Gen II heated/cooled seat fan fixed for free!

joegr

joegr

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My passenger seat heating and cooling on my 06 hasn't been working for a while. It was clear that this was because the seat fan wasn't working, even though you could spin it by hand. I finally got around to looking at it today. I took the fan assembly out to see if some of the ebay fans for other Lincolns might fit it. It's looks like there's no way for that to work.
Anyway, I took it apart to see if it was fixable. There was an SMT fuse on the circuit board of the brushless motor. I checked and it was open (blown). I soldered a jumper in it's place, and sure enough it works now.

On the back of the fan, assembly, there is a label to peel off. After that you can get to the clip that holds the fan shaft on.

173.jpg


The fuse is labeled F1 in the picture below (bottom right of the round PCB).


170.jpg

173.jpg


170.jpg
 
Nice. Since the heated/cooled seats are a problem for these cars that has multiple sources, a single thread that details all the symptoms and possible fixes would be a helpful thing for a mod to put together. Like on mine, the filter backing stretched enough to hit the fan blades, stopping them from spinning and causing an intermittent failure. Troubleshooting revealed shiny spots on the filter where the blades were hitting, new filters solved the problem.
 
Joe
What caused the fuse to blow? I'm surprised you would do that fix without knowing what caused it.
 
Wicked Ace said:
Joe
What caused the fuse to blow? I'm surprised you would do that fix without knowing what caused it.
Click to expand...

I've seen random problems with SMT fuses. I spent a lot of time and did a lot of instrumentation on one with printer controllers. The end result was that some small percentage of the fuses were either defective from the supplier, or were damaged by the SMT process. I assume (but have no proof) that this is the same thing.
Anyway, I do keep a fire extinguisher in the car (in each or our cars actually).
 
Joe, nice write-up. Any ideas for how to fix the seat for where the heat doesn't work but the fan does indeed come on, besides replacing the blower? I checked the ducts they are not crushed (the cooled seat works but not heat).
 
jjcool00 said:
Joe, nice write-up. Any ideas for how to fix the seat for where the heat doesn't work but the fan does indeed come on, besides replacing the blower? I checked the ducts they are not crushed (the cooled seat works but not heat).
Click to expand...

I'd take the heat/cool assembly apart and look at the thermal modules. The heatsinks on the modules may be dirty.

Wait a minute. What do you mean by "I checked the ducts they are not crushed?" To actually do that, you would have to take the seat completely apart and take the leather cover off. Did you really do that, or are you just talking about the ducts that you can see under and behind the seat? Those aren't the ducts that get crushed. The ducts that get crushed are in the foam seat bottom cushion.
 
joegr said:
I'd take the heat/cool assembly apart and look at the thermal modules. The heatsinks on the modules may be dirty.

Wait a minute. What do you mean by "I checked the ducts they are not crushed?" To actually do that, you would have to take the seat completely apart and take the leather cover off. Did you really do that, or are you just talking about the ducts that you can see under and behind the seat? Those aren't the ducts that get crushed. The ducts that get crushed are in the foam seat bottom cushion.
Click to expand...

Well I did check the ducts behind but not completely under - but is it safe to assume they are not crushed if the cooling element works? It works very well btw. When I put the heated seat on it gets cold, not hot... when I put the cooling seat on it gets cold as well.

Do I have to take the seat apart or off to remove the thermal module?
 
jjcool00 said:
Well I did check the ducts behind but not completely under - but is it safe to assume they are not crushed if the cooling element works? It works very well btw. When I put the heated seat on it gets cold, not hot... when I put the cooling seat on it gets cold as well.

Do I have to take the seat apart or off to remove the thermal module?
Click to expand...

You don't have to take the seat apart to get to the modules. You just have to remove the two nuts and two bolts holding the seat down, then tip the seat over.

The ducts are partly crushed in the passenger seat cushion of my 04. It works fine when cooling, except for large passengers. It only works okay on heating if no one is in the seat. I think it's still possible that you may have crushed ducts.

Here's a post with the details of getting to the duct in question. The second and fourth pictures of post #14 show the duct that gets crushed. Note that the one shown is the new design and is fine.
http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/forum/showthread.php?54278-Changing-your-seats-leather-How-To
 
Thanks for the link, I checked it out and it seems pretty straightforward from that and your description. Next nice weekend I'll take a look under - every now and then (it hasn't happened in a couple of weeks) the heat WILL work and it will get very hot, but it may be 1 out of 20 times.
 
jjcool00 said:
Thanks for the link, I checked it out and it seems pretty straightforward from that and your description. Next nice weekend I'll take a look under - every now and then (it hasn't happened in a couple of weeks) the heat WILL work and it will get very hot, but it may be 1 out of 20 times.
Click to expand...

Get some hog rings and hog ring pliers...
I also have a TSB that I could e-mail you that gives the details on how to cut out the old design duct and replace it with the new one.
 
Telco said:
Nice. Since the heated/cooled seats are a problem for these cars ..........
Click to expand...

Really? Other than filter replacements, the seats in the two '06's in my garage have worked flawlessly for the last 66K miles in one and 90K in the other.

Now, the 1st gen heating element problem was certainly common!!
 
LS4me said:
Really? Other than filter replacements, the seats in the two '06's in my garage have worked flawlessly for the last 66K miles in one and 90K in the other.

Now, the 1st gen heating element problem was certainly common!!
Click to expand...

Really? Other than Airbag wire breaks, the seats in the two '02's in my garage have worked flawlessly for the last 140K miles in one and 155K in the other.

Now, the 2nd gen vent tube problem was certainly common!!

:D
 
LOL i cant remember... something about the duct work collapsing or falling off ...IIRC....
 
G-RELL said:
LOL i cant remember... something about the duct work collapsing or falling off ...IIRC....
Click to expand...

Oh, you mean the ducts in the seat bottom cushion that were getting crushed? I wouldn't call those vent tubes (I was thinking battery vent tube). That was/is a problem for 03 and 04. I don't know about 05. I do know that 06 has a different design that does not seem to be subject to it.
 
Andrizzle said:
I, too, was surprised this was joe. Seems unlike him... But it is good information, nonetheless!
Click to expand...

Well, I do have a difference in the level of concern for a one or two amp fuse to a brushless motor on a low power circuit versus a 15A or greater fuse. In the worst case, I would be out a seat fan that wasn't working before anyway. (The trace on the brushless motor PCB will still melt before the wiring catches fire.)
 
Hello,
Thanks for all the great help in the past with all your great tips.I saved money.

Concerning the heated seat fan problem,can I simply loosen the floor seat bolts and tilt the seat back without any worry about the airbag system.I need to replace or fix my fan that has stopped working also?

Thanks in advance.

ls2006 Black and Tanned.



ls2006
 
LS2006 said:
...Concerning the heated seat fan problem,can I simply loosen the floor seat bolts and tilt the seat back without any worry about the airbag system...
Click to expand...

Yes, that's what I did.
If you want to be paranoid, then disconnect the battery about an hour before you start.
 
Not the fan assembly, but the motors can probably be swapped.
 
joegr said:
Not the fan assembly, but the motors can probably be swapped.
Click to expand...
When you say fan assembly, are you referring to the blower assembly (fan and tube)? From what I've seen, the fan itself is the same on both driver and passenger blower assemblies. Both have the same 2C54-18D511-AA part number on them, even though nothing comes up when you search for it on any parts website.
 
I figure that this has been asked and answered multiple times, but I can't seem to find it:

Where are the filters located for the seat blowers? I've looked under the seats the best I can (haven't removed them) and felt around but still can figure it out. I know that they are about 3" in diameter. A picture of location would also be helpful.

Thanks for any help with this in advance.
 
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