Climate Seats...sometimes need a reboot?

[G213]

Here’s one for you...

Under normal operation, whenever I turn on any climate seat function (heat or ac, left or right) I hear a click noise in the right front passenger floor board area. I’m assuming it’s a relay.

Every so often (maybe once a week?) I’ll go to turn on either heat or cooled seat on the drivers side and get nothing. Lights up on the button like it’s on, but no “click” noise and no heating or cooling. When this happens, the passenger side works fine.

If I power cycle the truck (even quickly at a stop light), it will start working again as expected.

I was reading an older thread that said something about pulling both fuses for the seats to reset the module that controls them? Apparently one fuse is always hot. Could try that. Also thinking it may be a relay since under normal operation it clicks whenever I turn it on or off. Checked out the fuse box diagram, couldn’t find any clearly marked relay for the seats.

Any ideas?

 

[G213]

So an update....this morning I was driving into the office and it looks like the issue is around the seat heater.

I started the truck and turned on the driver's side heated seat. After about 2-3 minutes, it stopped pushing out heat. The button lights remained on, but the fan wasn't spinning. So I tried turning on the A/C seat, same story. The lights turn on but no fan. Passenger side worked without issue.

So I power cycled the truck and turned on the heated seat. It worked again for about 30 seconds then shut off. I powered cycled again and tried just the A/C seat; that stayed on for the rest of the trip.

So in a nutshell, the heated seat shuts off after a couple minutes and won't turn back on without cycling the engine. A/C seat works without issue.

I'm thinking maybe there's a sensor that keeps the seat for overheating that is confused?

 

[G213]

Update 2: Pulled the battery at work yesterday all day (9 hours). Reconnected and drove home. Everything worked as expected.

Came out this morning, heated seat shut off within 2 minutes of being turned on. Lights were still illuminated, but it "clicked" off and wouldn't turn back on.

So with that, I dropped it off at the Ford dealership this morning. Was able to demonstrate the issue to the service advisor...we'll see.

 

[JExpedition07]

Normally the plug for the module under the passenger seat fries and it only will turn on few seconds and shut off. I’ve seen it on YouTube, cheap part but seat needs to be removed. Knock on wood the climate control seats in my 2007 have been flawless.

 

[G213]

Normally the plug for the module under the passenger seat fries and it only will turn on few seconds and shut off. I’ve seen it on YouTube, cheap part but seat needs to be removed. Knock on wood the climate control seats in my 2007 have been flawless.

I saw that as well, checked that this morning before dropping it off. No evidence of shorts or anything of the sort.

I have a suspicion it’s a sensor or something that prevents overheating, but who knows. Dealership is keeping it overnight...hopefully will have an idea tomorrow.

 

[Muddy Bean]

Subscribed. My seat lights turn on as well but no Heaty and no cooly so I’m curious as to what the detailed fix is. Please do ask the dealer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[G213]

So dealership had it overnight and so far, issue hasn’t returned. If this ends up being the fix, I’m totally happy.

Quoting the RO...

“Customer states that the driver side front seat heater and cooler will all of the sudden stop working. The buttons illuminate however the click noise when it is activated does not sound, the passenger side works without issue, restart resolves issue.”

“Verified customer concern, performed diagnosis. Removed seat and found lower motor to not be seated probably and loose. Adjusted and secured motor. Re-test and found ok.”

So from what the advisor explained, the motor driving the fan on the bottom of the seat wasn’t seated properly. Apparently, this was tripping a safety relay in the control module that regulates the fan speed.

I thought these TED devices were non-serviceable units and had the be replaced entirely if there’s an issue...so that’s cool to know.

I’ll keep you updated if something changes.

 

[chuck s]

Not had this issue but monitoring yours.

I use the passenger seat heater frequently to keep "take out" food warm on the way home. Put a jacket over the food with the heater all the way up. Works with the AC on.

-- Chuck

 

[GeezingInVA]

My driver's seat has had a similar randomly-working cooling (only) issue since new. Passenger seat cooling/heating works every time. Dashboard display for driver's seat shows correctly every time, but sometimes it cools and sometimes it doesn't. Never listened for a solenoid click, but will pay closer attention. Since my not-working driver's seat cooling issue is random, I've never taken it to the dealer for diagnosis. (It'd be my luck my Expy would be at the dealer on a day when the seat was cooling just fine, thank you. )

...Karl

 

[G213]

Of course not....

Easy fixes are just not how my life works.

Still experiencing the same issue, but it is absolutely caused by the seat heater. Cooled seat functionality works without issue. Only the heat shuts off after about a minute, which then disables both heating and cooling.

So again, my thinking is some safety sensor or something in the control module under the passenger seat is thinking the seat is too hot and shutting down the TED.

Back the dealership....more to come.