Seat Heater/AC intermittant malfunciton (??)

[alexfranke]

hI all – I’m hoping someone have some insight on this – the dealer is turning the other cheek because they can’t reproduce the problem and it’s driving me up a wall.

Every once-in-a-while the 2003 LS V8 passenger seat heater and/or AC stops working. When you hit the button, it appears to come on (3 LED’s) for five minutes or so, but then the LEDs turn off and the seat stops heating or cooling. If you hit the button again, then *all three* LEDs turn on for as long as the button is held down, but they don’t stay on and the seat does not heat or cool.

Sometimes it’ll be out for a couple of days, other times just a couple of hours. Last time it didn’t work, was able to bring it to the dealership right away, but they turned the car on and it worked just fine again. (Argh!!)

I have a few thousand miles left on the warranty and I’d like to get it fixed.

Does anyone have any ideas? Any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[ToddG]

Your dealer is a moron, lazy, or both (probably both).

This is a well known issue in 2003-2004 cars with heated and cooled seats (FYI, my car had the exact same problem). In fact, this problem is so common, there is a Techincal Service Bulletin for it (TSB 04-18-16).

The root of the problem is a crushed airduct in the seat that impedes airflow coming from the heater. When you turn on the heater, the warm air has nowhere to go and the seat rapidly overheats. This results in the safety systems engaging and turning the seat heating system off. When you shut the car off and restart, the safety system is reset. This explains why your heater works for a short time then turns off.

When this situation occurs, the climate controlled seat module will give off a Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) that will tell the mechanic what the problem is (basically that the seat is overheating). Now I'm not sure if those codes are cleared when the car is shut off. IIRC, the codes stay in the module even if the car is shut off. Your dealer is an idiot or lazy for not checking this first.

Anyway, the proscribed solution according to the TSB is that the ductwork inside the seat has to be modified to bypass the crushed portion (basically it is cut out and the ductwork is resealed). Its a straightforward fix, but labor intensive since the seat has to come out, the leather cover peeled back, etc. I would get this fixed ASAP before your warranty runs out.

If it would help, send me a PM with your regular email address and I'll send you a copy of the TSB.

Todd

 

[2001LS8Sport]

Damn good information Todd. It's a cryin' shame when the customer has to bring the TSB into the dealer because the advisor is too damn lazy to look for himself. And dealers wonder why their service departments get bad reps.

 

[alexfranke]

Awesome -- thank you SO much!!!

Anyone know how long those error codes are supposed to stay in memory? Maybe I should ask them for a list of the error codes they found? The dealership only appears to be looking for the specific symptom that I describe and not the possible causes of the symptom.

Thanks again -- this is exactly what I need!

Cheers,
Alex

 

[ToddG]

Alex, I sent you a PM.

When you go to the dealer and the seat heater is not functioning, DO NOT TURN THE CAR OFF WHEN YOU ARRIVE. Instead, grab the Service Advisor and show him the problem as the car is running, so he can verify it. You may also want to have a technician pull the codes, also while the car is running.