Hiya,

I've got a 2005 S/C, and the driver's side heated seat element has failed. JLR have quoted me over £1700 for a new one, which would buy a lot of thermal underwear!

So I was wondering, has anyone ever encountered this? Is there a cheaper way of fixing it, maybe a second-hand seat off eBay or something? Or shall I resign myself to having a cold bum forever?

Thanks in advance!

common problem, have a look here,

http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/search.php?...rch_time=0 ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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Thanks Stan, just had a look at that but there's a load of info! I've had it tested and I know it's the element that's faulty, so is there anywhere I can get one that's not going to cost me an arm and a leg?

Hi Squirrel


A good trimmer should be able to sort. You will need a new foam squab as I think element is part of that. On the later cars anyway.As a sanity check if you send Dan at Duckworths an email he should be able to supply price and exact part needed. That way should be much cheaper.

Hope that helps.

 Present :2008 TDV8 HSE
Gone Audi A5 2.7TDI
Gone Discovery 3 HSE
Gone Mercedes CLK
Gone Range Rover 2.5 DSE

Hi Googsy,

Thanks for the info! I'll get the part number from JLR tomorrow and then drop Dan a line.

I still think a couple of pairs of thermals would be cheaper, though.

Depends how big your bum is I suppose

Dan will be able to advise part for you  Present :2008 TDV8 HSE
Gone Audi A5 2.7TDI
Gone Discovery 3 HSE
Gone Mercedes CLK
Gone Range Rover 2.5 DSE

It's not big enough to require thermals costing in excess of £2000. I hope.

I've got the part number now but I'll wait now until after Christmas, I think. The car will hardly get any use over the break and I think I've got a bigger problem to sort out.

It's just come back from the dealer with the mirrors out of sync (again! They were ruddy well working fine when I dropped it off), and for some reason the car intermittently leaves its side lights and infotainment system switched on now when you lock it up unless you go round poking at buttons. Oh, and the steering wheel tries to remove my legs at the knees when I get in.

Heyho. Time for that degree in automotive electrics that I've been promising myself. Are the electrics this temperamental in all the cars?!

There's an LTB about the steering wheel issue. Typically a motor going Pete Tong.

Oddly, I have a tilt motor for sale... Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

Hi my 03 drivers seat has got hot on the left side and heated close to the top and seems like it's burning hot can you unplug the base swab so the back still works or can you join the unplugged end to make the rest of the seat heat except on one side? _____________________________________________________
Zambezi silver Vogue Se unique

You can run a seat with less than the normal number of elements but, as you say, if you unplug an element you need to then close the circuit as all the elements on the pre facelift RR (<2005) are in series. If one goes open circuit none of the elements on that seat will work.
You need to find the faulty element, you can check an element with a meter, each element should be around 0.7 to 1ohm, outside that they are faulty.
As you have some heating then there is a complete circuit but if one element is hotter than the others it suggests one has a higher resistance than the others (or someone has messed around with the wiring previously). Try disconnecting and testing the hotter than normal elements. There are 6 all together, seat base and base side swabs, seat back and seat back side swabs.
The seat back elements plug and sockets can be found by removing the seat back which can be done without taking the seat out of the car. If they are high resistance then leave them disconnected and jump across the pins in the plug it came from and try the heating again.
Also bear in mind the one element that needs to work properly is the seat base as it also has the temperature regulation sensor in it (just an NTC thermistor). If the seat base heater is not working then there will be no temperature regulation which could lead to overheating.

For my non working drivers seat heating I disconnected a base side swab element which was burnt out, jumped the connection and the rest now work.
On investigating the whole seat I took it to bits with the aim to replace any faulty elements with good elements butchered from a spare seat cover (they are stitched into the cover) and it was slightly worrying that the faulty element had started to burn through the seat foam before going open circuit.

General Warning: Do not mess around with the elements or the electrics if you don't know what you're doing. If it's overheating do not use the seat heating.

On the base swab where are the connectors to go to the three elements to disconnect I've lifted the side up a bit to see the burn does the seat have to come out? _____________________________________________________
Zambezi silver Vogue Se unique

The seat base element connectors are under the seat base, you don't have to remove the seat to get to them.
Look under the front of the seat and you will see a yellow connector clipped to a bracket, this is the main electrical connector for the whole seat (see the photo below).
If you feel behind it the sheathed cable coming out of the back on the far left (door side on drivers seat) is for the seat heating (the cable sheath with the green tag in the photo).

Click image to enlarge

Cut the black and grey wire and joined them up but now the dash light stays on five seconds then goes off now ? The left side has burnt the swab so tried to bypass that side any ideas thanks. _____________________________________________________
Zambezi silver Vogue Se unique

If the light goes out after 5 seconds then it sounds like you have an open circuit, the same error I was getting.
You don't really need to cut any wires to test it, just pull the plugs out and jump the two terminals where the heater plugs in with a spare bit of wire.
I suggest you unplug the 3 heater connections to the seat base loom and jump all 3 so just the seat base should work. If it doesn't then there's not much you can do other than replace the cover. If it does work then plug in the side seat swabs, one at a time, and keep checking if they heat up or you get an error.

Tried to get to the three with half the cover folded back but can't feel any are they under the foam or under the cover top even tried from rear back but no joy  _____________________________________________________
Zambezi silver Vogue Se unique