dh1

Good afternoon gents,

I have a short in the heating element in my driver seat. Odd though, as it was identified as a 'short to ground' by the dealer, rather than a broken element. I haven't pulled the cover off, so not exactly sure what I am getting into. In my mind though, a short to ground means the conductor is shorting to the frame, or the positive and negative wires are chafed and touching.

Specifically, the short is in the driver seat back. When you energize the heater, it gets hot, then blows the fuse after a few seconds.

Ive done some searching, but haven't found a good DIY repair guide. The dealer replacement is over $1500.

Any tips? Links? Video instructions would be nice

Edit: I did some googling and found out about the recall. Does not affect my car. Instead of catching on fire, it's blowing a fuse.

David
2005 545i

tonyb635

I haven't had any issues yet with my seat heaters. I did many years ago have a failure in my drivers seat on my e36. This was an M3 with the nice seats so I was not going to attempt to replace it. I knew someone who could do this and all I had to do was purchase the seat seater mat which has to be the correct one for your car because they have small holes in the mat for securing. I would avoid the dealer because of the high cost. If you can't do it yourself, then perhaps seek out an upholstery shop that may be able to do this. From what I can tell, the lower cushion and leather cover has to be removed from the seat. This would be the hard part for me. Once this is done then the mat or at least on my e36 was held in place with ties or small clips. It took this guy about an hour after i took the seat to him.

dh1

Any suggestions on vendors for replacement heating element/pad? I've not come across anything in my searching. The REALOEM.com diagram is inconclusive (at least to me) about what part number I need to be purchasing.

Thanks
David

Chamoh78

You could always search through salvage yards for a complete drivers seat that is heated and then just have someone rebuild the seat with the parts they need. Super cheap compared to the stealerships... I've used salvage BMW's for parts before and they are a great alternative to buying brand new...

tonyb635

As for the parts number you may be able to see it in realoem. Otherwise, you might contact your local dealership parts dept with your VIN and they might provide you the part number. If you were in SC I get you in touch with a repair person. Perhaps call around to a few upholstry shops and see what they will charge to do this. From what I understand the hardest parts is seperating the seat so that the leather can be removed.