Re: Seat heater elements

["Eric T. Axelson" <Eric.T.Axelson-1@tc.umn.edu>]

The seat heater in my '86 5000 CSTQ was bad and is such a necessity here in
Minnesota- although not in August- that I thought of swapping the passenger
and drivers seat.

After checking everything to determine that it was the seat element and having
the inertia to rip my whole seat apart after getting a quote from the dealer
-I found the repair to be quite simple. The leather and seat foam seperate
quite easily and you just look for a big burn mark to find where the wire has
broken. I have seen alot of conversation about how exactly to repair the wire:
I just used solder and heat shrink tubing and that was about two years ago.
Warm Butt ever since.

The whole job took about two hours. The best tip I have gotten from this list
is to use tie-straps instead of the metal clips- less blood loss.

Nothing original here- just info that I have gotten from the quattro list.

Thanks,
Eric T. Axelson
86 5000 CSTQ
87 5000 CS Wagon

Richard Haroutunian wrote:

> Phil (and all):
>
> I will check the archives on this, but can anyone estimate the pain-level
> and cost involved in repairing the heated seat without assistance from the
> dealer or the shop -- vs. just paying for the element to be replaced?
>
> The heater element in my sport seats (5KCSTQ) os gone -- figures it's only
> gone on the driver's side!
>
> The more info -the better on this one,
>
> Thanks,
> Richard
> 87 5kcs TQ
> 85 4ks Q
> 82 VW Cabriolet