Heated Seats - How to fit heat pads

Removing the seats.

HERE

Dismantling the seats.

With the seat out we need to separate the seat squab from the seat back.

With the seat on its side use a couple of fine screwdrivers to remove the cover cap from the adjustor knob.

Use the screwdriver(s) to ease the knob off the spindle.



The plastic cover is held in place by two invisible fixings, But I found the only practical way was to persuade it off with a steady pull.



Turn it over to reveal the fixings, the centre plunger can be pushed back through with the trusty screwdriver, ready for the panel to be refitted.



Remove the two torx50 bolts holding the back to the squab and then turn the seat over.
Now remove the seat belt assembly(torx50 again) and put it aside. The bolt and spacer will probably stay with the assembly, but keep them together and note the order of fitment.

This enables you to remove the two final two bolts securing the back to the squab.

You can now carefully separate the two parts of the seat.

Now you have the two parts separate, we can begin to fit the heating pads.

The Seat Back.

This is, by far, the easiest part to do, so it's the best way to start.
Looking at the bottom you will see the seam that you will need to open. On the leather seats, there is plastic channelling stitched to each side of the cover and they are hooked into one another.

You can see it here highlighted by the screwdriver.


By gentle use of the screwdriver you can begin to tease them apart. Pressing the two sections together with one hand helps in this.



Now you can pull the front leather away from the foam to slide the heat pad in.

The heat pads are handed to ensure that the cables emerge on the tunnel side of the seat. They also have an adhesive strip top and bottom, and before inserting each pad it is a good idea to turn over a corner of each protective film.
Slide this pad in until the top butts up to the cross seam, and you'll see that the pad is a good fit.


When you are happy that the pad is flat with no creases, reach in and remove the top protective film and press the leather to the foam to secure the pad. Now do the same with the bottom protective film.

Now you need to re-engage the plastic channelling ensuring the cable emerges neatly by the seat 'hinge'.

That's the back completed. Repeat this for the other back.

The Seat Squab.

The squab is a bit more complicated, but the principle is the same.
On this, the plastic channelling is hooked over the metal frame. Turn the squab over and the front fixing looks like this.

You can remove the two metal clips with a screwdriver.

Kneeling on the base, compresses the foam and allows you to begin easing the plastic channeling off the frame.

Once you have the front unclipped, there is length of plastic channel on each side that unclips quite easily.





Now we need to release the back of the the cover.

Now, turn the squab around so that you can begin to roll the front of the seat cover up off the foam.

You will encounter your first barrier now i.e. the cover is attached to the foam with hog rings.(so called because they are swines to get off and on). The first two are in the channels between the seat and the bolsters.

Using long nosed pliers, rotate the metal ring until you can see the join. Twist the pliers to open up the ring and remove it. Remove the ring on the other side.
Continuing to roll the cover back, you will see a cross bar(yellow) held with three hog rings.

Remove these 3 hog rings in the same way.

Further back, you will encounter 2 more rings in the bolster channels and another yellow cross bar(3 rings). Remove these 5 rings.

You should now have something like this.

Feed the heat pad in between the cover and the foam
Make sure the cable is on the tunnel side, and ensure the pad is not creased and correctly positioned at the rear

and the front

-before removing the protective film from the rear adhesive, and then smooth the cover onto the pad.

Refix the rear of the cover.

Turn the squab back around to fix the front. Use small cable ties to replace the hog rings (much easier to fit).

Fit each one loosely until you have all 3 in place and then tighten them, clip off the excess, then push the block of the cable tie round so they won't stick into the cover. Now replace the two in the bolster channels in the same manner.

Repeat this procedure with the next crossbar and final two bolster attachments. Clipping off the excess and pushing the block round out of sight.

With the cover properly attached, remove the protective film from the last adhesive patch and pull the cover over the end of the foam, pushing down to stick the adhesive to the seat, ensuring that the cable comes out via the bolster channel.

Refit the two plastic side channels, and then the front channel. Again kneeling on the back of the seat makes this easier. Replace the metal clips either side of the front channel.

This is the squab completed. Repeat this for the other seat.

Rebuilding the seats .

This is really just the classical reverse the actions of dismantling.
With the addition of feeding the back cable to join the squab cable. I fed the cable under the spring base to keep it neat and out of the way.

Very clear.

I like the trick with the cable ties, I normally end up leaving half the hog rings out.

I fitted one of those pads to the drivers seat on my ZS but I had to do it in situe as I couldn't get the seat out due to rusted nuts. I started at christmas 2008, wired it in August 2009 but it was flattening the battery over night (once on the relay wasn't unlatching) so didn't actually get it working until Sunday, it is a brilliant addition to the car.

The electrics.

With the seats still out, it makes fitting the wiring a lot easier.

Deciding to fit the switches to the centre console, I removed the gear knob and the leather gaiter. I fed the switches and cabling up through the hole.

You need to feed the seat feed cables from here to the slot in the carpet where the seat belt assembly cable protrudes. Remove the light kick panel and begin feeding the cable through.



Ease out this carpet fixing to help, and feed a piece of thick wire from the slot across the floor under the carpet and out by the kick panel. Connect the cable plug to your wire and carefully pull it across the floor and out of the slot.

I pulled the cable through to give a similar length as the seat belt cable. Repeat this proceedure with the other seat loom. Ensure that the looms will not be crimped by the refiited seats. Tie up the excess cable and tuck behind the console.

Now I began to drill two 20mm holes in the centre console. You may encounter a piece of the console frame but it is easily drilled through. WHEREVER you decide to fit the switches ensure you will not damage anything behind/below the drill site.



Detach the switch from the wiring and feed the wires through the hole.The wires are tagged.

Refit the wires to the switch and push the switch into place.

Ensure that your cables are tucked neatly away from any possibility of damage.

Now feed the other end of the looms behind the console and across to the fuse box.

I used one of the fuse box bolts to fit the relay and the earth wire.

The two fused live feeds(red 30a and orange 15a) I connected to the two spare live terminals with spade connectors. This means the seats will only heat up with the ignition on.

Refitting the seats.

The seats should now be put back into position. Ensure that the heater loom and the seat belt cable are not crimped by the seat frame. Connect the heater plugs into the loom and reconnect the seat belt assembly cable, attaching it to the fitted clips under the seat front, seen in this picture.


Now you can refit the 4 seat bolts. Loosly fit the 2 rear bolts, then slide the seat back to fit the two front bolts. Tighten up the front bolts, before sliding the seat forward again to tighten up the rear bolts.

The moment of truth.

Refit the carpet fixings, the kick panels, the gear lever gaiter, the gear knob, and the fuse box cover.

Reconnect the battery and turn the ignition on. Make sure that the SRS light goes off, meaning that the seat belt assemblies are working properly.

Switch on your heated seat, and await events!

All being well your buttocks and back should start to be warmed.:lol: Good luck!

Nice how to.:thumbsup:

I must get round to doing this on the TF - did you use the MG pads?

David, does the instructions tell you to take the supply from the fuseboard? I only ask as I'm not sure what those outputs are rated at and what the seats draw. My instructions show the supply taken straight from the battery.

CJJ;16679 wrote: David, does the instructions tell you to take the supply from the fuseboard? I only ask as I'm not sure what those outputs are rated at and what the seats draw. My instructions show the supply taken straight from the battery.

The kit is not MGR specific, so it doesn't mention those takeoffs. The circuit diagram does not specify direct battery connection, though. Wouldn't direct battery connection mean they could be left on, draining the battery overnight?:shrug:
Anyway, the pads draw max 1.87 amps each seat on postion 1 and max 3.75 amps each on position 2 so I hope those points would be man enough.:shrug:

Although you're the electrickery eckspert!:lol:

MGFmad;16678 wrote: Nice how to:thumbsup:

I must get round to doing this on the TF - did you use the MG pads?

The kit I used is this one.