The reality is....it might be even easier(Depending on how you look at it).
It might just be a loose contact at one of the connectors......or it could be a cut wire.

 

Loose connector... I'll check that out first. Could easily happen I guess with people digging around underneath the seat looking for things, etc.

 

Hey dodgingwrenches... did you ever figure your issue out? I have the exact same problem. Both seats don't work. I intend to rip them out and see if it's a lose wire... but... interested if you have an update before I start.

 

When winter came they both worked again, so I can't really contribute anything useful on the subject, sorry!

 

I had the same problem and I did rip both seats out and tear apart the cushions. Only to find all connections working and no breaks in the heating elements.
Come winter they started to work again.
I think it may have to do with what temp the car is reading outside?
Who knows, all I know is the seats do not get warm enough.
My T & C Chrysler gets real warm and my RX8 only gets luke warm.

 

Sorry for bumping an old thread... just want to re-check...


so the thing that is warming our seats are just thin pieces of wire? not a big heating module that i can remove to save weight??

 

Its a pad, and only weighs a couple ounces. I'd only remove them if you're targeting ultra light wight and need to sweat the ounces. removing the plastic engine cover will save you more and not take all day to do.

 

Friend repeatedly turned on/off the one of the heater switches and now the heat doesn't come to that seat. Any advice as to what it could be?

 

1. Blown fuse. Always check these first.
2. Loose/dirty switch contacts. Pull off center console cover, disconnect, clean. Also check the connections under the seat.
3. Broken wire. This will be harder to diagnose.

 

You mean the plastic backing of the rx-8 seat?

AAahhhzzz... crap... well, thanks for the info bro!

 

My driver seat stopped working last year and I finally git around to meaning with it a couple of weekends back. It turned out that about shoulder blade area the warmer filament burned through the pad and then the wire was severed.

 

What if both halves on both sides, driver and pass, dont work, but both lights come on with switch? I am new. Please keep the flames to a low heat.

 

That's what mine is doig both lights on no heat power seats work

 

The lights don't really have much to do with whether or not the coil is intact. The switch has a separate circuit within it that illuminates the bulb. Look back into previous pages for the way to test where the break could be.

 

So just a quick question. I don't have heated seats in my RX8 that i know of. When i did my navigation install in my S2 RX8 i found that under my dash panel from the shifter to the cup holders there were the 2 plugs that i assume connect to the heated seats switches. Does this mean that i have headed seats and Mazda Wired it up bust just left the switches out because i did not order that feature?? MMMMMMMm

I will post a pic when i get home from work. I didn't drive her today i drove the truck

 

Recently, the driver side switch stopped illuminating. I can confirm that the seat warmer definitely works. Is the bulb in the switch replaceable or does the whole switch need to be replaced? Yes, I tried searching. This topic is the closest I've found so far.

 

Without going down to the car and taking the switch out to confirm, you likely have to get a whole new switch. It's probably an assembly. I could be wrong though. You can check for yourself though.

 

No, the wiring is always there. If you don't have the leather seats w/airbags then you don't have seat warming pads.

 

I'm a big fan of seat warmers bc I have back issues... Yes I live in Florida where the temps here in the car can easily reach 110f. So if the tstat breaks at 99, I may not have a seat heater issue at all eh? Perhaps my body + car temp > 99? Looks like I'm going to have to fool the tstat

PS Thanks for the writeup! This has helped a bunch!

Hej da!

 

robbz23, thanks so much for detailed guide! It really helped me to fix my RX-8

 

Thanks for posting this fix and diagnostics steps. Mine turned out to be the exact same problem, with both lower heater wires severed by the rod they cross under. I figured new wire will be just as susceptible to breaking there, given that poor layout choice, so I cut out the middle section of the rod to extend their life.

The heater functions now (yay!), although it seems to be quite weak, as some people have reported. The car (a slow-warming V8) is almost up to operating temperature by the time the seats are warmed to 70 degrees in sub-40 degree weather, at which point the heat in the car makes them largely frivolous. At least I know the wiring and everything works, so I have the option of putting in stronger aftermarket heaters in the future.

Oh, and I discovered that it's not necessary to disassemble anything on the seat to address the lower heater pad. Just unclip the two side flaps and rear flap below the seat pan. That gives enough slack to the seat cover to pull it up in back and access the wires.

 

Noticing the heat has disappeared from my driver side, would like to try and look into this. Does anyone have any details on how to remove the leather/upholstery or disassemble the seat? I couldn't really get an idea of this from previous posts.

 

Start with the diagnostic steps in post #2. If that indicates your lower heater is the problem, which is highly likely given the wire routing, then follow the instructions in post #3 to free up the back/sides of the cover. That should be all you need to access the wire break at the back of the heater pad. Just pull the back flap up and through the seat back and seat cushion.

There appears to be some instructions missing between posts #3 and 4, but I realized while removing the side trim that it was unnecessary to disassemble anything further.

 

seems like no one ever answered this, and in case anyone finds this by doing a search, the answer is that those switches contain tiny but replaceable light bulbs. Idk what the official Mazda bulb is there, but I had some extras from my Honda, 7219, that work just fine. Can’t remember where I got them, but pretty sure amazon has them.

 

Mazda also sells the bulb and plastic assembly, it's about $5-10.