Cooled seats not cooling

[Rich of So Cal]

What they should've done is adding a mouth on the exhaust air side and vent that out of the seat.

I agree. That's why I suggested replacing the back side with screen material. Ford is modifying it, thinking that they have to protect rear seat passengers. We, however, are realistic in knowing that no-one can sit back there anyway. So we aren't limited by their approach. Probably a home grown rear seat vent would work perfectly. Now, who wants to be the first to try it?:clap2:

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[Darko66]

I agree. That's why I suggested replacing the back side with screen material. Ford is modifying it, thinking that they have to protect rear seat passengers. We, however, are realistic in knowing that no-one can sit back there anyway. So we aren't limited by their approach. Probably a home grown rear seat vent would work perfectly. Now, who wants to be the first to try it?:clap2:

Well I did cut a 2" hole in mine for the purpose of attaching a direct exhaust from the blower unit. I put that on hold temporarily to focus and finalize the improved intake. My plan is to reinstall my passenger seat with the intake attachment and then I can do some tests changing the driver's seat to see if the hole makes much of a difference and then test whether adding a small fan to the hole helps and then finally I will hook up the direct exhaust to test it.

Unfortunately the exhaust system I've come up with is a little more complex than I'd like. Space limitations make it very tricky. I'm sort of hoping it ends up that just the hole or a mesh insert like you've suggested would be sufficient.

As Ford designed it the blower unit is just recirculating the air in the back seat. Once you're drawing air from outside the seat (like with their TSB or my attachment), the air inside the seat will be forced out (inefficiently through the perforations and crevices) and slowly replaced by slightly less hot air as the intake air becomes cooler and the exhaust temp drops. Adding mesh or a hole should help, it's just a question of how much and whether it's worth it to take it farther than that (fan, direct connection, etc.)

From what I can tell so far though, just adding a hole/mesh w/o any intake improvement will help a little, but not much. It certainly wouldn't hurt, but I wouldn't expect anything spectacular. You can always just try unhooking the bottom seat flap as a starter so that the seat can at least breath a little.

 

[Rich of So Cal]

well if pent up air exhausts easier, that should also cause more of a draw on the intake, I would think. :shrug:

 

[1badrz28]

Are the 2017's having issues as well?

 

[RobbieFrazier]

For those that have had the TSB done, does it make an appreciable difference? I would hate to drop it off just to have it return in the same condition....and then have to worry about the dealer screwing the seats up in the process.

Appreciable is a subjective term in this case. My OEM seat backs got HOT while the seat coolers were activated. After the TSB, they don't get hot anymore...but they still don't cool the seat worth a damn.

my seat backs feel hotter when i turn these on in this hot ass weather we've been having.

and yes i did not read 89 pages of this thread...anyone had this stuff fixed with any luck? thanks

The OP's DIY solution with an air intake tube and a vent cut into the seat back seems to work at least marginally better than the TSB solution. However, the Peltier TED used in our cars uses a relatively weak fan and our seats provide a tightly confined space that limits airflow. This means without a completely different cooler and/or more open space inside the seats, we're pretty much chasing our tails.

 

[millhouse]

Appreciable is a subjective term in this case. My OEM seat backs got HOT while the seat coolers were activated. After the TSB, they don't get hot anymore...but they still don't cool the seat worth a damn.


The OP's DIY solution with an air intake tube and a vent cut into the seat back seems to work at least marginally better than the TSB solution. However, the Peltier TED used in our cars uses a relatively weak fan and our seats provide a tightly confined space that limits airflow. This means without a completely different cooler and/or more open space inside the seats, we're pretty much chasing our tails.

And that is the problem I have. While it stinks that the seat backs don't cool as designed, I would hate to have something else jacked up on the car when the dealer does a repair that sounds like a marginal fix at best.

 

[jvandy50]

And that is the problem I have. While it stinks that the seat backs don't cool as designed, I would hate to have something else jacked up on the car when the dealer does a repair that sounds like a marginal fix at best.

i'd be fine with the top of the back not actually heating when the cooled seats are on lol. i thought i was going crazy for a bit...glad i found this thread.

if i had known this when i ordered the car though, i'd likely have gotten a base model. i fell in love with the "nut coolers", as we call them, in an F250

 

[Stangnut]

Darko66
What do you think about extending one (or more) of your intake tubes down under the seat, then under the center console and then connect it directly to the A/C duct work behind the dash?

 

[Darko66]

Darko66
What do you think about extending one (or more) of your intake tubes down under the seat, then under the center console and then connect it directly to the A/C duct work behind the dash?

It's beyond where I personally want to go with it, but suppose it could be done assuming there's room within the console to squeeze it in. It would no doubt greatly improve the cooling ability.

To sort of give you an idea, the other night it was cooler here (88°) and the seat was cooling fairly well, so while sitting in a slow moving drive-thru I thought I'd try cranking up the air to the floor vents to see how cold the seats would go. After about 5 minutes the cold side temp of the TED on both the cushion and seat back had dropped to 46°. Of course, my legs were freezing from being blasted by the A/C, so not exactly a practical solution. It does show the potential though. Of course it doesn't really need to be that cold to be effective.

I don't know the exact parameters of the TED, but there is a temperature point where it will shut it down if it gets too cold. So there is the potential that if you fed it nothing but direct A/C, it would cut off power to the TED. The fan would still keep going though, so I suppose as long as it's cold who cares.

 

[ctlaw]

I don't know the exact parameters of the TED, but there is a temperature point where it will shut it down if it gets too cold. So there is the potential that if you fed it nothing but direct A/C, it would cut off power to the TED. The fan would still keep going though, so I suppose as long as it's cold who cares.

Unlikely because the TED was designed to ingest the underseat AC duct output in the Fusion. Same part nos. as the Fusion's units.

 

[Darko66]

Unlikely because the TED was designed to ingest the underseat AC duct output in the Fusion. Same part nos. as the Fusion's units.

Sorry, once again I was being literal. I was referring to a direct attachment to the A/C blowing 35-45° (or whatever) and not air that is blowing under the seat and mixing with cabin air before being drawn in.

Anyway here's an excerpt from the old 2003 Expedition/Navigator cooled/heated seats diagnosis and testing manual that I found a link to awhile back. The parameters have obviously changed since then and allow for colder temperatures, but there has to be a cutoff to avoid having the TED get too cold with the potential for high condensation or even ice formation.

"If the temperature at one of the TEDs falls below 18°C (64°F), the climate controlled seat module will shut down the TEDs. If the temperature continues to drop below 12°C (54°F), the climate controlled seat module will shut down the fan motor."

Here's the link to that file:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...jh6KcQqAxZjJPuHhg&sig2=5plej8N5Yrxk_vVv_rCBbw

 

[GT Pony]

I'm wondering if the better "fix" by Ford (instead of their TSB fix) would have been to just update the software to disable the TED and bump the fan speed up some (if possible) and just have it blow cabin air through the back of the seat. At least the seat back wouldn't be getting hot like it does now for some guys.

 

[RIBS]

I am just really Pissed off about the whole thing...I had a Beautiful 2013 Mustang, I traded it and suffered great expense for 2 reasons: Seat coolers and GT.
The seat coolers are a FAIL!

 

[ctlaw]

Does this:
http://www.discountauto.parts/auto-...l-cat/heated-seats-scat/?part_number=13599921
indicate Camaro uses a resistive heater?

 

[ctlaw]

... Not to knock on the mustang, I do love it, but in a large family full of German and Japanese cars, I was the first to add an American car, and I was warned of quality issues and sure enough I have this to deal with.

OTOH, BMW did not put cooled or ventillated seats into the 2/3/4 series.

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