Since I purchased my 03' X-type I noticed a grease/oil smell inside of the car. The guy that I purchased the car from was a mechanic. I thought that maybe he was getting into the car with oil on his boots or worse, his clothes.
I detailed the car from bumper to boot, inside & out and noticed something under the seat that I thought I would bring to jaguarforums to see if it is worth replacing or if it is in fact having to do with another issue with the seat.
The other issue is that the heater on the drivers side seat gets warm at best. I can barely feel it...but it's there, just not that strong.
I don't notice (again, just bought the car last week) any issues with the seat maneuverability, so I'm guessing that it's just a leaky seal or the motor is on it's way out.
I know that the grease/oil smell is definitely coming from this area (I know what burning oil smells like and this doesn't match that smell at all) as I put my finger on the oil and smelled it and it's exactly what I have been smelling from the inside.
My first question is if the heating element has any possible connection between the leakage and the seat not heating.
I found some great Threads for removing the seat motor(s) as well as heating element repair, but nothing for my question.
Thanks in advance everyone!
-Glen

 

I do believe you've hit on one of the few "firsts" here - I do hope I am wrong and the answer is common, easy and well-known.

When we bought our X-Type, the salesman assured us it had "heated seats". As we discovered later, it did not. My dear wife was able to forgive the young man who sold her the car while claiming the heated-seat sales point with the excuse "just thinking about his nice butt in the seat next to me warmed me up!!!"

Not kidding.

I'm in North Dakota, if it missed your surmise. It gets really, really cold here. Once, at maybe -30f degrees I complained about the cold seat, my sweetie just smiled, looked straight ahead and didn't say a word.

My passenger seat Air Bag light keeps complaining, and the driver's side raise and lower gears seem to want to slip and grind, so I know I must get under the seats and attend to them.

I had never really seen the underside of the seats until your post w/pics, thank you!

It would be outrageous if Jaguar built something that could leak and stink under the seat.

Please pull the seat out as soon as possible, find and fix he problem, and let us know if we, too, are at risk. DO IT NOW! Before you loose the 'cache' ' of that leather smell to something that smells like Bubba-the-Mechanic's a**-wipe.

Even if the best you can do is to spray - whatever the leaky/stinky is - with, say, a spray foam insulation or some-such to seal it, you MUST stop that odor from permeating your car!!!!

for chrissakes, man. it's a Jaguar! if you wait, the only option open might be one of those Evergreen Trees you hang from the mirror! and if comes to that, this forum has a small, elite team of "investigators" that will come and snip your tire valve-stems.

Oh, gawd - the humanity!



PLEASE: let us know what you find.

 

@Bruce in North Dakota,
Hilarious reply!!! Thank you...for the anecdote and the sense of humor!!

On a serious note, I made a partial attempt to try to clean the motor with some light degreaser product and a cloth; being careful not to put too much degreaser on the thing, just in case there is an exposed wire or a short somewhere under there.
I also caught a glimpse at the other motor to the right (when looking at it from the front of the seat towards the back of the car).
I've attached a photo but it's not that clear as it's already dark here and the phone flash has limited visibility.
I will remove the seat this weekend and have a look at what I'm up against.

I haven't resorted to the ol' Pine Tree Car Scent just yet but I did use a ton of car cleaning products while detailing it this weekend and the smell is still there just not as strong as it was before...I'm either getting used to the smell or I overpowered it with the cleaning products (and I'm getting used to it)!

-Glen

 

Here's a pic of the other motor to the right of the up/down motor that appears to be leaking.
I apologize for the bad angle/lighting...I should be able to get a better shot of it tomorrow if needed.

If you look at the shaft where the gear/cog is, there appears to be grease accumulating or leaking from that area and that motor also seems oily too.

One photo is zoomed (I tried to use Photoshop to zoom in and clear up the bad picture as best I could with the horrible shot).

-Glen