the insulation and strands of fiber were removed. I hope the repair holds, the repaired wire was so fine that I'm not sure.

 

[Pyrenees]

@aharlan001 Thanks for the pics. My hundy is my daily driver, so if I ever get around to replacing the element with something aftermarket I wanted to already know the size and purchase in advance to ensure it's completed over a weekend. This really helps.

 

[TidalVA]

Would anyone have a photo of the OEM harness/connector clip, or better yet can anyone recommend a replacement element that is plug and play with factory wiring harness?

Took to Priority Toyota for diagnosis. They said power to driver seat heat is there but the element is bad...they would like for me to pay $1500 for a new element installed....I mean just WTF!?

Looking for any replacement element that doesn’t require soldering/electrical rehab that I can replace myself. Thank you!

 

[aharlan001]

There is no aftermarket plug and play. Your options are dealer oem which is several hundred dollars or used from a part out maybe 75-100$. If you go aftermarket you will have to wire into the vehicles power and install a switch somewhere. You will lose the factory switch.