Hoping some of my Mini brothers and sisters might assist. I have a Honda Pilot with heated seats, similar to that of the Mini with a high/low switch. On the drivers side, on low, the bottom gets warm, nothing for the back (shouldn't be like this). On high, sometimes the seat warms, other times nothing. cant figure out if its the actual button/switch or the seat heaters themselves based on the described symptoms.

also, on the pass. side, it takes quite a long time to warm up on either high or low.

thanks

 

I would check the switches. Bad contacts may limit the amount of juice that flows which may give these symptoms. I don't know where the switch is located, but if it can get wet, the odds go up.

 

not an area that can get wet as the are in the area just under the radio, kind of like where the panel of switches are in a Mini. Compared to new heater elements the switches are reasonable ($50 for both) so it might be worth trying it

 

Switches and relays are my first thought. Also sounds like a corroded or bad connection. Possibly some sort of resistor could be failing.

 

You should be able to use a meter and test voltages getting to the pads. If they are the same side to side, I would figure something else. It seems to me too that there is a bad contact in the equation since there is partial heat..

 

really dont have enough knowledge of electrics (ie voltage meters etc) to know what i am looking for and im thinking the only way to even test that at the pad would be to skin the seat, not something i would look forward to doing... hmmmm

so, are you guys thinking go and change the switches? not even sure how to trace the wire down to find any resistors/relays etc