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Update on Heated seat element replacement |
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yorkxx
 
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  Member No: #1005
Location: Scotland |
Hi Guy's Update on this, Sorry to say It's a glorious failure! I had a go at stripping the heated Drivers seat element out, but it's totally bonded/glued and stitched in place, no way to separate it without destroying the leather seat and pad itself. I have posted the photos below they may help someone in the future have a go. It took me 20 mins to get to the point where I could remove the seat pad, it is easy to do this, you will require Torex screwdriver stubby type, thin hands help, an extendable mirror - x2 if possible, x2 very bright torches, this will save you moving the mirror and torch to back and front of the seats as you work, x1 long flat screwdriver or 20inch thin strong bar, x1 Outdoor sticky pad 1" square. Prepare to get cut's on hands, lots of sharp plastic bits on seats! Photo1. Memorise Drivers seat at highest point for safety so you can press it in case of problem. 2. Remove the Torex screw underside at front of seat next to plug, this is awkward, stubby screwdriver required, magnetic good. 3. View of clip holding side cover on to seat frame, there are x2 of these, remove the side seat panels by wiggling and pressing + pulling carefully, it will come off. 4. rear of seat- mirror underside view, x4 Christmas tree plug studs, these are longer than normal and can be removed by pulling on the carpet type cover firmly that they hold, you can feel the shaft of the studs if you wrap you fingers under the rear of the seat, there are awkward holes when putting them back in place. 5. Mirror also shows x2 elasticated loops on to main seat frame, these will have to be removed to remove seat pad fully when required, according to Citroen mechanic. 6. Christmas tree stud removed, note it's long! 7. View of seat cloth loop with clip on end, this slips through to underside of seat, you must unclip from underside of seat first. 8. underside view of clip in mirror. 9. view of 'sneaky' removed clip. 10. view of long clip at front of seat "underside" you can feel this by putting hand under seat while sitting on drivers seat prior to job if you wish, there are about approx x8 of this style of clips of different sizes holding the Leather seat pad to the seat frame, if you look under the seat you can clearly see them with a bright torch. 11. metal frame of seat that long plastic clip/seat leather is attached to. 12/13. view of clips attached on underside of seat. 14. remove heated seat switch, do not have ignition on or switch in on when this switch is disconnected, remove it by pressing flat screwdriver on side spring, then using a very small flat screwdriver prise/slip it into the side of the small plug and wiggle -pulling on the wire as you do so, the plug has a keyway so you wont go wrong when replacing it. 15/16 remove blank plug, no idea what this is for, but my guess is that it's for testing the seat element itself? you will need the sticky pad to replace it, I talked about earlier, or glue. 17/18. photo of blank plug removed and showing position in background through mirror. 19. fingers point to where the plastic seat side cover clips onto on main metal seat frame, you must also remove the leather seat at this point by pressing down on the seat itself and pulling down on each of the cloth flaps that hold the leather seat in place, you will see what I mean, it's a tight pull to loop over metal bracket clips. 20/21/22. Leather seat side peeled back showing the plastic clip holders, note the edge of the seat ridge where the leather meets the cloth, at this point it's bonded/glued and stitched to the rubber foam seat cushion, you can just see the two clips that hold the plastic seat side in position. 23. Photo of seat frame lifted showing white cloth cover, this stops leather from squeaking by the looks. And that's when I stopped! This is how you would access the lane departure warning motors or seat motor runners too, although I haven't repaired the heated seat I hope it gives some insight to how it might be done for future reference. Note* there was some nasty lead coloured grease dripping from the motors, so be careful here, I cleaned it using lighter fluid on a cloth, this removed it ok... All the best and good luck.                     |
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yorkxx
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Member No: #1005
Location: Scotland |
Photos continued.. and last photos.  |
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drummond
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  Member No: #238
Location: Aldeburgh |
And refitting is the reverse of the foregoing 
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C6Dave
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   Member No: #1
Location: Northumberland |
Update on this, Sorry to say It's a glorious failure! I had a go at stripping the heated Drivers seat element out, but it's totally bonded/glued and stitched in place, no way to separate it without destroying the leather seat and pad itself. I did say that the element was bonded to the cover, which is why Citroen only sell seat covers and charge the earth for them.......... |
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cruiserphil
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 Member No: #38
Location: Celbridge |
Yorkxx, Well done. You're a brave man. Thanks for posting the photos. Regards, Phil C. |
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yorkxx
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Member No: #1005
Location: Scotland |
Yes C6Dave you did, but me being an inquisitive chap had to try If I had an old one to muck about with I could fix it, I know I could, it's the usual catch situation of repair or destroy, done that many a time. On an other note, I also tried to see if I could fit an LED to the Seat heater switch as an 'ON" indicator when switch was out, but there was no full On/Off position only varying voltage/resistance between the three wires, I tested it by cutting a small slice of plastic insulation out of each wire and testing it while voltage on with switch fitted, I have been informed by Citroen Mechanics that sometimes when one Heated seat is faulty and by the type of fault condition it will cause a warning and shut down all the heated seats? Anyone know if this is the case? Knowing this possible scenario I refrained from trying out a 12volt LED across the wires in case it lead to a display warning fault or other. I will look into this further and let you all know how I do. Got to say Citroen have it very wrong here by not indicating that the Heated seats are on by light illumination or on dash indicator, I would rather have a Heated seat on warning than the damn tyre warning system. Cheers |
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gmerry
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 Member No: #21
Location: Scotland |
Is this not the kind of job that would be better off done with the seat removed from the car and job done in a workshop. Presumably the old failed element could be left alone and a new heating pad inserted? Regards G |
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yorkxx
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Member No: #1005
Location: Scotland |
Yes gmerry would be better off with the seat out, but then you need to re-set all the warning sensors that come with such removal, removal would be a two man job due to the weight of the seat. Dont think you could do what you suggest due to the way it's bonded in, it would destroy the leather and rubber seat pad too. The thing is, just how many of these seat pads will Citroen sell, eh? Especially at £2000.53p each, it's nut's that they even designed it this way. Even the guy at Citroen head office customer service was astonished when I told him how much it was to replace, also their Parts department manager said it was a ridiculous price and gasped in disbelief.. so enough said re costs. As pointed out on other threads here folk have older cheaper cars than C6 and not a Luxurious Flagship like the C6, their heated seats still work plus they are cheap to replace and service. Citroen bleat on about the wonderful Luxurious bespoke Vitelli Leather then cheapen it by pure wasteful disposal due to a fault, that beggars belief and NOT environmentally friendly either! Cheers |
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verycleverman
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 Member No: #65
Location: Northumberland |
When I bought my C6, in March 2009, it was just 3 years old. The first warranty work I had done was the driver's heated seat not working. It was fixed at the dealer's and I was told I was lucky it happened under warranty as the price was £2000 plus labour. However, although the seat was now working, the seat cover looked anything but new. I would have expected the seat to have looked like the rear seats, virtually unused, but it looked like a seat that had been sat in for three years. So, either it was repaired or the fault lay elsewhere. I suppose it's possible that the cover was removed from another C6 and the new, warranty funded replacement, cover fitted to the donor car, but it seems a lot of trouble to go to. Pete. |
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speedfix
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 Member No: #1043
Location: south west |
Yorkxx sorry to hear your probs, Is the lane departure fitted and used, if so could this be a premature cause of connections or broken circut of the element. I will not use it much if so. I have a local trimmer that can suppy seat elements and make new bases in the sw. Would have to know the ratings of the heater element though. Regards S |
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yorkxx
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Member No: #1005
Location: Scotland |
speedfix wrote ... Yorkxx sorry to hear your probs, Is the lane departure fitted and used, if so could this be a premature cause of connections or broken circut of the element. I will not use it much if so. I have a local trimmer that can suppy seat elements and make new bases in the sw. Would have to know the ratings of the heater element though. Regards S Hi S, Thank you for the offer S it's most appreciated, I may well get more info from you re this, I need to take it up with my warranty company, they said they would fix the seat, but not at £2000+. I will let you now later this week hopefully. Re the lane departure warning, yes it's fitted and working ok, I brought up the vibration via the LDW device issue with a Citroen Master Mechanic and he said he hadn't thought of that causing the heated seat to go faulty prematurely and said it could be a contributing factor to failure. Just wondered if anyone had a go at Citroen regarding this heated seat being prematurely faulty or brought up any other contributing factors? let me know please, I may well have a go at Citroen re this myself. Also How many Folk out there have had a faulty heated seat, this would be interesting to know at this point? Let me know.... VOTE HERE Cheers Cheers |
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Bartois
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  Member No: #1299
Location: England |
I have been quoted £2000 to replace the drivers seat heat pad, but having started the work Citroen now tell me the back rest seat pad does not work as the two have to be replaced together for technical reasons I don't understand.The upright heated pad costs £4000. This work is being covered by extended warranty. Makes me wonder if I should buy another C6 just to have a cheap supply of parts when the extended warranty runs out... |
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C6Dave
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Member No: #1
Location: Northumberland |
You have to ask yourself if you really need heated seats on a car in the UK? Personally, if mine failed, I would just forget about them as I never use them. |
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drummond
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Member No: #238
Location: Aldeburgh |
Yeah, Dave, you northerners have asbestos wotsits! I use mine all the time... | ||
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Rettopian
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  Member No: #1195
Location: Wiltshire |
Your wotsits or the heated seats? | ||
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