How do you replace seat heater 2000 Mazda millenia?

Answer 1

oooh, fun. remove the seat. this is more fun than it sounds like. remove the headrest, then you gotta remove the rear panel. what you do is to pull the sides out, they are held on by 2 clips on each side. then, with the sides held out, you push up on the panel, and it comes out. if this is the first time, i guarantee you that you will break the brackets on the panel, and a new on is like 130 bucks. once you remove one, you then will know where the clips/brackets are, and the next time will be easy, and it will come off intact. once you have the panel off, and have stopped cussing, look in the lower left corner of the upper seatback. this is where the upper and lower heater element connectors are. disconnect, and check for continuity. the upper seatback heater has the sensor in it. generally, that one is ok. it is the lower one that goes out the most. the seat has to come out, i always separate the upper back from the lower. there are 2 bolts on each side, remove them, and the seat back comes off. you can do this after you take the seat out of the car, but if you do it now, it is much easier to maneuver. the lower seat bolts to the floorpan with 4 bolts, then there is a wire harness under the seat. it is hard to get at the first time, disconnect it, and the seat comes out. you have to remove the leather cover to get at the heater element. the cover is connected to the pad by hog rings, and they are not fun to remove. i ended up cutting them off, and buying new ones. i got them from BMW, where i used to work. the BMW rings are a lot nicer and easier to reinstall. also, you will break the seat bezel when you remove the switch. don't bother trying to remove the bezel intact, it cant be done. just break that sucker and buy a new one, and be done with it. once you have the cover off, the element is held to the pad like a huge piece of tape. pull it off, and apply the new one. the new elements are way better than the original ones. our originals lasted about 2 years, the new ones have about 7 years on them, and they still work. since we have 2 99's, i got a couple of special tools because i have done 3 seats so far. one is a set of hi torque cutters, and then i have a set of hog ring pliers to install the rings. they have shortened the job significantly.