LE accessory intall: heated seat problems.

[MotiganXD]

In my efforts for a discount "luxury" SUV and now that my hands look like I'm celebrating my fourth anniversary of a meth addiction, I'm asking for help.

 

I've managed to (partially) successfully retrofit heated seats into my '98 SE.

 

the junkyard switches plugged right into a couple of waiting connectors behind the dash without a fight, the lights work, fuses were already in place....a dream come true.

 

although the heating elements were a pain in the brain to install (pulling them from a QX was like skinning a deer) they do work.

the driver's side plugged straight in and worked like a charm (which feels absolutely fantastic by the way).

 

I went to install the passenger side the other night but couldn't find anywhere to plug them into. The driver's side had open plugs for the power option and the heated seats staring me in the face once I removed the seat, but the passenger side had nothing to offer.

I opened up the surrounding harnesses and found no clipped wires, no taped-up connectors, I even tore the carpet our of the way and searched the whole passenger bay in a frantic, anxiety-fueled attempt to validate my efforts.

 

I double checked the switch plug, everything's wired into the main harness, the switch works just like the driver's side switch but as far as I can tell, doesn't go anywhere important.

 

Has anybody done this before and can offer some insight to where my longingly beloved plug might be hiding?

 

It would be easy enough to wire it in myself at this point but I'd like to keep it as kosher as possible.

 

on a related note, I also successfully installed the overhead temp/compass console. If I can find a sizeable mob looking for a How-to, I'll post one up.

 

Thank you, Internet off-road community!

[CDN_S4]

I've always wanted to pull an overhead console from the JY. There is a pretty detailed DIY thread on here somewhere. Based on what I saw, I was deterred in attempting it. Seemed quite tricky. But I would be curious to hear/ see how you did it.

As for the heated seats, never tried it, sorry can't help.

[MotiganXD]

I'm not sure what the "JY" is but I pulled it out of an LE pathfinder. I still might put a tutorial up if I find the time.

[CDN_S4]

JY= Junk Yard

[hawairish]

That's pretty awesome that everything is already in place. I also have the switches and have been thinking about adding in seat heat (for the woman, of course!).

 

According to the FSM (http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Pathfinder/1999_Pathfinder/el.pdf, page EL-325), the RH heated seat harness (B56) should be loomed in with two other harnesses; one for the power seat (B57), and one for the side airbag (B126). If you have either of those features, you can trace that wire bundle; the airbag harness should be yellow, or have yellow loom or tape on it. That particular set of wires comes from the passenger door jamb/floor.

 

It also looks like you should see 3 harnesses behind or near the kick panel. The lowest one (M70, page EL-318) connects to the harness (B50) which has the wiring for the three aforementioned components. If M70 is empty (and presumably you don't have those two other features), then there's your problem (back to the JY!). But if it's not empty, you can try tracing the wires from there.

 

 

Edited January 7, 2016 by hawairish

[hawairish]

Also, I'd be curious to know what all was involved removing the heater elements from the QX4 seats. Are they just sandwiched between the leather and padding, stitched in, glued, etc? There's a QX4 that has them at my local JY, and I suppose if the seat cushions were junked enough, I'd just cut into the leather. But I want to leave it as salvageable for the next guy.

[MotiganXD]

The heating elements are between the leather cover and the actual foam of the seat. For the most part, they're just glued on top of the foam.

there's thick gauge wires that run along the seams in the seat, and it's all held together with some kind of wire ring clips.

 

I would take a long, hard look at weather the leather is salvageable because it'll be a pain in the dick trying to get those out.

I went at my junk yard seats with a seat belt cutter and made it easy on myself but the leather was in a pretty sad condition.

 

The easiest way to get them out/in without tearing something is through the back side of the bottom cushion. The good news is you don't need to take the whole cover off to get the elements out.

start from the bottom of the seat where's it's all pulled and clipped down.

Follow the wires up through the back to the element.

Side note: there's two elements in each seat, one in the back and one in the bottom, the wires join together with a single connector and then into another connector where they go into the harness.

There should be wire holding the upholstery against the foam. I'd just clip these, it's not worth anyone's time trying to reinstall them in this case.

forward from the first wire, the elements are only glued to the seat and its easy to pull up.

DO NOT!! break the red coil wires stitched to the white element pad; congratulations, you just wrote off your heater!

 

The seat back is a little different, at the bottom of the back there's a zipper...thing. Get that apart, pull it up like your first girlfriend's pencil dress until you find the top of the element.

this one's only clipped in at the top. remove those clips, pull it off the coushion and GTFO laughing at the poor sap who's gunna pick some sweet leather seats with the heater missing.

 

Here's an extremely useful diagram made by yours truly.

http://i.imgur.com/ApL0Y63.jpg

 

 

[MotiganXD]

Well tie me up a diddle my fiddly!! hawairish was right.

 

the passenger side switch follows the harness up to the M70 connector behind the passenger kick panel.

http://imgur.com/sR6Tcxp

 

Past this point, there's no harness for the heated, powered or violently exploding canvas bag seat. (without the options factory installed.)

 

I did figure out though, that two of the unused terminals are directly from the pass. heater switch.

http://imgur.com/F6sno1i

connect a wire to each of these and a third to the nearby ground terminal. (the heating elements lead of with 3 terminals)

The other end go straight to the connector for the seat heater.

 

Because I'm impatient, and easily excited, I wired it myself anyways.

Once I figured out how the wiring needed to go, I ran the wires from this connector to the correct pins on the heating pad connector and BAM!

This is the best I've ever felt with the sensation of sitting in a puddle of urine.

Thanks for the help hawairish!

 

Looks like it's time to bite the bullet and shoot for mods that are a little more...useful.

 

If you do this yourself, keep in mind that several Nissan/Infiniti cars use the same heating element as in the pathys.

If you have the patience and resources, you could potentially wire in the parts stripped from a donor harness.

[hawairish]

Awesome, glad that info helped. And thanks for the other details...some funny stuff there!

 

I already have leather, but lack all the electronics. I almost wonder if it makes sense to just grab the complete seats (and that harness) and put my leather on them. Not that I couldn't run wires how you did.

 

What did you pay for the elements anyway?

[hawairish]

Duplicate post, nothing to see here folks...

Edited January 7, 2016 by hawairish

[MotiganXD]

I've lost the receipt but it was about $35 for some interior trim, a wire harness and heating elements at the local pick-n-pull.

somewhere in there, I'm guessing maybe $10? + $5 for two stock switches from the same truck.

 

I think it would be a much bigger deal trying to replace the upholstery on some JY seats. I'd also be worried about mold already growing in the JY foam.

 

The easiest route would be to pull the heaters. maybe take some dimensions and look around at other Nissans. You might find something you don't feel so bad about tearing into.

Put the heaters into your own seats.

check your rig beforehand to see what harnesses you do/don't have.

 

the connector I ended up using to the M70 line was also tied into a few other harnesses, including the main harness which I would guess runs most of the stuff behind the front seats (rear speakers, tail lights, r. wiper, fuel pump, etc.) the heating/power/side airbag harness is NOT separate from these other wire looms.

Since I didn't explore this option too much, I don't know what would be involved in retrofitting the sub-harness for the seats.

 

The neatest way I could think to do it is trace the wires from the pass. seat heater back to M70 and try to get those actual connector terminals out of the connector w/o breaking anything (or break something, it'll be crushed in a month anyways). Then they'll just clip those into the connector you already have in place; assuming yours is set up like mine. Then just tape the wires to your stock harness.

But again, check what you already have in place, if there's ANYTHING powered on the passenger seat (seat belt warning, air bag, power adjust) you might be lucky and already have the connector ready to go.

[MotiganXD]

I just re-read your comment about not having any electronics.

Best option is probably just to wire the pads in yourself.

[hawairish]

Sorry, I should have clarified: I don't have power seats or side air bags. I have power everything-else, and then some.

 

Also, I'm quite mechanically and electronically inclined, so I'm not at all worried about getting something. I'm just trying to justify the effort of pulling OE seat heaters for a clean plug-and-play appearance vs. buying universal elements and doing custom wiring to the switches. And if going through with OE stuff, may as well upgrade some more.