SimonTemplar Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Hi, first post on the Freelander forum so please go easy! I have searched the archive and learned some things about seats but could not find an answer to this particular question so apologies if this has been asked before: We are looking to buy a Freelander 1 as a second car. My wife will use the car for runs to London about once a month, and needs to have heated seats. My question is simple: do I need to buy an F1 that was originally fitted with heated seats, or is it possible to retro-fit heated seats (from a breaker, Ebay etc) into an F1 that did not originally come with them? Perhaps letting a new switch into the dash where there might be a blanking plate so it gives my wife stock ease of use? Obviously it is possible to buy an F1 with heated front seats, but it widens the market much more if I can buy any vehicle and then fit them afterwards - I'd rather buy on one condition, mileage etc rather than on whether it comes with heated seats but we have to have them unfortunately! (Separately and not as importantly, is it possible to retro-fit a heated windscreen or should I just park that idea now - this one is just for convenience as we live in a very exposed spot rather than because it is necessary!) Thank you in advance for any responses and apologies if this has been asked previously - I did look but am something of a forum novice. ST Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJF Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 I don't think the wiring is fitted if heated seats were not originally specified, so a retro fit would be a bit more involved. Factory wiring diagrams are available so you should be able to se how they would have been fitted and duplicate that. I think that heated screens were fitted to some of the facelift Freelanders, but I'm not sure. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonTemplar Posted November 23, 2011 Author Share Posted November 23, 2011 I don't think the wiring is fitted if heated seats were not originally specified, so a retro fit would be a bit more involved. Factory wiring diagrams are available so you should be able to se how they would have been fitted and duplicate that. I think that heated screens were fitted to some of the facelift Freelanders, but I'm not sure. Rob Thank you - I figured that I would have to trace back to somewhere behind the dash to run a feed for it, that doesn't scare me too much (although it could take a while lol) just wondered if it was ever going to be possible to make a decent job of it or if I should just park the idea. It is obviously massively cutting the number of cars we can consider if I have to go with a factory-fit heated seats. ST Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 My 2001 TD4 doesn't have heated seats but looks like there's a connector under the seat for it, so I suspect the seats are the same (heated) but they don't fit the switch/wiring for it. Not 100% proven though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spcollins Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Am just about to try this. I bought a GS spec one and it didn't have heated seats so i bought them form a scrapper in the UK, along with the dash switches. I just recently bought the 2 heated relays (part number AWR5160 I believe). Will report back once we've tried it and let you know how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrKev Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Surely you can fit something like http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WAECO-HEATED-SEAT-KIT-RETRO-FIT-KIT-2-SEATS-/370471873822?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item5641d82d1e#ht_3137wt_1040 to any vehicle that you don't mind doing a bit of seat surgery too, and sort out appropriate wiring, cable, switchgear, fuses, etc... Kev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonTemplar Posted November 23, 2011 Author Share Posted November 23, 2011 Am just about to try this. I bought a GS spec one and it didn't have heated seats so i bought them form a scrapper in the UK, along with the dash switches. I just recently bought the 2 heated relays (part number AWR5160 I believe). Will report back once we've tried it and let you know how it goes. What a bizarre coincidence! It would be great to hear how this goes, thank you. From the fact that you have bought the seats, you must be moderately optimistic that it is doable? I would be very interested to hear progress, yes, and thank you very much for the heated relay part number. Surely you can fit something like http://www.ebay.co.u...#ht_3137wt_1040 to any vehicle that you don't mind doing a bit of seat surgery too, and sort out appropriate wiring, cable, switchgear, fuses, etc... Kev To be honest I just feel that if it is possible to retrofit then I will get a better job - and less fire risk, perhaps - if I use original factory parts. So I just feel more comfortable (no pun intended!) fitting original Freelander kit into the car if it is to be hooked up to the battery and installed into the seat fabric. I'm probably being overly cautious, and thank you very much for the link, but I would rather explore whether standard seats would retro fit and go from there. Thank you for the responses, both of you, this looks a great site. ST Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary1968 Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 If its of interest I just bought a heated seat cover from Aldi, £15..... It works great too. The heated drivers seat in my ES doesn't work so that was a cheaper / easier option than trying to repair or replace the seat. Gaz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 As per my 1st post, it looks to me like there's a wire hanging down under the seat cushion which could well mean ALL seats have the heater in them but only some cars have the wires & relay, so you may not need to buy new seats. An ask in the part numbers forum would confirm if there's different part numbers for heated or unheated seats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EggNChips Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 Certainly on facelift models., all the wiring is in place. Just buy the seats and the switches and plug it all in and hey presto!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonTemplar Posted November 24, 2011 Author Share Posted November 24, 2011 If its of interest I just bought a heated seat cover from Aldi, £15..... It works great too. The heated drivers seat in my ES doesn't work so that was a cheaper / easier option than trying to repair or replace the seat. Gaz Thank you for the tip - I'm going to pursue option in order of expertise etc. I'll start out trying to retro-fit original heated seats (assuming I can't buy a decent car with them already in), then if I fail at that try the Ebay link option kindly supplied by MrKev earlier in this thread, then if I make a hash of that I'll try the Aldi option, thank you very much had not heard of that. We have sold another car (boring people carrier!) to fund this purchase so have a bit of a parts kitty. As per my 1st post, it looks to me like there's a wire hanging down under the seat cushion which could well mean ALL seats have the heater in them but only some cars have the wires & relay, so you may not need to buy new seats. An ask in the part numbers forum would confirm if there's different part numbers for heated or unheated seats. Part Numbers Forum? Had missed that one, will have a root around, thank you. Presumably the wire you have noticed is not just a redundant feed for electric seat adjustment? Am assuming not, so will cautiously take this as very encouraging news! Anything that takes the pressure off my limited spanners skills would be welcome news. The vast majority of my experience comes from working on an old 1275cc A Series, so lots of stuff (for instance heated seats!) remains beyond my experience. Thank you very much for the ideas. Certainly on facelift models., all the wiring is in place. Just buy the seats and the switches and plug it all in and hey presto!!! That would be great... but unfortunately we will be buying a FL1. Hopefully this means that they did the same on those, that would be great... will explore part numbers with fingers crossed! Thanks for all the ideas, guys. ST Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMc Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 If you have to add the wiring yourself or just want to understand the wiring already there (if any), then you'll need the appropriate edition of RAVE. RAVE contains - wiring diagrams, electrical library, workshop manuals, user handbooks, accessory fitting instructions, service bulletins, and more... I've zipped and uploaded a couple of editions of RAVE to Extabit, the .zip files are here - DII TD5 & V8 (Pre-Facelift), Range Rover P38, Freelander 1 (up to 2001), Defender 300Tdi, V8i and TD5 (1999-2001) - RAVE_2001.zip DII TD5 & V8 (Post-Facelift), Freelander 1 (2001 onwards) - RAVE_2003.zip You don't need a Premium Account to download them, you can do it for free, if you look down the page, under the PayPal logo, you'll find the link to the free download - "I have no money, I want download for free" The .zip archives, will unpack to a folder called RAVE_2001 and RAVE_2003 respectively, from which you can run RAVE, by double-clicking the RAVE.exe file. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonTemplar Posted November 24, 2011 Author Share Posted November 24, 2011 Paul, that's very kind of you, thank you very much indeed. Confess I had never even heard of RAVE before this post, so thank you for expanding my LR horizons! ST Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 As well as Paul's post above, if you look at the top of the part numbers forum you will find all the parts books, manuals, and online parts catalogues - very useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonTemplar Posted November 24, 2011 Author Share Posted November 24, 2011 As well as Paul's post above, if you look at the top of the part numbers forum you will find all the parts books, manuals, and online parts catalogues - very useful. That's really great, thank you very much. As I soon hope to be running two Land Rovers I can see myself spending a lot of time on this forum lol... ST Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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