Heated seat failure - any ideas?

[X5OT]

Hi all!

I've got an E53 2006 X5 (Le Mans Sport edition) 3.0D which I've had since new and absolutely love. Just done over 90k miles and still going strong

The problem I'm having is that the driver seat heating is no longer working. When I push the button, sometimes I get the green lights and the seat starts to heat but within about a minute it switches itself off, usually if I go over a slight bump in the road. Sometimes I don't even get the green lights, hence no heating at all. BMW had a 'quick' look during its last service and told me that they would need to do 'further exploration' to determine what the problem is. They've quoted me worst case scenario of about 3hrs labour to find the cause of the problem (at ££crazy per hour!), approx £800 if it's the heating mat, and then more labour to put everything back together
Any thoughts? I'm assuming that it's not the heating mat itself as if I can get the button to stay on, then the pad starts to heat. So. I'm thinking its either a loose connection somewhere or the thermostat has failed.

Any help greatly appreciated as I just don't want to spend over £1k on this

[fenj66]

hi, and welcome to the forum!
would it be possible to swap the switch from the passenger side control, just to rule out a faulty switch issue?

[petert]

Check the connection plug under the seat. On my 2004 this was a yellow plug and socket arrangement that if I recall correctly supplies all power to seat motors and the heating bpads. It may be been damaged or disturbed by something under the seat. Good luck
Peter T

[petert]

..oh and another thing as it was mentioned in the first reply to your post: I don't think its possible to change the switches over as there is only a single multiway plug that emerges from the switch module under the heater controls.
Peter T

[X5OT]

Thank you for the replies so far

[JimmySpeed]

Find a good Indy and don't use the dealer