heated seat problem

[kevfish1]

2004 chevy suburban---- The heated seat on the drivers side stays on for about 10 seconds and then goes off. Any ideas on what may be causing this???

[Jeremy airjer W]

the heaters are on a circuit breaker. More than likley the cushion element is going bad and when it heats up shorts out and trips the breaker. You could check continuity on the brown and purple wire before you turn it on and then check it as soon as it stops working and compare the two. If resistance is significantly less when its hot than your on the right track with the bad heater element.

[kevfish1]

Hey airjer, if it is the heater element what am I looking at for cost to fix??? How do you get at it? Is it something a dealer should do or could I do it myself????

[Jeremy airjer W]

I know there serviceable but I have yet to have a customer buy one. I woulb bet if you pulled the seat and brought it along with a new elemebnt to an apholstery shop it probably wouldn't be to bad.

[Macgyver55]

I just did one on a Durango this winter, they aren't bad to do. Unplug and unbolt, remove the seat, turn it over and start removing upholstery clips. There weren't alot of them and much of it was attached by long strips of plastic u-rail that were sewn right to the leather. Just roll it off the edge of the frame and its off. The element comes in a large sheet the size of the cushion and has some peel and stick to hold it in place while reinstalling the upholstery.

I just found an easy starting point and worked the upholstery back around, then snugged it with the remaining clips.

If I remember correctly the job took less than an hour total but the element was NOT cheap.

Over 180 my cost.....

[OnAFly]

Kevfish - you're lucky this had a breaker, the one in my Jetta apparently did not, or at least not a suitable one, as it started burning through the seat while I was driving on the highway.