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Heated seats come on when engine starts

rscsmith

rscsmith

PCGB Member
Member
Hi folks

I'm a new member to the club, and the forums.

I picked up my second hand 997.2 (58 plate) on Thursday. Really pleased with it. However, I have a question on the heated seats:

When I start the engine, both heated sports seats come on full (2 lights). Is this normal behaviour because of the cold weather, or an option (that I can't find)?

I hope I will see some of you at the meets.

Best regards, Rob.
 
Welcome Rob

That's not a feature that my 997s have displayed. Don't know if it is an optional setting but it could be that it is associated with the settings that are remembered for the key you are using.
 
Has never happened with any of mine. Maybe the previous owner had the wires reversed on the switches? I suggest you take it back to whoever you bought it from and have them sort it out. Hope you enjoy the car!
Best
 
The stock default for seat heating is "off" once ignition is turned off. I assume even when seat heating is switched off, it comes on with the ignition - in which case it's a fault and needs rectification.
Regards,
Clive.
 
Thanks guys

I was wondering if it was remembered as one of the Individual Memory settings for the A/C. I'll have a look at that first and report back. I'll try the other key too.

Failing that, it's going to see OPC on Wednesday. PSM failed after 10 miles, much to the embarrassment of the dealer, who has been very good about sorting it. It was also a little disappointing, running through the Southdowns without Sport mode. I'll add the seats to the list!

Cheers, Rob.
 
I don't think it's possible to programme seat heating. It needs manual control as required, since it places high loads on the electrical system and would quickly drain the battery if left on unintentionally.
Regards,
Clive.
 
Ah, ok.

I'll just ask Porsche to look at it on Wednesday and report back.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Best regards, Rob.
 
Hi Rob
I concur with everyone else - it's not correct and I've never seen my 997.2 do it. Given that your PSM and Sport mode have failed too, it sounds like you have an electrical gremlin in or around the centre console area.
And as Clive alluded to, if you don't use the car for a couple of weeks, even a new battery will lose charge and so the last thing you need when you turn on the ignition, and want all the charge for cranking, is a massive load on the battery as it tries to heat your seats!
Good luck.
Paul
 
Well folks, I picked the car up from Porsche today.

PSM Failure: This was due to a problem with the brake switch. Strangely, it wasn't throwing up the ABS failure, which normally happens when the brake switch fails. That was swapped out, now all is good.

Heated Seats: The service guy at Porsche West London was a little vague. I don't think they really knew. They just reset everything and the problem went away. There was talk that it might have been due to the car standing for a while in the showroom, but there was no definitive cause.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed.

Cheers, Rob.
 
Ho hum. I jumped in the car this morning and the bloody heated seats came on again. It also did it after being parked for 20 minutes.

I guess I'll be phoning Porsche again on Monday.
 
Well, the saga continues.

It spent a week and half with Porsche, who couldn't reproduce the problem. They spoke to the Technical Dept in Germany, who were also at a loss as to what is happening.

I've had it back since Wednesday and drove it today for the first time since picking it up. Here's a diary of today:
11am. 10 degrees C outside. Car started. OK - seats not on.
11.10. Stopped at shops.
11.17. Started. Seats on. I switched them off using the buttons.
12.25. Arrived. Switched off, then on again. OK. Seats did not come on.
3pm. Started. OK - no seats. 11C
4pm. Arrived. Didn't try restarting immediately.
4:30pm. Started just to test (didn't drive anywhere). Seats on.

From today's diary, it seems that if I drive it, then stop for a short while, the seats come on. I'll continue with my diary before I take it back to Porsche (for the 4th time!).

I'll keep updating this thread as more info comes available.
 
Geoff997 said:
Porsche speak for "Ctrl + Alt + Delete"
Click to expand...
My old 1997 Merc E320 would 'have a stroke' down the right hand side and all the associated electrics would fail: lights, indicators, windows, mirror et al. I spent pots trying to fix it until I encountered a wise old hand who said "Just disconnect the batteries for 30 seconds and reconnect to reboot the CPU". It worked...
John
 
Hi John.

Sorry for the late response. I'm going to try and get it back to Porsche next week, so I'll ask them whether they've tried the IT Crowd approach yet ("Have you tried turning it off and on again?"). I'm pretty sure they tried doing a reset on it the first time around. I've only had it a couple of months and it's still under warranty. I'm happy to let them have the car as I don't use it to commute (living in London).

I'll continue to keep people informed.

Cheers, Rob.
 
More info for anyone that stumbles across this thread...:

I think I've nailed down when the car performs this trick. As per my previous post, it seems to rely on the car being driven then left for a while. Furthermore, I think I've narrowed it down to just one of the keys. I need to do a little more experimentation on the keys front, having continued to use one key for my previous diary. We are going on a driving holiday in a few weeks which should provide ample opportunity for experimentation. I will report back, but at present it seems Key 1 is the culprit.

Cheers, Rob.
 
Well, with the cold weather my problem has returned, and it isn't related to just one key.

It is clearly linked to the outside temperature. It's coming up for MOT (and the installation of cruise control ;-) ), so I'll let Porsche have another try.
 
Hi Rob,

I have a GEN 1 997 and i have noticed this two or three times.

Each time i had not long been in the car (say within a half hour).

Anything longer than that, the seats need to be switched on manually..... interested to see how your investigation turns out!

Cheers

Darren
 
Hi Darren

Thanks for the response. It's good to know I'm not alone! I had another look online last night and couldn't find any other reported incidents.

Probably the only thing omitted from above is that the Porsche said it would cost a fortune to do a full investigation as they would have to take the inside of the car apart to pull out the loom and controls to test/replace.

I'll report back as things develop, but I'm starting to think this is going to be something I'll have to live with.

Best regards, Rob.
 
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