electric seats

[stormin7315]

Hi
I HAVE A 54 REG LEON DIesel and just a few days ago both electric seats stopped working.
It is like a fuse has blown,but i cannot see problem with the fuses that i have found,ie on the
end of the dash when drivers door is open.The symbol on the plastic fuse cover looks like it shows a picture of a heated seat,having said that the said fuse looks ok.I have looked all round the car for other fuses and located the 3 on top of the battery and they are ok.i have read that there should be fuses beneath the steering column but i cannot see any.Should there be a bank of relays somewhere on the car or any other places where fuses could be hiding.I did find 2 relays under the bonnet just forward of the bulk head but have no idea what they are for.Excuse the long story but hope someone can help with this please?

 

[Muttley]

There is a relay panel behind the dash by the steering column. It also has three fuses on it. If your electric seats are original fit, the fuse for the seat adjustment motors is the lefthand one of the three fuses. Should be 30 Amps.

 

[stormin7315]

Hi again
I managed to find the relays,there are 2 rows.I took the far left relay from the bottom
row and swopped it with another with same amps.Still no power to seats.I am not sure
if i have swopped the right relay over or not?I don't suppose it is possible to test a relay
when not plugged in to the car?I notice that some relays do not seem to show what amps they are,that is why i did not want to try the other relays in case the amperage was not high enough.

 

[Muttley]

You are looking for a fuse, not a relay. As I said in my post:

"If your electric seats are original fit, the fuse for the seat adjustment motors is the lefthand one of the three fuses. Should be 30 Amps"

This is fuse 45. The fuses in the door opening go up to 44 (fuse 44 is for the electric seat heating)

There are three rows of relay positions. The top row is almost always empty. The relays all have specific functions and are not all simply make or break relays, so there is a possibility that your replacement would not work. The relay characteristics are summarised by the number on the top. The one you pulled was probably labelled 53 and is the horn relay.

Your relay plate will look something like this

This image is from a car without electric seats so the fuse position isn't there, but you should find it clipped in under the lefthand end of the big relay on the right numbered 377, which is the wash/wipe relay.


Relay positions are numbered from the top left on the large upper, supplementary, panel: top row 1-6, bottom row 7-13.

Position 8 - Terminal 30 voltage supply relay (109)

The panel below that is the main relay panel with positions 1-4 left to right, and the big wash/wipe relay on the far right in positions V and VI (No idea why they are labelled with roman numerals)

1 - Dual tone horn relay (53)
2 - X contact relief relay (100)
4 - Glow plug relay (103)
V/VI - wash/wipe system: without rain sensor, without headlight washer system (377)

The number on the relay can is a code which identifies what the relays functionality is, so you may find another 53 relay in position 10 as a fuel pump relay on PD cars, or in position 13 as a radiator fan relay.



If your electric seats were fitted as an upgrade by a previous owner, it's possible that they haven't used the official relay position and have simply taken a power feed from somewhere close to the seat. There's a guide here which shows how one person has fitted electric seats into a Leon.

 

[stormin7315]

Hiu
I found the fuses that you were referring to.It has just 2 fuses rather than 3 but i checked
the 2 of them and they appear to be ok.Could it be down to a relay after all.Are they special fuses as they are chunkier than normal fuse blades?I notice that when i turn on the ignition
with my finger on each relay in turn that i can feel a click as the key is switched on.Would that suggest that the relays are okay or could there still be a faulty one?

 

[Muttley]

There is no relay in the electric seat circuits, neither for movement nor for heating.

 

[stormin7315]

Hi
Thanks very much for your info.Think its just a case of looking at the fuses again to see
what the problem is.What i should have done yesterday was changed the 2 fuses over as they were both 30amp,but for some unknown reason i did'nt do that.Can you tell me is this type of fuse,ie with the metal cover different from the blade type in that it is a thermal fuse.
Also am i right in thinking that this fuse is a vw part?
Thanks again

 

[stormin7315]

hI
Update.Changed fuse for the other 30amp fuse,seats now working fine
Thanks again for your help.

 

[Muttley]

The other fuse is for the window system, so you should find that none of the windows work now. If they do, then the fuse or fuse holder just needed cleaning - some contact cleaner and removing and inserting the fuses a few times will help.

Is the old fuse blown? You should find out why.

 

[stormin7315]

Hi
When i took the fuse out it was slightly damp.I don't know if you have ever opened up this type of fuse but i decided that as it was blown i would take a look inside of it by removing the metal cover.The end that the metal strip inside seems to pivot on had broken appart and so the points on the other end would not open and close.Does that make sense to you.I don't suppose that this type of fuse can be bought in any car accesory shop can it?I did wonder what the other fuse was for.

 

[Muttley]

There is nothing in the electrical diagrams to indicate that this is anything other than a normal fuse. It's not one I've ever had to work on, so I'm not familiar with how they are constructed.

After a session with Google I can report that these fuses are "thermal fuses" or "regenerative fuses", and are in fact a kind of circuit breaker that is supposed to automatically reset.

Some of the descriptions I've found hint at a manual reset capability. Worth trying, if there is an obvious "press here" button or device on the thing.

Information is disappointingly difficult to come by. One eBay source with a description is here

http://www.ebay.com/itm/REPLACE-FUSE-12-V-CAR-AUTO-RESET-CIRCUIT-BREAKER-30-AMP-/110822369453


They can be replaced by a conventional 30A blade fuse.

It shouldn't be wet. See if you can find where water might be coming from - maybe a poor screen seal or a leaking wiring grommet.