Heated seat burning!! -Canada-

Bouchedag84 · #1 09-07-2015, 12:03 AM

Anyone else have this issue?! Just started today. Went to go for a quick errand and turned on the heated seat, it felt very hot so I touched it with my hand and the seat is melted and there's a small hole! And I can see through the hole and see a yellow flame/light. I would love to get this taken care of before winter hits and heated seats are a life saver in our cold, canadian winters.

With that being said, has anyone had/fixed their issue?! It's a 2006 BMW so obviously out of warrenty

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EH6TunerDaniel · #2 09-07-2015, 12:43 AM

Either swap out the leathers or find a used seat with heating and put it in. Not many options really.

LVP · #3 09-07-2015, 06:41 AM

You can't swap the heater element - I looked into this and it is a pad that is stitched throughout the various sections of the seat. Your only option is to replace the seat with one from a wreckers. I did this for my rear seats. Front might be a bit more involved as far as remove/replace.

upallnight · #4 09-07-2015, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LVP

You can't swap the heater element - I looked into this and it is a pad that is stitched throughout the various sections of the seat. Your only option is to replace the seat with one from a wreckers. I did this for my rear seats. Front might be a bit more involved as far as remove/replace.

Careful about buying a seat from a junk yard. The car might have been in an accident with aiirbag deployment. The seat module will record that and you will have a SRS fault. If the seat belt tensioner had fired you will need to have that replace.

LVP · #5 09-07-2015, 10:38 AM

Correct. I was simply referring to the seat base. I would keep the rest of the stock seat if it's in tact.

Bouchedag84 · #6 09-07-2015, 12:36 PM

I wonder how much a new seat from BMW would cost me. if possible

TurnAround · #7 09-07-2015, 01:32 PM

Mine's doing it too. The problem appeared two years ago, and it's only on the left bolster, near yer rib cage area. What I've been doing is just running the heater for a while, then turn it off. But yeah, this one little tiny spot gets so hot that it can burn you. Then I noticed that the leather is shrunken and hardened in that area.. which is what leather does when it's exposed to extreme heat.

My theory is that there's a slight fold in the heat pad in that area and it's triggering a micro short in the heater wires in the pad.

So the heater pad is stitched in? Hmm.. I worked with a leather upholstery place when I upgraded my Z3 Roadster's leather seats to Nappa (came out awesome btw)... but I remember working with the seat heater pads. There's two; Seat base and seat back. But they just set 'free' on the seat foam. I'd say, if they're stitched in on an X5 seat, all you need to do is take the car to an upholstery place and have them remove the seat, pull the leather cover, unstitch the pad, replace the pad, and the leather cover. I'll bet they're totally used to having to pull pads and restitch them in place. Upholstery guys are the unsung heros of the car tech world. They gots special skills!

Bouchedag84 · #8 09-07-2015, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TurnAround

Mine's doing it too. The problem appeared two years ago, and it's only on the left bolster, near yer rib cage area. What I've been doing is just running the heater for a while, then turn it off. But yeah, this one little tiny spot gets so hot that it can burn you. Then I noticed that the leather is shrunken and hardened in that area.. which is what leather does when it's exposed to extreme heat.

My theory is that there's a slight fold in the heat pad in that area and it's triggering a micro short in the heater wires in the pad.

So the heater pad is stitched in? Hmm.. I worked with a leather upholstery place when I upgraded my Z3 Roadster's leather seats to Nappa (came out awesome btw)... but I remember working with the seat heater pads. There's two; Seat base and seat back. But they just set 'free' on the seat foam. I'd say, if they're stitched in on an X5 seat, all you need to do is take the car to an upholstery place and have them remove the seat, pull the leather cover, unstitch the pad, replace the pad, and the leather cover. I'll bet they're totally used to having to pull pads and restitch them in place. Upholstery guys are the unsung heros of the car tech world. They gots special skills!

Yeah. I found the heating element/foam on ECSTuning and it's $520USD. So about $600+CAD for me to get the new foam, and then finding an upholestry place to remove it and fix it all. Hmm, could be a $1000 job. yikes!

Bouchedag84 · #9 09-07-2015, 02:08 PM

can someone show me pics of the sport seat vs comfort vs standard? i have no idea which ones i have....

JCL · #10 09-07-2015, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TurnAround

My theory is that there's a slight fold in the heat pad in that area and it's triggering a micro short in the heater wires in the pad.

The heating pads don't have wires, they have carbon mats. They fail where people sit on them as they get in and out, usually the door side bolster.

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