Heated Seat Help

[Fordum]

Folks, the patient is a stock 2005 4X4 Z71 Tahoe.

Yes, I'm working on an GM product. Go figure.

The owner said it was working this morning but quit.
It has two buttons. One for just the back, and one for both seat and back.
When you hit the back button, all the little bars light up, and it gets warm.

When you hit the both button, all the bars light up, and seem to stay lit for a while.
But, if you put any weight on the seat, they go out instantly. If you have weight on the seat when you press the button, they come on and go right back out.

I don't know how that seat works. It acts like there is a switch in the seat that get triggered.
But, it could be a short that only occurs when something presses on it.

Its the driver side seat, so there should not be an airbag switch in there.

Any ideas?

 

[496truck]

Sounds to me like the heater element in the seat is shorting out, cracked/broken wires, etc. Remove the seat and pull the cover off to verify. But you knew that already.

 

[oakknight]

I have a 2006 2500 HD the seat should be basically the same. The seat warmers are not dependant on occupancy. they work only by the button. I agree it is most likely a short or open wire in the harness or in the heater assembly

 

[Fordum]

Yep, I figured the seat was coming off. It was just so consistant with the pressure. As soon as you pressed down, off it went. Really acted like a switch.

Any ideas/suggestions to taking it off? We were in the process of getting the camp ready in the swamp, so I have not had time to even look at it so far. I figure it will be fairly straightforward once I look underneath.

I'm hoping I can get just the seat part off and leave all the 12 way/ejection/happy ending massage crap alone.

Of course, I may not get a chance. When we were leaving the swamp, I told him I might have some answers from here when I got home, and he started talking about taking it to a dealer.

As if I, backed by the brotherhood, am not better than any old dealer.....