Heated Seat Question

[weiln12]

All,

Last weekend I swapped out my non-heated seats for heated sport seats from an '03 4.6is. Everything was plug and play and really easy, but I have an odd problem.

In the morning, the heated seats (at least drivers side) don't appear to work right away. They take about 10-15 minutes to kick in, but once they do they heat up quickly. In the evening driving home from work, they kick in immediately and warm right up.

Can someone point me in a direction to troubleshoot this issue? Waiting for the X5 to get warm before the heated seats kick in kind of defeats the purpose.

[Ricky Bobby]

Shouldn't take that long, maybe 3 minutes on a cold start, the heating element may be going - however its weird that on your ride home it heats up quickly

[SlickGT1]

I think he should put a car cover on the car, to make it think it is the night, and maybe it will work in the morning. lol

[StephenVA]

[CapeX5]

some basic electrical testing is in order to determine if it is your supply voltage or the element. IF you did the swap you should be able to do the diagnoses. This is an interesting subject/problem. Keep us posted please.

[14thbmw]

I had this problem, but not after a seat swap. Also lost the heat to the steering wheel. Turned out to be the alternator/battery. Replaced one and charged the other; problem solved. YMMV

[weiln12]

@14thbmw - I keep an eye on the alternator using the OBC, but I haven't checked it while the seats are on, I'll try that on the way home and on the way to work tomorrow.

@CapeX5 - While I'm quite comfortable doing most mechanical things, electrical I tend to stay away from. I can use a voltmeter and check, but I have no idea where to even start testing...can you point me in a direction?

[Freestyler]

Originally Posted by weiln12

They take about 10-15 minutes to kick in, but once they do they heat up quickly.

I'll tag along for this one.
I have the exact samme issue you describe. Even the 10-15 min delay is spot on.
It was already like this when i bought the X 4 years ago. And i had more or less accepted it as one of the X's many weird features. But i guess it's not.

I have no knowns problems with either my alternator or battery.

[weiln12]

On the way home the alternator according to the OBC was at 13.1-13.4, with drops to 12.9 and peaks to 13.6. I had the drivers side seat heater on full, radio, heat set to 75* on Auto, and rear defroster on. Those numbers seem low, but mine has never read over 13.8 so I'm not sure.

However, the seat turned on immediately and worked exactly as expected.

I'll check tomorrow morning when it's usually not behaving to see if it's any different.

[14thbmw]

I probably had my comment above wrong. I think the battery was discharging too much (not holding a full charge) and that caused the electronics to conserve until it was charged. Once the alternator got it up enough, the heaters started working. Once the battery was replaced with a new one (and the alternator operation verified), the problems disappeared.

I would never have thought this would be battery or alternator related. I was looking for fuses, wiring harness problems, etc. But my mechanic says this is common and knew right where to go.