Hi, I replaced the seat heater last week not had it working since I bought the car was surprised it took so long to heat up but when it does it`s hot

It might take a while but its well worth it in the end FF TDV8 WESTMINSTER EXTERIOR DESIGN PACK 2012

Hi,

After finding neither of my seats either heated or cooled after buying my RR recently ( 2012 Westminster with 84k miles) I've been reading & following these threads with interest. Anyway I took her into my local LR specialist & it turns out both seat back modules had failed, I thought this would be too much of a coincidence but as I've recently bought the car & neither have worked since I collected her I suppose one may have failed first & then the other & the PO just didn'tget them fixed.

Incidentally the ducts on both of mine appear to be in perfect condition with no splits or cracks, it looks like the fault was with either the fans or the peltier ( I thinks that's how it's spelt ) unit.

I'm just glad to have warm seats for the first time, especially as the weather is supposed to be turning colder again.

Phil.

Its just a matter of accepting the fact that with these cars you need to put your hand in your pocket if you want to maintain all of the benefits, after you have crossed this bridge the smile will eventually return to your face and the cost is soon forgotten, good luck mate FF TDV8 WESTMINSTER EXTERIOR DESIGN PACK 2012

Hi,

I bought her knowing she wouldn't be cheap to run & maintain. The seats were faulty when I bought her from a dealer & she had an oil leak from the oil cooler which the specialist have also fixed, hopefully the dealer will be good to his word & foot the bill as I've only had her a month

Phil

Good luck Phil, at around £240 each for the seat back fan units plus fitting i hope for your sake the dealer comes up trumps  FF TDV8 WESTMINSTER EXTERIOR DESIGN PACK 2012

I'm trying to get mine repaired. I've bought a new one but on principle I'm determined to find somebody who can repair these units.

My non-functioning unit did have cracked ducting, I patched that up but it still won't work Must be the peltier thingy. I sent off some pics and details to cluster repairs who repair all sorts of car electronics but they came back yesterday saying they don't fix those.

I'm working on finding someone else, in the meantime don't throw out any units that aren't working. Cheers, Greg
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2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

An update on mine: fixed with a new unit in the seatback. It's warming up now as I'm writing this for the first time in a few weeks. Oooh feels so good. Missed it!

I tried and failled to get my dud unit repaired At £230 I thought it was worth ringing around at least.

I tried Cluster Repairs who took a look (and a week) and told me they can't repair them.

Then I got onto a guy who used to work for Gentherm, the manufacturer of the Peltier unit. I was trying to find out if the Peltier component could be replaced. There's no way that little thing could cost more than £30. But he said it can't be bought anywhere else that he knew as a component. Oh well.

He did say that he had a lot of experience with these failures and:

- Mostly drivers seat goes due to higher use
- the seatback unit is the one that goes, always try replacing that before even bothering with the seat base. The seat back unit controls both too
- yes the ducting cracks but this leads to rapid failure of the Peltier unit due to overheating

In mine there was only a hairline crack which I patched up with tape but sure enough I put it back in, cleared the fault and it was still dead.

If anyone knows a bit more about where to buy Peltier components shout.

These LR units look quite similar to the ones Ford use in the F150 truck.

It's really warm now. Mmmmmm.

.
. Cheers, Greg
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2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

An update on mine: just fitted a new unit in the seatback. I'm writing this from the car, it's warming up now for the first time in a few weeks. Oooh feels so good. Missed it!

I tried and failled to get my dud unit repaired. At £230 I thought it was worth ringing around at least.

I tried Cluster Repairs who repair a lot of car electronics, they took a look (and a week) and told me they can't repair them.

Then I got onto a guy who used to work for Gentherm, the manufacturer of the Peltier unit. I was trying to find out if the Peltier component could be replaced. There's no way that little thing could cost more than £30. But he said it can't be bought anywhere else that he knew as a component. Oh well.

He did say that he had a lot of experience with these failures and said:

- Mostly it's the drivers seat that goes due to higher use
- The seatback unit is the one that goes 90% of the time, always try replacing that before even bothering with the seat base.
- The seat back unit controls both the back and the base units too.
- Yes the ducting cracks but this leads to rapid failure of the Peltier unit due to overheating

In mine there was only a hairline crack in the duct which I patched up with tape but sure enough I put it back in, cleared the fault and it was still dead. I really couldn't see much or any air escaping from that crack so don't think in my case the crack caused the Peltier to die. I think both just and Peltier died/broke. independently

You'd think there would be a thermal cut out built into it to stop it self destructing if the ducting goes. Especially at that price.

If anyone knows a bit more about where to buy Peltier components shout.

FYI these LR units look quite similar to the ones Ford use in the F150 truck. If someone fancied some fettling might be worth getting one from the US as they're quite a bit cheaper than the LR ones.

It's really warm now. Mmmmmm.

UPDATE: My seat warmed up immediately after fitting. But I checked the fan later on and it was not running. IID check and the fault is back. Will check it again tomorrow. I'm hoping a RR gremlin and it'll be back to warming my butt again tomorrow. If not, dunno. Seat base unit? Cheers, Greg
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2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

Last edited by GGDR on 17th Mar 2018 11:31pm. Edited 2 times in total

As posted elsewhere by others, I would expect it is the thermistor that fails.

If any of you guys have a broken one that you don't mind parting with, I would be prepared to see what I can do with it.
Please consider that this may mean cutting the unit open to investigate.

I am a hardware / software consultant, and previously worked with peltier junctions on medical equipment.
I can source these in various shapes and sizes, but I doubt the junction is at fault. Too many toys, not enough time

2011 4.4 TDV8 AB Black

Thx John!!!!
Package on its way to you!!

Mines not behaving following yesterday's excitement.

So with a brand new seat-back unit it'll run for a bit, warm up but then it shuts off and this is what IID says:

Click image to enlarge

Greg, can you switch fans - bottom and back to see if it is your fan at fault?

,

Thanks Nino, I think the seat unit and the base unit are not interchangeable. BUT driving about today, I thought if only I could test the back and the base separately - then I remembered the push switch on the dial. I turned the base off and the back worked fine. Ran for a good hour and I was getting hot!

So seems the new back unit is good and the base is also faulty. I might even re-check the old back unit, which I thought was duff.

I might have had both fail which seems unlucky. In the meantime, I can now have a warm back while I sort the base.

. Cheers, Greg
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2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

Greg

It is odd because I thought it was just the seat back unit that has that thermistor temperature control in. As I understood it, that is the weak link in the system and if the thermistor goes O/C then that shuts down the bottom motor too. Perhaps that is a myth and the bottom fan also has a thermistor?

I guess it is good that you at least have some heat now but definitely worth trying your old one - it looks like you did a really neat job repairing that ducting.

Did you clean the filter for the bottom fan just in case that was bunged up?

I didn't see a write up anywhere about replacing the bottom fan - is that a seat-out job?

I suppose that if the bottom blower was fairly easily accessible then I would be tempted to swap the passenger side in and see what happens - they are not exactly cheap parts to buy!

Cheers, Mark

Hi Mark.

Not sure about the thermosistor situation. There is a whole troubleshooting section for these in the WM but it's a bit above my pay grade. A lot of resistance values.

As for access, the WM says undo the seat and tilt it back for access. A bit easier than removing it so I like that idea. I had a nose under there and it doesn't look that easy. Lots of bits, cables in the way.

Probably have a go next weekend.

Filters are clean, yes.

Thanks a lot,
Greg Cheers, Greg
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2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

Last edited by GGDR on 25th Mar 2018 9:28am. Edited 2 times in total