MarkW

The seat heater finally went out. I take it that someone else has been down this road. Is it a DIY deal or should I just pay someone else? I already checked the switch, swapped it with the other, and the other seat works fine. I know it is the element in the seat itself. I do know that you end up gluing the new element onto the old one, but it is something the average garage tinkerer can do? Any ideas would help.

Wayne Dohnal

My feeling is that it's a DIY job if you don't mind doing a lot of upholstery work. The backrest went out in my driver seat and I followed the repair procedure on one of the web sites. Unfortunately, it went out again so I'm going to get a new element this time. The Bentley procedure is to leave most of the old element there and glue the new one on top of it.

Have you checked out the elements at the seat? On my '94, there is a 6-pin green connector under the seat, and you can stick meter probes into the back of the connector to take measurements. The power from the seat controller goes to pin 1 (blue/yellow), and ground goes to pin 3 (brown). A brown/blue jumper between pins 5 and 6 connects the seat and backrest in series. The resistance of each element is supposed to be about 1.2 ohms.

I've heard others say the seat is easier than the backrest, but haven't tried the seat myself. I consider the job to be 95% upholstery work. For me, it was fairly difficult.

Wayne Dohnal
1994 S4

MarkW

realize that there are two elements, one for the back and one for the seat. I that I am the type to replace eveything so I never have to do it again. (crossing fingers) Thanks for the tip on checking the elements.