pr0xZen

After all this trouble, interior being in the apartment (Yes, my GF is extremely happy about that) and weather throwing a good fit today - its actually strangely comforting, taking the driver seat utterly apart, isolating the culprit and now having pulled and working on soldering the seat heater element internal wires. Any other day I'd rather stuff my behind with fiberglass insulation material than do this particular kind of job - but now... ah, finally something I figured out and can actually fix

jcman

I took a donor seat apart last year for the cover skins with no heaters for my car with heaters, what a PITA with the hog rings and it took me two hours to pull them off, needless to say I have a real good set of seat covers for one seat that are not going on my original seat....but at the rate it's going with what's out there I might just dive into it after buying a hog ring tool and rings.

pr0xZen

Off-Topic; Regarding seat covers and heater elements.

Given that the heaters are in good nick, they are basicly inserts that go into the pockets of the cover trim (for the seat atleast). They're a tight fit though, so if you do tackle that - so be patient and don't pull the segments too hard when extracting or inserting from/into the seat trim pockets - the wire in there is pretty fragile. The elements themselves are fairly sturdy once in place, the fragile part is along the side where they all come together.

In there the thin wires are soldered to more bulky wire bits, like jumpers between the segments. Solder points here are what usually break, was quite disappointed about that approach once I saw it, given the overall solid feel of the rest of the heater element. You can take a scalpel and carefully separate the bottom heavy filt material from the foam - will give decent access to the solder points. 4 wires in from the green multiplug - fat ones for power(Black/yellow and brown I think), the thinner ones for the thermistor. If you're checking for continuity and separated the seat and backrest, remember to jump the plug 2-pole black plug that would go to the backrest element - its on the same harness. The single-pole green connectors are for the bolsters. As they are a independant circuit, disconnecting them won't affect continuity of the seat cushion element.

I have sports seats, so not sure how this adapts to Recaros or comforts.
Not sure how easily bolster heaters can be swapped, will be difficult to get those side pads off, they're glued pretty solid to the foam. My advice would be to take the whole seat cushion. But, if the opportunity has passed - the bolsters and seat+backrest are two isolated circuits, so they should work independently. But only the seat element has the thermistor, so without that the bolsters will go as long and hot as you let them.

I don't know if hog ring pliers can be of any help in removing the old rings..? I didn't have a proper heavy duty biter, so I used an ordinary biter and and a needle-nose to bend the rings, then twist until thet released. Don't have hog-rings or them pliers, so I used good quality small zip ties. If going that route, pull all the zip-ties through the steel splines in the cushion and line them up, before the cover comes near it. Pretty much impossible to get them in place once you get started due to cramped space. Good idea is to start in the middle of the cushion, do one row (get all zip ties a 2-3 "clicks" in, on the same row), then do the same on the adjentant points on the sides. THEN tighten up, snip off the ends and turn the zip-tie with your finger so the "head" points down into the cushion.

This will work, and with good quality zip-ties it'll probably last as long as the car. But If you have the equipment, I would advice a strong, heavy duty biter to simply cut the old hog rings, and hog-ring pliers (+hog rings) for reassembly. Would probably save you 70% of the work and hassle.





Seat cushion (sport seat) heater element





bottom and top layer sliced, reveals solder points





Solder points, this is a weak point - a break will more likely be here along the edge, than in the larger segment itself. Likely more than one.

jcman

Great post with very good info!

I know about the hog rings, as mentioned I did take the whole seat apart for the covers and used my Klien side cutters with no problem on the hog rings but the dis-assembly was a sure pain in the keister along with the lumber mechanism and rear hard panel cover on the back section, I'm very reluctant to take my good functioning seat apart because of cosmetics cracks on the covers, I do like the zip tie idea though as I have just about every type and size used in my trade.

pr0xZen

As mentioned, the zip tie route is heavily dependant on a strategic approach, as you are very unlikely to be able to thread the zip-tie into the cushion, under the steel rod and up again, with the cover assembly already started. Besides cramped, the angle is too steep, and the zip tie end will just pierce down into the cushion. Once those elements have been taken into account, the work itself is tedious but fairly straight forwards and easy.

Difference with hog rings and pliers, is that you don't need to get both your hands in there to thread the zip tie through the upper/cover rod, zip tie head and after a row is "seated", tighten. With the rings and pliers, you don't need the same ammount of space to work with. Goes without saying, don't apply too much pulling force on the steel rods or they'll tear out of the foam. All said, If I ever do this job again, I'll get hog rings and pliers if I can get it cheap. But then again, I said that after doing this job on my last car, too.

I did have the back hard cover off (as I initially thought the break was there), but not the rest of the cover. I didn't have an angled pick, so I used an appropriately flathead screwdriver to pry out the first 2-3 starting inches of the plastic wedge, then I used a panel-clip pry bar with the plastic edge seated in the "clip slot", gently lifting the wedge out all the way.

Disassembly of the seat is a bit of a job, but with decent space to work and an extra hand when separating the seat and backrest (and when putting it together), the job isn't too complicated. Just fiddly and takes time.

I used -this- as a rough guide on the job up towards the actuall cover trim coming on/off.

pr0xZen

- Its a bit embarrasing really, having had the car for 4 months. This evening was the first time I tried to operate the central locking by key, not FOB. Nothing happens. Not even when I lock by FOB, and try to unlock by key. The key goes in (driver door, only one with a key slot), it turns both ways (and springs back to vertical if I let it go) - but nothing happens in terms of locks or central locking, not even on the driver door alone.

In addition - when hitting unlock on the fob (wether it is currently locked or already unlocked) , I always hear all the actuators jog twice, about a second apart. This might be normal, but I have no other A6 to compare with - so thought it worth mentioning.

This happens with both fobs and keys I have.

pr0xZen

Update: Changed the master switch. Pulled the motors from the regulators one at the time. They're doing this "without load", so its definitely not the gliders or regulators. Voltage drop across power terminals is minute, even without engine running. I'm starting to run out of threads to pull.

jcman

I'm pretty sure that even Columbo would suggest that the motor is going south based on these findings presented...but wait, one more thing.....did you say the motor was replaced I'm not sure.

pr0xZen

3/4 (the last one I can't really tell because of the gliders) motors going? Thats pretty sad Just wish someone could sing up with what kind of control signal I should see coming in (switched ground, switched 12v, pulse/duration etc). That should make verifying all the motors being the culprit here, a fairly simple task. Parts are expensive around here, and 2nd hand is non-returnable.