Date:         Thu, 16 Jan 1997 22:24:12 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Jeff Diebolt <jdiebolt@up.net>
Subject:      Re: '86 heated driver's seat cold

At 03:49 AM 1/16/97 -0600, Johan Nyberg wrote:
>Hello. My wife would like to keep her behind warm in the winter, but the
>seat doesn't heat. My repair manual doesn't cover the wiring for the seat
>heater, so does anyone know? Using my multimeter and scratching my head, I
>seem to find an open circuit, if so, I suppose something has broken and
>needs to be replaced. I haven't tried to take the seat apart yet, has
>anyone?
>
>
>Johan Nyberg, Sodertalje Sweden
>'86 Caravelle C
>
Have repaired a number of seat heaters when I was at the dealer, I should
say replaced. At least on Audis. Odds are the problems as well as the
vendors are probably the same. Ninety nine percent of the problems are in
the heating element itself. If you have power to the element it's bad. All
the element is is a resistive wire sewn in between a cloth covering. When
you take the seat cover off usually you can see a spot where the wire has
burnt, it burns the cloth. I often though of just taking the cloth cover
off a bit and repairing the open circuit. But the repairs were under
warranty and since Audi was buying I never tried it. Not sure if it would
work but I don't see any reason why not.

Greetings from Michigan's Upper Peninsula
Jeff & Jean-Marie Diebolt
mailto:jdiebolt@up.net