Need help installing heated seats please!

[judy_s]

For Christmas, my son purchased like-new heated leather seats for my 2001 PT Cruiser. He had no trouble installing the seats, but has not been able to hook up the heater function of the seats. It looked like it was just a matter of plugging them in to the connection, but the heater would not activate. My son has an electrical background, so thought he could figure this out with the fuses, but has had no luck so far. We purchased a Chilton's manual, but it did not show the schematics for the heated seats. We live in Michigan, so I am very anxious to be able to use the seats. Has anyone had any experience with this, or could you please point us in the right direction? Thanks so much!!! :thanks2:

[AA PT]

The switch on the seats likely activates (switches on) a relay rather switching the power for the heat element itself. If you or your son haven't messed with high amperage 12 volt accessories I would recommend finding a qualified auto electric mechanic to wire it up for you.

Since the PT you have never came with heated seats it won't be a matter of just plugging it in to the fuse block because the components (relay) to run it or them won't be there, either. The seats will have high current draw that will fry your car's wiring harness if done improperly. Then your insurance company will be able to help you out by contributing your loss (less your deductable) toward a new PT with heated seats.

If you do have experience in wiring and electrical systems you can start by connecting switched 12 volts (activated by the ignition key) to the seat switch (fused). From there, have it trigger a relay with a good strong 12 volt source (fused) to provide power to the element.

[soonercruiser]

I so that all you guy Cruiser installing heated seats know.....
That could considerably reduce you sperm count!
(just a medical factoid)

[ahaycoman]

I wanted to do exactly the same thing to my wife's '01. In the first place the local Chrysler dealer service manager told me that it could not be done since the ecm(?) would not have the proper circuitry(or something) and it was a high risk to add something that it wasn't designed for. But since I already had purchased the heated seats I decided to do it anyway...what they were telling me did not make good common sense since 12v can't pull more than what you fuse it with. I just went from the fused side of the main panel to a seperate little auxiliary panel I bought and mounted it beneath the steering column under that little plastic panel. I fused each circuit going out to the seats seperately and have had no trouble whatsoever. I think there is also a lumbar thing there too as well as the air bags (be careful messing with those). It's been so long since I did it I can't remember the specifics, but I just tried to use lower value fuses as I went out from the main oem panel. The dealer didn't have much to say when I took it back to them and proved them wrong. Makes me wonder if there are any old-school mechanics left out there that can actually figure something out without plugging in a scanner.