The driver side heated seat on my 2002 Lesabre will not work. I replace the switch but it still does not heat-up. Any ideas?

 

Well, I assume you've checked the fuse and are getting power as far as the switch, although some of these switch the ground, so you have to be sure that both ends of the circuit are complete. Past that, there is a control circuit/timerwhich could be bad (it may be on a differentfuse), or the lead wirescould be broken. Also, like a light bulb, the heater pad itself can burn out. Edited by: MrBSS

 

What does the swich HI LO lights do when you turn on the heated seat. Does it light up HI and then when you push it agian does it stay on high? After pushing it maybe 5 times does it go to low and then maybe back to high or maybe back off? If the HI/LO light is acting wierd like this then your heater grid is open or burnt out. You will need new heater grid. If it doesn't light up HI/LO at all then you probably need a new seat heater module.

 

Toadster25 described my 2003 LeSabre Limited's seat problem to the letter. I assumed it was the switch. Now I will ask the dealer about the heater grid.
I guess I should buy it from the dealer and have an auto upholstery shop go into the seat to install it?

 

The dealer said the heating grid was $150 and labor would be another $250. Wife says she does not need a warm seat that badly.

 

Well, I don't know if you want to tackle it, but you could take out the seat and replace it yourself. It's a fair amount of work, but doesn't take much skill.


Also, there is a company in S. Carolina I believe, that provides these heaters both to the manufacturers and for the aftermarket. They are much cheaper than buying through the dealer. I put a set in my other car, and they nested right in the foam. Can't remember the company name off the top of my head, something like "Roescoe Electronics", butIthink you can Google "auto seat heat".

 

Thanks. I found a couple of mfr's sites. Kit's are $100 to $150. One site offered an OEM-spec kit:
http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/heatelcarsea.html
But it says it is not plug and play with OEM, which means I can't just install it and connect to the car's wires. That site had a 30MB download video of installation instructions.

 

The heater grid is part of the seat cover from the factory but then when they had so many problems with the heated seatson some models they went to just a grid that you put in between the seat cover and the seat foam. The kit from GM is for the bottom and back part of the seat. When I put them in I don't even take the seat out of the car. You just take the seat switches ***** off with a screw driver and they pop off then take the bezel off. It has two retainers coming up from the bottom that hold it on and they break alot of times when I remove them but I can usually get the bezel to stay on without the retainers because the switch ***** hold it on too. Then you unhook the seat cover along the front edge and work your way around the left side back to the rear. Then the cover will lift off.


For the back part of the seat there is a hook along the bottom that holds the cover together. It can be very hard to get unhooked. Sometimes I just get mad and force it apart with a screwdriver. Some LeSabres have a zipper that goes up the back and it can help to unzip it. Once you get the hook along the bottom apart you can just pull the cover out so you can slip the new heater grid up into position. Then they have sticky tape on them that holds them in place just peal the paper off so it will stick in place. I don't think that it is very hard to do compared to some seat covers. You don't really need any special tools or metal clips that you have to cut off like some seat covers and like I said you don't even have to take the seat out of the car. Don't take the covers all the way off, just take it off enough to get the new grids in.

 

Thanks for the tips!