Guys, pretty frustrated at this point and I need some assistance. As you can see, I have been attempting resurrect some issues on my car to see if I can keep it around for a couple more years. It only has 63k miles on it and I would like to fix the things that are bugging me about the car. One of them is the heated drivers seat, the passenger seat works fine. Here is what I found and what I did so far, but the seat still does not work:

1. Identify a broken wire in the upper element of the drivers seat. Repaired it and soldered together, so should be fixed.
2. Ohm tested the green connections (when disconnected) and I received readings of between 1.8 and 1.9 on both connectors. So I believe that I am ok from a resistance perspective on all 3 elements and think that they are working the way they are supposed to?????
3. Disconnected grey 4 wire plug from module and attempted to Ohm test it, but received no reading at all from lower left and upper right connections. Not sure if that is good or bad??
4. Took good module from passenger side of car and connected to drivers side, but still the heated drivers seat would not turn on. Also took driver side module and connected to passenger seat and it worked fine. So I believe that I ruled out a module issue?
5. Moved up the chain to the switch itself and I connected the passenger switch to the driver side wiring and it still did not turn on. Likewise, i used the drivers switch on passenger side and it did turn on with no issue. Ruled out switch issue?
6. Used a piece of small wire on the drivers side elements as well. I used the small wire to eliminate each element one by one by using the wire to complete the loop and still the switch would not come on and stay light.
7. Pulled up back seat and did visually inspect both fuses and they are not blown. They appear fine and are 10amp Red fuses.

Issue: When I turn the drivers side switch on, the yellow LED flickers and quickly turns off. The module does click under the seat, but the drivers side heated seat will not remain on.

It appears that the upper element is still original and I did repair it and the 1.9 Ohm reading seems fine. The lower seat cushion appears to have the two service pack elements because they are fastened above the seat cushion and not inside and they appeared visually fine and did give a 1.8 Ohm reading.

I have given you all everything that I have done and I still cannot understand why the damn heated seat will not stay on. Any other steps that I can try that I have not covered already? Not sure why I am not getting a reading from grey plug.....that does sound odd to me.

Is there a relay? If so, test it.

How would I know if there is a relay? I do not know if there is one.

If you hear a click, that'* a relay. Not sure on the location. Listen for the click.

The click is in the module and I have tested that at the modules are ok because I switched them to different sides and the drivers side module worked on the passenger side.

Was looking at the schematics and I'm not seeing any relays. I'll have to look more when I have time.

DANTHURS
Thanks for any help.......I am thinking it might be a ground problem from the module WIRING to the switch in the console....grabbing at straws here. I am scratching my head though as to why the grey connector will not give me a resistance reading when all it has plugged into it is the green element wires and I can get individual readings from the green connectors when they are unplugged from the grey connector.

1.9 Ohms for the upper element is acceptable, so long as you are checkig the green connector that feeds the seat back, and not talking about the green connectors that feed the individual elements that are inside the seat. There are two elements in the seat back and each should be around 0.8 ohms. 1.9 Ohms for the two would not be out of range.

If you are seeing elements in the seat cushion that are between the foam that is sewn to the leather and the foam bun, those are definitely after market. The OEM elements are sewn into the seat cushion. Originally there were 3 OEM elements and they should read 0.9 ohms each, for a total of 2.4 ohms on the green connector that feeds the cushion. If there are only two after market elements 1.9 Ohms seems okay.

Follow the electricity. Aside from all the controls, relays, overload protection, etc. the seats heat up by passing 12 VDC through the element wires. Are you getting voltage to the switch? Do you get voltage at the switch output terminals when you activate the switch? Are you getting 12 VDC and the input terminals on the under-seat control unit? Are you getting 12 VDC on the control box side of the green connector that attaches to the cushion? Are you getting 12 VDC on the control box side of the green connector that attaches to the seat back?

If you follow the electricity, the first time you lose it tells you the component immediately upstream is the suspect. If there is a faulty relay in the circuit, you will find it when you have voltage on the output side of the switch but no voltage on the input side of the under seat control. You are switching components, but there are components you might not see that are giving you the problem.

I will check my 2001 factory service manual tonight to see if it sheds any light on this. I repaired the seat heaters on my 2001 this past summer, so I am fairly familiar with what you are seeing. You are looking at the right things, so I am sure we will figure this out.

Almost forgot the most important step. Have a beer, relax, and forget about it for a little while. Let the frustration level ease off a little. Its amazing how that will help.

2KG4U
Ok......wow that was a lot of stuff!!!

On the seat cushion, I only have two elements that are sitting on TOP of the seat cushions and not inside the cushion. That is why I believe the seat cushion elements to be aftermarket. The green connector that I am getting readings from is under the seat and the other end connects directly into the grey 4 wire connector.

On the seat back, I found one wire that was bare and it was burned and disconnected from a wire that was buried in the seat back cushion itself. I mended those two wires together and I got a reading from the green connector under the seat that goes to the seat back of 1.9 Ohms.

I do not know what openings or wires to test on the switch coupler, but it appears that I am getting power of some sort to the switch because the LED will light up briefly, but go off.

Also, I do not know what wires to test on the 9 wire connector that plugs into the module itself. This I believe is what feeds the power to the module and pushes volts to the elements to heat the actual seat. I do not know what wire to test to get readings of power on this 9 wire connector.

Thanks for all your help.......a lot of work for a warm butt!!!