Honda Odyssey Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Garage Forums

Driver�s Seat Heater Shuts Off After Turning On/Seat Heater problem

Jump to Latest
21 - 40 of 101 Posts
#22 · (Edited)
OK got to thinking about this so hopped out into the car with a flashlight tonight. The heater in the seat back was tested first. I have the leather seats so needed to first unhook a black elastic band under the seat that was wrapped around one of the seat springs. That let the fabric rear flap swing up a bit. There is a couple of black plastic strips sewn into the flap and that engages with a plastic piece on the seat frame. Pry the pieces apart at the end and it will come apart. Reached in along both sides and found the zipper ends for the seat back. Unzipped the rear cover on both sides and now with the fabric loose it can swing over the seat toward the front.

I then found the two pin connector as in the document above. Showed about 6 ohms between the two female pins on the connector. SO far that is good. Reversed the steps and put the rear of the seat back in place. I did not remove the drivers seat as the instructions say. I just moved the seat backward and I was able to easily reach up and disconnect the 5 pin connector. The drawing is a bit confusing as it makes it appear the female connector is to the right but it was on the left for me. I checked between pins 2-5, showed about 7 ohms. Between pins 1-2 also showed similar numbers. So this indicates both lower heater elements are good as well.

I next moved to the passenger seat or specifically the control module under the seat. It's mounted on a set of clips that engage into holes in the frame of the passenger seat. I managed to wrestle the box off the clips without hurting anything. Once the module is loosened from the clips you can take a tool and remove the clips so they can be put back on the module after it's been checked. There is a large connector (4 big pins and up to 10 smaller wires) that needs to be removed. A tab on the connector needs to be pressed upward and the end slides out. The seat controller is shown below:



Looks like the seat heater is made by WET Automotive. They supply most automotive seat heaters from what I can tell. The module appears to be a CAN bus compatible controller. I don't see anything obviously wrong with it. So with the seat heating elements OK and the controller appearing to be OK I may be a bit stumped. Is there a OBDII command to go interrogate the seat heater? I have a SCAN tool but it only shows engine parameters and emissions systems. Is there a different system for the body controllers?
 
#23 ·
The switches up on the AC control board (on the dash) really do not control high currents. They only give a signal to a small micro-controller that communicates on a common body ECU bus ((B-CAN bus). I have another post open trying to get help to see if we can scan the body ECU for a code. That may help narrow down the issue. The seat heater controller (picture in above post) is the device under the passenger seat. It communicates also on the B-Can bus and gets it's signals from the ECU. The ECU receives the request to turn on the seat heaters and then tells the control module under the seat to actually switch on power. The module below has a main power relay and for me that seems to be OK. The same module is controlling both the passenger and drivers seat heaters. The passenger side works fine for me so the relay must be OK as it supplies all power to the module. There are some large switching transistors on the board and I suspect there is a current sensing circuit built in there as well. My failure seems to be a current issue since the light will come on for a short time then goes off. I believe the over-current is being sensed and the ECU is alerted. Then the ECU tells the switch module on the dash to ignore the button press and turn off the LED. At least it's a theory! So I will plug the module back in and monitor the module under the seat a bit. Hopefully the B-CAN codes can be interrogated as that would certainly make this task a lot easier.

Any more news on Honda America and the investigation of 2011 seat heater issues? If they know there is a weakness this is bull we have to deal with this years later.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#26 ·
EE4Life said:
Honda released TSB 14-009 - Driver’s Seat Heater Shuts Off After Turning On. See the 2011, 2012, and 2013 TSB sticky threads for details.

http://www.odyclub.com/forums/54-20...rums/54-2011-odyssey/138080-2011-honda-odyssey-technical-service-bulletins.html

http://www.odyclub.com/forums/54-20...rums/54-2011-odyssey/150799-2012-honda-odyssey-technical-service-bulletins.html


http://www.odyclub.com/forums/54-20...rums/54-2011-odyssey/155798-2013-honda-odyssey-technical-service-bulletins.html
Click to expand...
But Jnissen's post showed good continuity for both seat elements so his problem must lie elsewhere in the system.
 
#28 ·
jnissen, what did you end up doing?

There is a Service Bulletin for this. 14-009. It also gives excellent instructions on diagnosis (a chunk of the seat-back heating element goes open circuit) and replacement of the offending partnumber.

I went through the 15-minute rigmarole to download the pdf, using instructions from here:
http://www.odyclub.com/forums/54-20...rums/54-2011-odyssey/138080-2011-honda-odyssey-technical-service-bulletins.html

I'd post the PDF here for the common good if this dumb website would let me upload a file bigger than 100k.


My '11 OdyTouring is suffering the same thing at the 38-month-old mark.... luckily, I was foolish enough to get an extended warranty.
 
#30 ·
(i was a poster from 12 months ago, they said it was within spec...just before it fully failed!) asked dealer a couple weeks ago for the TSB fix, i have an '11 at 60K miles. dealer called today and reported Honda would do a courtesy fix for $100 co-pay deductible. otherwise they quoted $400+. i'll do the deductible and keep my butt warm.
 
#31 ·
joe.kappa said:
(i was a poster from 12 months ago, they said it was within spec...just before it fully failed!) asked dealer a couple weeks ago for the TSB fix, i have an '11 at 60K miles. dealer called today and reported Honda would do a courtesy fix for $100 co-pay deductible. otherwise they quoted $400+. i'll do the deductible and keep my butt warm.
Click to expand...
When you complained to the dealer a year ago: was the heater turning itself off?
 
#32 ·
no, about two months later the quick cut-off started. speculating that it is a short and cut wire somewhere, i wonder if the element broke in more than one place. so maybe it was partially warming and then some broken element wires worked their way into contact with the seat frame. or maybe the whole element died? anyone have the opportunity to see the actual broken element?
 
#33 ·
happy to report the seat heater issue resolved per the TSB for 100$. indeed the seatback heat clearly working all the way to the upper back. it had never been that high from late Jan of 2013 when i purchased it CPO....
 
#34 ·
we're having the same issue with our 2011, the driver's side seat warmer stays on for about 10 seconds then shuts off. Van has about 57k miles but I bought a 7 year / 100k mile warranty (Hondacare) with it, so i'm covered, I just need to get it to the dealer.
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#35 ·
Our 2012 TE's driver's seat heater started acting up approximately 2 months ago per my wife, but she forgot to mention it to me until 2 weeks ago. Sure enough no matter which setting I chose the indicator light would extinguish after 2 seconds no matter what the ambient temp. I took it in to the dealer and they diagnosed it as a short in the heater element. They had to order the heating element and I have to bring the van back in. Thankfully it's covered under the Hondacare extended warranty.
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#36 ·
This problem just creeped up in my 2011 EX-L ody. Totally sucks that I have to deal with this. I have an 07 CR-V and that drivers seat heater is still going strong! Oh well. Guess Ill call the dealership and see what they want to charge me for this since my van is out of warranty. :rollingeyes:
 
#38 ·
Hello, new to the site. I've a owned a 02 TL-s, which is basically a honda. That car also had heating issues. The seat warmer is just high resistance wire that gets hot when current is run through them. On the TL's, the wires that connect the back and bottom sections wear away with use. The fix is to hard wire the broken section (usually with copper metal foil, not solder). The trick on that car was unplugging the connectors attach to the seat and removing the outer leather cover. Once the cover is removed, the heater elements and broken sections are easily seen and fix. Hope this helps.
 
#39 ·
Question for everyone. My 2011 is now failing on the driver side for the seat heater. 2011 touring. Canadian model. Is the back of the seat supposed to be heated also? Mine only ever warned the butt..... Gotta go to the dealer :(
 
#40 ·
I have not followed up with this issue. It's been so warm here the seat heater was the last of my problems! Well it's starting to get cooler soon and I need to get this resolved. I will try to get back out there and see if I can follow up.
 
21 - 40 of 101 Posts
About this Discussion
100 Replies
49 Participants
Last post:
mak474
Honda Odyssey Forum
posts
1.1M
members
433K
Since
2000
Odyclub community is the #1 forum to discuss all things Honda Odyssey: minivans, safety, service maintenance, mods, and more.
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
2005 - 2010 Odyssey 2011 - 2017 Odyssey 1999 - 2004 Odyssey 2018+ Odyssey Problems and Concerns