I recently purchased a 04 TL to replace my honda as my beater car.

The passenger seat warmer was dead when I bought it. I have seen some information online with 03 and older seat warmers that a connection breaks in the seat. Is this the same problem on 04 TL's as well?

 

Does the light come on? If not, it may just be the connection. I've heard that our model had the connection issue fixed, but the blanket is more apt to go out.

 

Yes the light comes on seat just doesn't get warm. I've seen a you tube video of someone fixing an 03 driver heated seat and it was a broken connection going to the actual heater. Before I tear it apart was just looking to see if this is a common problem and if its a similiar issue as the 03 and lower.

 

Good luck. I hope it's an easy fix

 

So is this website fairly dead for Acura TL stuff?

Anyway the seats are fairly easy to take apart. So the heater is made up of two sides. Left and right. I measure the resistance for the heater and got an open circuit on one side and 13k on the other side. I measured the driver working side and got 9 ohms on both sides. So I am fairly confident its the heater.
Found part here for $227 part# 81134-SEP-A01

The driver side seat bottom is part# 81537-SEP-A01 and only $100. Anyone know if there is anything technically different between the two parts?

 

yeah, it's pretty dead...about like the motorcycle section. honda-tech.com should be renamed to honda-civics.com

if it was easy to tear into the passenger seat without messing anything up, i'd do the driver seat and switch them around just to see. $127 difference is ridiculous.

or you could just let the honey in the passenger seat freeze.

 

The heaters are glued to the foam so I think removing them has the potential to damage an otherwise working seat heater. So I don't intend to remove the working driver side. I agree a $127 price difference is rediculous

 

Oregon? Do you go to that NSX meet in Portland every year? I happened to stay at the same hotel as them 2 years ago. My wife called me when I was connecting flights and told me that there were some acuras there at the hotel for a meet. "They may be integras or something." I thought...great, a bunch of ricers.

 

They dont hold it in Oregon every year. Its usually held in a different state every year. It's called nsxpo and people from Canada to New York usually drive out to the different events. Yes I attended the one in Oregon when it was here.

 

It was pretty funny when she went to pick me up from the airport. We come driving in, and I see the black one up under the entrance overhang. "Did you mean Acura NSX???" I was slobbering over those cars. All the guys that I talked to were very nice.

 

Most are........the only thing that sucked is nobody though to share the pictures that were taken from the event. I have a few on my phone but not the highest resolution.

 

If I can find the pictures we have from oregon, I'll send them to you. It's only pictures of you guys in the parking lot, though. I got offered a ride for the next day, but we had already planned on climbing Mt. Hood

 

Cool pm me if you find them and I'll send you my email


Back on topic. Recieved the new seat warmer yesterday and installed it. Seat heats up and works great again.

I inspected the old seat warmer fairly good and I didn't see any breaks in the wire. There is two square electronic parts on the front of the seat integrated into the seat warmer. I don't know what they are or what they do but my guess is they failed. If you look at the picture you can make out the outline of the part. The hardest part of replacing these was getting the hog rings back on.
I would post more pics but there really is nothing to this job its fairly easy.

Old Seat warmer


New seat warmer

 

Almost exactly the same. I can't believe the passenger replacement is so much.

 

I didn't order the driver side. I was to chicken. I suspect they are essentialy the same with an extra ground wire for the back heater.

 

Awesome pictures nsxxtreme.

I've invested in hog ring pliers which help any upholstery jobs i need to do at work. Best 8 dollars for those types of jobs.

1GPlusSHL: A break in the heater element is a common issue. I've done older RL's to 06 TSX's and it's all the same rap.

Power to the switch, power to the relay, relay sending power, heated seat still inop. You can actually see where the element burns out when you pull the leather off the cushion.

Good luck!

 

Hog ring pliers probably would have been a big help but I didnt have any an I wanted it done that day. Is there any normal kind of store you can buy those at?

In my seat I inspected it and didn't find any break in the wire.