February 19, 200521 yr Hi, Got a little problem: All at once, my heated seat switches and my heated mirror switches no longer worked. I replaced the fuse but still no seats or mirror lights or working. Is there another fuse associated with these or am I crazy. What else can it possibly be?? ken
February 20, 200521 yr I would check for voltage getting to the coils. There may be severed wire that got shorted out somewhere. There may also be a fusible link that is blown.
February 20, 200521 yr Author I would check for voltage getting to the coils. There may be severed wire that got shorted out somewhere. There may also be a fusible link that is blown. Hi, Thanks for reply but I have no way of checking voltage. I can handle small auto jobs but not that technical. Just thought there may be something I could handle. Dealer probably would want a fortune to track down a short if it's something like that!!! Where along the way would a fusable link be??? Ken
February 20, 200521 yr Hi Ken, Checking for voltage is easier than you may think. I suggest you invest in a test light probe that can be purchased at an auto parts store for less than $10 dollars. You simply clip the wire lead of the probe to a good ground point and place the probe tip on the connection you want to check for voltage. If the light turns on then there is voltage at that point. Your problem appears to be due to an open connection rather than a short, which are opposite conditions. The connection may have been shorted at one time though if you found a blown fuse for this. I'm not sure where the fusible links are in the Legacy models but in the older models they were in a small plastic box mounted on the coolant reservoir.
February 20, 200521 yr My accessory socket blew the 20A fuse last week. The seat and mirror heaters stopped at the same time. I replaced the accessroy socket fuse and the seat and mirror heaters started to work again. Somehow the mirror/seat heaters require a power signal from the accessory socket even though they have their own didicated circuits. This was on my 97 OBW Hope this helps... Ken
February 20, 200521 yr Author My accessory socket blew the 20A fuse last week. The seat and mirror heaters stopped at the same time. I replaced the accessroy socket fuse and the seat and mirror heaters started to work again. Somehow the mirror/seat heaters require a power signal from the accessory socket even though they have their own didicated circuits. This was on my 97 OBW Hope this helps... Ken That sounds like my problem. I removed and replaced the 20a fuse and still no power to seats or mirrors. I also looked at the old fuse and could see no visible breakage. I assume you are talking about the acc. fuse box under dash with 3 fuse holders, right?? Ken
February 21, 200521 yr My fuse panel located by the drivers feet has 15 fuses or more in it. I pulled my 20A Cigar fuse to double check and sure enough, the mirror/seat heaters do not work with this fuse out. (Neither does my accessory socket) To trouble shoot this problem further, a schematic would greatly help in pin poniting where the problem my be. Sorry I couldn't have been more help... Ken
February 21, 200521 yr Author My fuse panel located by the drivers feet has 15 fuses or more in it. I pulled my 20A Cigar fuse to double check and sure enough, the mirror/seat heaters do not work with this fuse out. (Neither does my accessory socket) To trouble shoot this problem further, a schematic would greatly help in pin poniting where the problem my be. Sorry I couldn't have been more help... Ken Hi, Today I realised that my cig. socket wasn't working either.I plug my phone charger in there. So I thought , this must be the reason for the seats not working. Well I replaced the cig. fuse(which was blown) and put another fuse in acc. fuse and still no go. These two are related somehow, but you would think that replacing both would solve the problem. I'm still working on it. Anybody else have any ideas about this????? ken
February 22, 200521 yr Yes they are. I would look for a small box near the battery. I'm not real familiar with the Legacys unfortunately.
February 22, 200521 yr Author Hi, I would like to share my recent findings with the group from my daughters new 98 OB LTD that may help someone with this problem. (Note: Dealers please stop reading here. We bought the car with 90k and the owner told us that the power mirrors and seat heaters had not worked for a long time. The fuse keeps blowing and the dealer could not find the problem. Determined to find the problem, I put in a 30A fuse (supposed to be a 20A) and turned the car on. After a few seconds smoke started coming from the drivers side window pillar cover (A-post). I immediately removed power and took off the cover. I found that the wire harness in that pillar had indeed overheated and one of the wires had slightly melted. I further traced the harness up to the headliner where it split off. One pair of wires went to the visor for the vanity mirror lamps. I unscrewed the visor from the headliner and voila! The two wires that go to the lamps in the visor had been crimped by the metal bracket holding the visor to the point where they were showing though the insulation and shorting to the metalwork in the roof. I had to replace the wires all the way down to the dash since they had melted in various places. Once the wires were replaced and properly insulated, all the systems on that fuse now work (mirrors, seat heaters, vanity mirror lamps.) Hope this saves someone a ton of time!! Found this on another group, could this possibly be the answer??? Ken
February 22, 200521 yr Author Hi, I would like to share my recent findings with the group from my daughters new 98 OB LTD that may help someone with this problem. (Note: Dealers please stop reading here. We bought the car with 90k and the owner told us that the power mirrors and seat heaters had not worked for a long time. The fuse keeps blowing and the dealer could not find the problem. Determined to find the problem, I put in a 30A fuse (supposed to be a 20A) and turned the car on. After a few seconds smoke started coming from the drivers side window pillar cover (A-post). I immediately removed power and took off the cover. I found that the wire harness in that pillar had indeed overheated and one of the wires had slightly melted. I further traced the harness up to the headliner where it split off. One pair of wires went to the visor for the vanity mirror lamps. I unscrewed the visor from the headliner and voila! The two wires that go to the lamps in the visor had been crimped by the metal bracket holding the visor to the point where they were showing though the insulation and shorting to the metalwork in the roof. I had to replace the wires all the way down to the dash since they had melted in various places. Once the wires were replaced and properly insulated, all the systems on that fuse now work (mirrors, seat heaters, vanity mirror lamps.) Hope this saves someone a ton of time!! I found this on another newsgroup, couldsit possibly be the answer??? Ken
February 22, 200521 yr Hi, I would like to share my recent findings with the group from my daughters new 98 OB LTD that may help someone with this problem. (Note: Dealers please stop reading here. Once the wires were replaced and properly insulated, all the systems on that fuse now work (mirrors, seat heaters, vanity mirror lamps.) Hope this saves someone a ton of time!! I found this on another newsgroup, couldsit possibly be the answer??? Ken Ahh, that's what I like to see... logical resolves to odd dilemmas... Keep up the good work & dealers beware! later, Peter
February 22, 200521 yr That is a pretty tough way to find the problem but it worked for that guy. Your problem is different Ken. Your circuit is open, not shorted.
February 22, 200521 yr If it was a fuseable link, I would suspect more systems out than what you are experiencing. The wiring diagram I have doesn't show the seat power, only the switch lights, so I'm having a hard time running this down. Are you positive that every else works besides the seat heaters and mirror heaters? Do the seat lights come on and no heat?
February 22, 200521 yr I agree TC, it would seem that more things would be effected if it was a link. Perhaps there is a breaker for these items and it is bad.
February 22, 200521 yr Author If it was a fuseable link, I would suspect more systems out than what you are experiencing. The wiring diagram I have doesn't show the seat power, only the switch lights, so I'm having a hard time running this down. Are you positive that every else works besides the seat heaters and mirror heaters? Do the seat lights come on and no heat? Hi, As of today: lighter,power mirror(heat and adjustment),seat heat(no lights for power but the other light is on). Ken Replaced cig fuse but still no lighter working. Ken
February 23, 200521 yr I suggest you purchase a test light probe at an auto parts store. Check for power at the fuses that power that section. There are small holes in the top of the fuses that you can place the probe tip on both sides of the fuse to check for power. There may be a bad connection at the fuse panel. If there is, the proble will tell the story.
February 23, 200521 yr Most of this stuff runs off the ACC line, but there's other stuff tied to it, like the wipers and radio. Doesn't make any sense to me. Looks like fuse #4, (20 A) runs your seat heat, acc power supply, remote mirrors, cigarette lighter, auto A/C. It supplies your A/T shift lock as well, so I'm guessing you have a standard tranny. Mirror heater runs off other power, maybe the relay is bad. I agree with cougar, get a test light and start checking for 12 volts. Pull the fuses and make sure you have the 12 volts on one tab of the fuse holder.
February 23, 200521 yr You don't have to pull the fuse to check for power on both sides of it. A while back I found out there are small access holes on the top of the fuse to test for voltage. Pretty neat, huh!
February 24, 200521 yr Cool, I guess it's been a damn long while since I looked at the fuse box and fuses. Matter of fact, I've never changed one on this car.
February 26, 200521 yr Author Cool, I guess it's been a damn long while since I looked at the fuse box and fuses. Matter of fact, I've never changed one on this car. Hi All, It's Ken, this threads starter. Well I finally had some time to fool with this problem. All I can say is: Thanks to that guy who wrote the story about the vanity mirror lights wiring. Right on the mark!!!!!!!!!! I started by removing the drivers vanity mirror, but saw no bad wires or such and thought it was a bust, but then I removed the passenger vanity light wiring and behold, the red positive wire was all chewed up and shorting out against the roof metal. Since the wires were not really burnt I just replaced a small section of wire, really taped it well and all is fine!!! Mirrors,seat heaters, cig lighter and even the vanity mirror lights(which I never realised were out too) worked. Ken
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