Seat heater element replacement

I'm having my (all four?) heater elements replaced next week. How actually is this to be done? Is my leather going to be removed from the seat itself. /images/graemlins/eek.gif What should I be aware of after this is done, basiclly how can the dealer screw this up?

Tks
/images/graemlins/wink.gifDave

Had this done on my NB last winter. They have to 'skin' the seat so to speak, removing the upholstery to get at the elements in it. I watched the tech struggle for a couple hours trying to get the upper upholstery back on to the seat, and it was rather entertaining( yeah, I get entertained by stuff like that at times... it's a sickness!) Here's the tip of the day for anyone slipping new upholstery onto a seat... pay attention, it will make life easier! :

Ever get a suit drycleaned?? You know the very thin poly bag it comes back in? Okay, take that "bag", slip it over the foam (think pillowcase) ... why you might ask?? The urathane foam in the seat has a very high friction coefficient.. tends to "grab" the upholstery rather nicely, making it a very good workout to get the cloth/leather back onto the seat. With the thin layer of polyethylene provided by the drycleaning baggie thing, you have an instant low friction surface between the foam and the upholstery. Less chance of reefing on the outer cover, ripping, stretching, etc. Once the upholstery is pulled down all the way, wrasseled into place, you can grab the plastic, and successfully pull/tear the majority out, or leave it in, it isn't going to hurt anything.

The way I discovered this is I am a Car Audio installer by trade, and we do quite a bit of vedeo (in the headrests). Sometimes, you have to strip the upholstery off the headrest in order to do some foam modification. Now, one day I was fighting with a GM headrest and it dawned on me... there was this very thin plastic bag over the foam... hmmm.... zipped home, grabbed a drycleaning bag, made a rough "bag" for the headrest, and voila! 10 min to get the cloth back on.... instant gratification! light dusting of silicone spray helps with leather, and dosen't cause any bleed through grief.

Just a little Helouise type hint for you all!
YMMV, HTH
Gus

When I did mine, I just turned the cover inside out, and slowly rolled it back on and rightside out. Kinda like a condom. Took no time at all, and no plastic to "mostly" rip out.

what's a condom /images/graemlins/blush.gif

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Snip...Snip...Snip /images/graemlins/eek.gif What should I be aware of after this is done, basiclly how can the dealer screw this up?

Tks
/images/graemlins/wink.gifDave

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LOL....let me count the ways:
1. Erney the Drunkard (in the wash bay) can puke in your trunk...and forget to tell you about it.
2. The Service Writer and mis quote the work order and have them replace the auto tranny fluid in your 5sp
3. "Dorkster" the machanic...can leave the seat unbolted to the floor rails...untill you hit the brakes...and all of a sudden your face is pushed through the windshield.
Should I continue ???

Be afraid...very afraid

/images/graemlins/grin.gifHa thats funny. That is supposed to funny right /images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Are they going to have to know how to sew in order to put my seats back together?

I had a heater element die on one of my velour seats. The elements are integral to the seat cushion, and there was no replacement part for just the element.

So, VW's solution was to replace the entire seat/cushion assembly. It was outrageously expensive (something like $700 for the back, and $300 for the bottom), so I declined to go that route.

People here have repaired the seat heater element by peeling back the fabric and doing a bit of a solder job, but if this is a warranty job, I bet that VW replaces your seat cushions.

Maybe VW treats leather seats differently than the velour, but VW wanted to replace the cushions for the velour version.

By the way, why did all four elements die on you car? I've never heard of the back elements dying. Usually only the seat element dies when the thermocouple sensor wire breaks.

Some good advice is to never kneel on your seats - I think this is what breaks the sensor wire.

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By the way, why did all four elements die on you car? I've never heard of the back elements dying. Usually only the seat element dies when the thermocouple sensor wire breaks.
Some good advice is to never kneel on your seats - I think this is what breaks the sensor wire.

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Well I brought the car in b/c the heat was only working on setting 5. All elements do work but only on setting 5. There was no heat at all from 1-4, I checked many times in all types of temps. I read that the lower #'s only worked when the amb temp was low enough. I guess if your butt was warmer than what could be produced on 1 or 2 it would not come on /images/graemlins/confused.gif
Anyway the dealer did their thing and said they would be replacing all the elements. I thought that to be strange b/c if the elements heat up wouldn't the problem be where the power is regulated. I don't really know the workings, just a guess. I'm just hoping that they don't replace all the elements and end up ruining my seat coverings, having them loose and bunching. I'm thinking that I will be back for new switches or something else to finally fix the prob.

BTW: thanks for the tip on not kneeling on the seats, was not aware of that /images/graemlins/wink.gif

Dave

Proper warranty procedure is to just slide the replacement element under the old element,w/o peeling anything. I had a replacement in my A-6 and they peeled the leather back and messed up the stitching badly. They bought me a new seat bottom to make it right.

It sounds like your problem is a bad switch, not bad heater elements. This was a relatively common problem with the 2000 MY cars - a replacement dash switch fixed the problem.

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It sounds like your problem is a bad switch, not bad heater elements. This was a relatively common problem with the 2000 MY cars - a replacement dash switch fixed the problem.

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That was a another members thought some time ago when I first started having this problem. I'm wondering if I should mention that to them and save myself the possible heartache of them doing the elements, and making a balls of it.

we'll see
Dave