Warm Heated Seats

[Dagger99]

2004 Sport Trac with leather heated seats don't get hot. They Get warm but not even close to as hot as they used to. What could be the problem?

[shorod]

Are you sure they are getting warm, or is it maybe in your head? I had a broken wire in the seat cushion element of my 2004 Mountaineer and I would have sworn that it was heating but not nearly the way the passenger side worked. My recall is the seat cushion is wired in series with the seat back, so an open in either element will prevent the system from heating, but the indicator will work as normal.

On mine I removed the seat, unplugged the seat back and was able to determine the element in the back was fine but there was an open in the cushion. I pulled the ends of the element from the fabric backing and did a hook splice, then covered the splice with fiberglass tape. The seat heater worked fine for the next few years at least (I traded the truck in with the seat heater still working).

The seat heater circuit uses a thermal breaker in the cushion as well to shut off current flow to the elements when the temperature reaches 104 degrees F, so I suppose if the element is in fact working, but the breaker is opening at too low of a temperature, that could cause a less than hot seat heater as well.

-Rod

[Dagger99]

It is getting warm. Do you know if it is possible to replace the thermal breaker in the seat.

[shorod]

It is possible to replace the thermal breaker, but probably not with a part from the dealer. You'd likely need to pull out the Mouser, Digi-Key, or other electronics supplier catalog and try to find something. It's been awhile since I fixed the element in my Mountaineer, but my recall is the breaker was a pretty standard form factor.

-Rod

[Dagger99]

I guess it's time for a trip to the wreckers. Thanx for the info.