Well the elements in my seat weren't good so I decided to buy an aftermarket seat heater system from Rosta Industries. . It's really sorta aftermarket as they manufacture for OEM applications. So here is my How-to and my review... (conclusions at the bottom of the page)
Lets's look at the parts... In the picture below you can see it's rather complete. This is only one side (the other seat is exactly the same) In the pic you can see the heating elements. One is for the seat, the other is for the back lumbar area. Also inclded is the main control module, wire harness, inline fuse with fuse adapter (which you can cut off if you want to wire it to someplace else besides the fuse box), a 3 position switch, sub harness to connect the elements to the main harness, a bag of black zip ties and misc splicers if needed.All harness' use moduler molex connectors for a sure fit and clean installation.
So, where do we start the installation? We 1st start by removing the drivers seat and moving it someplace comfortable to work on. (In my case the garage floor). As you can see after the seat removal, plenty of things have accumulated underneath that normally can't be gotten to with a regular vaccume cleaner. This is a good time to clean up that mess.
Next we remove the seat rail system for the seat itself (If you have power seats then you will have to disconnect the harness from the motors)
Next, you will want to lift the flaps of the seat cover off and then roll back the cover
Lift the flaps off like so...
Roll the seat cusion back like so... Note the pocket in the middle between the cover and the cusion. This is where the element is inserted. Insert the element in this pocket, tape side down. Route the wire harness through the back and underneath so that it comes out of the bottom of the seat frame. Now reach in and pull the tape off either side of the element, check position and flatten down. Roll the cusion back up and reattach tabs to seat frame
Now, we need to remove the back of the seat itself from the lower seat to make it easier to access the skin to insert the second element. We do this by removing the hinge bolts on the reclining system.. Start with the ratchet side, simply remove the 2 10mm bolts, roll the seat over and remove the 15mm bolt, seperate the seat.
Here is a pic of the ratchet system.
Now, we look along the bottom of the seat, you will see a plastic locking flap. Simply unlock the flap.
Now simply lift it up and insert the heating element in the manner that was described above. Relock the flap and put hinges back together.. Note: I ran the back element harness through the same hole that the lumbar harness was going through. Route the way you think is best
You can see the finished result here. Look how neat the wiring came out . Also note the placement of the control module. I simply snugged it under the springs and used the included zip ties to keep it in place.
Now, what about the controls you ask? Break out the drill. Fortunatly the switch that controls the seats is a simple 3 position switch. (I=back, II=Back and Seat, 0=off, Also if you cut the ground loop it will make either both low, or both high instead, with 0 still being off)
You will need a 13/16th drill bit to drill a hole to mount the switch.. Mounting needs to be done within a 16 inches of the control module unless you want to splice more wire to lengthen it. I made it simple and mounted the switch next to the seat controls. There is plenty of room under there for the switch wiring.
Now, mount your rails back onto the seat and plug in the harness' for both your seat motors and the seat heaters.
Did you clean that carpet? I didn't, but my wife did!
Note here is the power harness routed under the carpet and behind the dash board. Simply 3 wires needed to hook up. Green=Ignition, red=12 volt accessory power (so that the seats turn off with the car if you forget to turn the switch off) and black as usual = ground.
And finally the seats installed back in the truck
Conclusions:
This was by far one of the easiest upgrades ever done to my truck. Total time for both seats was 2 hours.
The construction of the cabling and the elements is definatly heavy duty and meant to last. The warranty is 36 months/36,000 miles, Cost=$109.00 plus shipping. They go up to 149 degrees farenheit.
And they make my wife's tushie warm, so she's happy now that she doesn't have to sit on cold leather in the morning when she uses my truck.
They are made for both leather or cloth seats and if you get them, you will be very very satisfied...
The end.
