Bushwick Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I just converted a non heated seat 95' Legacy to a 99' Outback heated seat. I've noticed the heat seems to kick on, stay on a bit, kick off, then eventually kick back on. The switch's light is staying illuminated the entire time. I can't tell if it's normal with these or if I missed a bad connection? These supposedly have a thermal switch integrated near where the wiring harness attaches to the heater wire element, and I'm not sure if this part of their function or not? My Saab's heated seats were always constant if switched on. But I know one of my Dr. Scholls heated back rests will run for x-amount of time before kicking off. Also, the center console switch cluster from the 99' Outback donor had both heated seat switches, and what appears to be a rear defrost switch along with a coin holder in the switch cluster. But what's puzzling is the donor also had a rear defrost switch next to the cruise switch? Or is the center console switch for heated mirrors? Every car I've owned with heated mirrors lumped the feature into the rear defrost switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushwick Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 Just to be clear, I'm asking if your heated seats (any year Subaru I suppose) emit a constant heat, or does it cycle on/off like a furnace does once it reaches a certain temperature? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golucky66 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I have a 00' outback with heated seats, and I have never noticed them not producing heat after a while. the switch's light does not go out unless I manually switch the heater off. (Sorry not a huge amount of help) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushwick Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 Left them on the "low" heat setting for a drive just now, which did seem to provide constant heat. Selecting the "high" heat setting and they've come on every time the switch was on, but it seems to get hot, level off, then get hot again. Not a constant temp though like the "low" setting. Just trying to figure out if it's regulated like that for the higher heat setting or not i.e. a safety feature. During the 30 minute test period before putting the heat element back into the seat, I left it on "high" then sandwiched between 2 foam sheets. The temp seemed to remain constant, but hard to say as it was already warm out then and the actual unit wasn't exactly heat soaking like it does being sat on under the fabric. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushwick Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 No one knows if their seat heat on "high" stays constant or not? I really need to know if something is wrong with mine or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forester2002s Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Mine get uncomfortably hot if I leave them on (2002 Forester). I have the 2002 FSM electrical circuit diagrams; and from memory. I don't think that there are any thermostats or timers in the circuit. Just ON or OFF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushwick Posted November 1, 2014 Author Share Posted November 1, 2014 Then there must be a bad connection in my lower pad where the heater element wire meets up with the actual harness wire. There's supposedly a thermal overload switch sandwiched between the 2 layers of felt, and from what I can tell it acts as a junction. If there was no heat whatsoever, then it'd be a burnt spot, but a failing solder could allow an intermittent on/off. Thankfully "low" heat works fairly well in the interim. Kicking myself as I was actually going to reflow the solder there as a precautionary measure, but thought "nah, don't mess with it if it's not broken". Oh well, the junctions are in the very back of the bottom seat, should be able to just pull the back cover up and hopefully get at them w/o pulling the entire seat again. If anyone is attempting a heat pad swap, repair, etc. I suggest separating the 2 ply felt where the harness wire enters the pad and the heater wire attach to it. Inspect carefully for poor connections. Read in another thread someone else fixing that. I used this write up: http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f77/how-heated-seat-repair-install-62332/ which covers the basics. Further down a guy fixed the junction I'm thing is faulty on mine and has a pic of his. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushwick Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 OK, after a little more digging what the seat is doing is apparently NORMAL. "High" heat setting is apparently thermostatically controlled within the seat. Once turned "ON", it'll heat until it reaches a predetermined temperature, then shut "off" until the temp drops to the specified "turn on again" temp. This has apparently been the norm since at least 96'. I know our years have ducting UNDER the seat which I believe is kicked on when you run the floor heat setting to help throw heat to the back seat area, so if that's full blast or your vents are blowing full blast heat and the overall temp on the outside of the seat is ABOVE the "seat heat on" thermostat, it stands to reason it won't kick back on until the cabin temps lower a bit. Larger people that cover more surface area of the seat bottom might actually have the same effect as their body locks more heat into the seat, but that's purely speculation. I like to leave the windows rolled down a bit with the heated seats on, which seemed to get them running more on the high setting. Having the dash heat blowing 100% for 15-20 minutes, seemed to have the seats off more (on high setting). This might explain why the newer models have the complaint of the seats heating nicely on high, shutting off, then not coming back on for awhile as their actual dash heat + body heat is keeping the seat's internal thermostat just above the "heat back on" threshold. What I believed were the thermal overload junctions at the seat bottom back, are actually the thermostats. Here's a link I pulled elsewhere that explains Subaru's reasoning: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushwick Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 (edited) This was a double post. How in the world do I delete this? Don't see a "delete thread" option anywhere? Edited November 3, 2014 by Bushwick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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