Climate Seats...sometimes need a reboot?

[JExpedition07]

G213, since I bought my 2007 EL Eddie Bauer in May I have noticed on the high heat setting both my seat backs get nice and hot. Both seat bottoms get luke warm by contrast. Tonight I watched the bottom TED blower operate and it seems to cycle high and low every few seconds. From what I read on heat mode this is normal. Could that be a crushed foam duct? Both seats work properly and stay on in both functions but I notice in my seat particularly the seat backs work better.

 

[JExpedition07]

Well I think already found out why my seat bottom gets warm but not hot lol. I felt a lot of air movement when I put my hand underneath. Looks like an air leak before the ted. Hopefully an easy remove and seal her up fix. No rush it works pretty well still.

 

[G213]

Hi Everyone-

I know you have been patiently waiting for some results, I apologize for the delay.

As noted above, the ultimate cause for my climate seat issues was lack of airflow through the foam ducting. When using the heated seat function, the lack of flow was tripping the safety shutoff sensor for the heating element.

My ultimate fix was to engineer a way to keep the foam ducting open. From pressure being applied on the backside of the seat and the lumbar support (see above), the foam ducting can become constricted over time. This leads to poor climate seat performance and can cause the issue I had at the start of this thread.

After several trial and error methods, the permanent fix has been to use plastic wire loom to reinforce the foam ducting.

(My actual foam ducting has been installed and working for some time now. I'm demonstrating this fix on the replacement ducting I ordered. Note that this replacement ducting is for the F150s...it's similar, but does NOT work in our Expy's)

I ended up cutting the foam ducting down the center and gluing in some plastic wire loom to keep the foam open.



This is the wire loom. You can get it from Amazon, Monoprice...etc. I cut it in half to make a "bridge" to keep the duct open.



This has worked perfectly. Since this fix, I've had no issues and the performance of the seats has improved drastically.

Note that you'll want to use high heat resistant glue. The heat from the heated seat is hot enough to soften typical glue stick glue. (Ask me how I found that out...)

As far as replacements....FoMoCo does not offer the backside foam ducting as a separate part on the Expy's...I've confirmed this with several part websites and my local dealer. The only way to obtain a new backside foam ducting piece for a 2015-2017 Expy is to order the entire backside foam cushion, which can run $600+. (Older generations might be different, I'm not sure) Interestingly, you can order the bottom foam ducting as a separate part. The F150s rear ducting doesn't fit, it's a totally different design.

Again, I apologize for the delay. This has been working great now for the last few weeks. If there's any questions you have, please feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer. I'd venture to say I now know a little too much about how CCS seats work.

 

[star-art]

This is fantastic info and good work. Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[Snuffy]

Good Evening, All. I‘m new to this site but really appreciate all of G213‘s info and troubleshooting. I’m having the exact same issues and symptoms (passenger side heat and cool work, driver’s side cool works, driver’s side heated seat shuts down after 40 seconds.

I swapped upper and lower motors (one at a time) with the passenger’s side and replicated the issue on the passenger side with the upper motor. Next step is ordering a replacement upper motor assembly, but I’m having some issues because it looks like the part has been superceded with a new number, the Ford parts catalog only shows a rough outline drawing of the part and not a photo, and when I do find a photo with the (apparent) new part number, it no longer has the filter running around the outside of the motor, and instead, there is an L shaped intake manifold for air to enter the motor.

I plan to check with my dealer tomorrow (but will likely order on the Internet). More to follow, but if anyone has replaced the part, can you please provide the part number replacement for AL14-7814D712A? One web site is showing it as DL1Z-14C724-A

Thanks much. Appreciate all the great info on this site and happy to be part of the community.