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Quote:

Originally Posted by TurnAround (Post 1050162)

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!

Even for an upholstery guy, it's a big job (I took it to a local guy that had been doing it for 25yrs+ He confirmed and said if I really wanted to blow a lot of money he would do it, but better to hunt the wreckers). You have to cut all the stitching between all the leather panels and separate them . I took a wrecker rear seat apart and it was a messy job. To put it all back together and get it sewn correctly is a hope, prayer and a nice bill at the end.

Anyone else?
I emailed BMW Canada. They just told me to take it to a dealership. Called dealership, they have no TSAs or warrenty / recalls etc on it. So sounds like I'm shit out of luck. They said to bring it in for a diagnostic, at $149/hour. Damn it. What do I do now?!

guys
i found the bottom part of the seat here https://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E53-X5...eats/ES262599/

but is it possible to just have that part replaced? or at least unplug the bottom heater?

A wild guesstimate. You're looking at least 3+ billable hrs from a upholstery shop.
Good ones ain't cheap - it's just as bad $$ as going to a dealer. It is what it is. Good luck.

Are ya'll doing the ~stepover~ over the bolster.
Mine at 110-120K was still just fine...

I am researching the hell out of this. It seems like some places say the heated element is attached to the bottom foam/assembly itself while others are saying it's integrated into the leather. I don't need the backrest area fixed, just the butt part. I just want to fix this and sell it so I can leave the country

The back needs to come off in order to access the seat bottom
You got hog rings to deal with, etc, etc. Just sell it as is.
Either DIY but any decent upholstery shop worth their bacon aint cheap

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsoto (Post 1092012)

The back needs to come off in order to access the seat bottom
You got hog rings to deal with, etc, etc. Just sell it as is.
Either DIY but any decent upholstery shop worth their bacon aint cheap

Ugh yeah. I'm struggling to sell it without evening mentioning the seat yet, kjiji buyers are the worst.
Trying to find one a used one in Canada somehow.

You can replace the seat heater pad with an aftermarket one. I did mine, didn't cost much but it is not an easy job.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bouchedag84 (Post 1092004)

guys
i found the bottom part of the seat here https://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E53-X5...eats/ES262599/

but is it possible to just have that part replaced? or at least unplug the bottom heater?

For that price, why don't you just buy whole used seat? Much easier and cheaper this way.

That is a bit pricey but it looks like an improvement on the original design which is nice to see :) Trouble with buying a used seat is your back to same situation.