Seat Heater Help

[Bora20]

I haven't pulled the seats out and it is a pain with a seat cover and a baby seat in place. You will also need to add all the harnessing I would guess. Probably nothing in place for the switches either.

[AzNMpower32]

For what it's worth, pulled up the bench of the X5 this weekend. It's pretty much as expected. There are wires coming presumably from the heated switches to the respective side of the seat (left/right) and connect to wires that drape from the rear left and right centre of the bench, AND to wires that go to the heating elements in the left and right of the backrest.

The pic of is of the left side, but the right side is identical. I didn't pull out the switch panel though; that would have required some tools so as not to break any retaining clips.

[JCL]

Thanks for the photo and for looking. I see whether the wire comes out along the rear edge.

I am going to pull the seat again tomorrow and take a better look. If I can find the wires, I'll buy the switches. If not, I am going to drop it, and advise our daughter to bring along a sweater.

[AzNMpower32]

Did they improve the isolation of the rear area in the facelifted X3s? In my 2004, the cold isolation is pretty marginal. Last time we drove to Montréal and upstate NY, the rear windows started fogging up with traces of frost along the edges of the windows. Despite proper ventiliation settings (usually 20,5°C setting), it's always noticeably colder in the back.

[JCL]

I don't know if it changed, I never had a pre-LCI version.

We were in -30C last year with it, and it seemed fine. I wasn't riding in the rear, but the windows didn't frost.

We were in -17C a few weeks ago, and it seemed fine, but I did move the climate control up to 20C from 18C where it sits for the rest of the year. I also kept the heated seat on; usually my wife does that but I only use it first thing when we start off. I must be getting old.

[rocketdoc]

On the topic of heated seats...my wife has an '02 325xi, great car with the sport options. The heated seats really cook on this car. Recently added an '07 X3 3.0si to the stable, very nice unit with low kms. only thing is, the heated seats are not as fast to warm up and never attain the heat level of our 325. Anyone else with comparable BMWs to experience this? It isn't a big deal, just different and I am getting used to it. I could leave it on the two bar setting and drive all day ( in the winter). Any thoughts are welcome. And yes this is my first posting

[JCL]

Originally Posted by rocketdoc

On the topic of heated seats...my wife has an '02 325xi, great car with the sport options. The heated seats really cook on this car. Recently added an '07 X3 3.0si to the stable, very nice unit with low kms. only thing is, the heated seats are not as fast to warm up and never attain the heat level of our 325. Anyone else with comparable BMWs to experience this? It isn't a big deal, just different and I am getting used to it. I could leave it on the two bar setting and drive all day ( in the winter). Any thoughts are welcome. And yes this is my first posting

Welcome to the board!

Good choice of cars. We sold an '02 325xi, and my wife is now driving an '07 X3 3.0si

We special ordered the 325xi to get the seat heaters, since they came with the sunroof which we didn't want. It was a great car.

My wife leaves it on 3 bars all day in the winter in the X3. She takes it down to 2 bars in the summer. I can deal with 3 bars while it is warming up (which is quick), but 2 are enough after that, and sometimes 1. I only use it in the winter. I would say that our X3 is very similar to our 325xi. Our 535 is hotter, but not by much. That may be due to the comfort seats more than the model.

Our difference is the heated steering wheel. The X5 wheel got warm, the 535 is great, but the X3 wheel heating is barely there. I tried two other X3s at the dealer to see if they were different, and they seemed the same, so we left it alone.

[rdraidr]

Has anyone replaced the front heated seats? After some research, I've learned the failure of the front seat heaters is common. Ours just failed. The issue is a super hot spot usually along the outside bolster. Burns a spot or hole through the cover. There are 5 NHTSA complaints. BMW does not see this as a failure or safety concern and thus begins the process of charging customers up to $2k for new seats/covers. The wife was quick with the thinking and turned ours off before the seat suffered much damage. Just thought we could remove the cover and replace with an aftermarket heater.?

[Bora20]

I have used aftermarket heaters in a 2000 MB when both died. I couldn't remove the factory heater as they are sewn into the leather cover, so I placed them directly on the seat foam.

I wired them directly to the existing circuit using the connectors from the factory heaters and some time with a soldering iron and heatshrink tubing.

They worked perfectly, but did not heat up as fast as factory due to the layers of material it had to go through as also didn't extend very high up the back or the thighs as they couldn't be placed on metal and the MB seat uses metal straps to hold the seat foam on.

It was about a $100 job in total using my own labour.

[rdraidr]

Any info on where you found them? I'm assuming ours are sewn in to the leather cover as well. The older I get, the better they feel - when working correctly, that is.
Thanks.