Hello.

I'm in the market for an X350 after sadly parting way with my X300. I'm in the UK and heated seats are a must. There seems to be a good many really nice examples but weirdly plenty don't have heated seats. Obviously I should hold on for the spec I need but was curious if anyone had successfully fitted heated seats and how much, if anything, is already there in a UK spec car without (I understand the X308 even has elements in the seats etc).

Thanks.

 

Hi, I'm in the UK too and used to have a very long journey to work each day and I would have loved to have had heated seats during these cold months. I too have pondered this same question but never asked anyone. It would be great if the heated seats can simply be plug and play but I doubt it. Good luck.

 

I have retrofitted heated front seats to my XJR.
I understand from reading a few posts on various forums that using the factory harness and switch panel set up requires module programming and was not really practical for me.
There were no seat heating elements fitted to my front seats.
I used an aftermarket kit from ebay.
The job involves;

Removing both front seats and the leather seat covers which are attached using hog rings.
Modifying and fitting the generic seat heater pads/wiring and switch to each seat
Refitting the covers for which you'll need some new hog rings and hog ring pliers (again ebay is your friend here)
You need to pick up a fused supply for each one, I used the cigarette lighter feed from the front for drivers side and cigarette lighter feed for passenger side.

Only complaint I have is that they take a lot longer to heat up than the ones in my Merc.

Here are a few pics I took;


This is the seat squab removed from the frame


Squab after modifying and fitting the heating element


This is the button to operate the seats, up for high, middle off and down for low. Easy to locate with your hand next to the seat switches, and enough clearance behind to accommodate the rear of the switch and wiring connections


This is the seat wiring harness pigtail connection underneath seat. I fitted a matching connector to the power feed from the cigarette lighters to allow easy disconnection for seat removal

Hope this helps

 

That's awesome, thanks for taking the time to post that. I think I'll try and find a car with seat heaters but good to know it's do-able if not.

 

Hi paddyx350, that looks really good. Do you know how much the parts cost to do this? I suspected it would be a lot of work and involve programming to retrofit the jaguar heated seats.

 

As mentioned, the body-side wiring to the seat is there but the seats lack the heating elements and wiring harnesses.

The OEM heater pads are actually not too expensive, if you can still buy them. Retail is around £100 a seat, depending on the seat style. The switch pack (below the clock) is about £180 new, but they are frequently available used. You can DIY the in-seat harnesses to avoid buying new ones.

The easiest route if you really want the OEM system is to find a set of seats from a broken up car and swap your covers over. You will either need to swap the passenger seat weight sensor over, or preferably (if the donor seats use the same module) re-calibrate afterwards. Or you could just fir the driver side only if that is your main need. Replacing the covers is not difficult, but fiddly and a proper hog ring tool will help greatly.

When I did this with the XJ6 in my signature I can't remember if I needed to update the VID block with the new configuration in order for the FEM to activate the outputs to the seats. I've only done this once, and it was 13 years ago now!

 

JX350, the total cost for my aftermarket job was less than €100

 

Nice upgrade to the seats! I did something similar.

I would just add that one does not need to use a hog ring tool to re-attach the seat covers to the cushion - I used small plastic pull-fasteners (not sure what they are called - the ones with a small ratchet-lock head at one end where you pass through the opposite end and pull through to tighten and lock).

Easy enough to clip off the old hog rings - just make sure you remove the top and bottom parts of the cut ring from the cover/cushion respectively. They are sharp!

After placing the heated pad on the cushion (I used heat-resistant 2-sided tape on corners to prevent sliding), the plastic fasteners are then passed under the wire embedded in the cushion, then passed through the small hole in the corresponding protruding part of the seat cover. Just make sure you pass the fastener above the wire/cord that is held in the protruding part of the (inner) seat cover. Can be a bit fiddly however easy enough and took me about 1 hour per seat. It is important to remember, after clipping off the excess tie length, to "push" the head part of the plastic fasteners down into the cushion, under the cord, so they do not face up into the seat cover.

I actually used the original heated pads from my XF X250 seats and transplanted them into the much more comfortble cushions from a XJ X351 climate seat. The latter have perforated leather covers which allow the fan-blown heated/cooled air to pass through. Luckily, this perforation helps to make the heated pads more efficient and the heated seats work better now compared to previously. Not to mention far more comfortable!

I replaced the entire rear part of the XF seats with the corresponding X351 backs because the frames and holding brackets are identical, as are the electrical connections to the motor and airbag. I just cannot make use of all the lumber/bolster pumps. I of coures also transplanted the heated pads from the back of the XF seats to the back of the X351 seat cushions (easier than the bottom seat as less upholstery hog rings to remove/re-attach).

Here a picture of the of the new hybrid XF/XJ seats in my XF. The driving comfort is significantly improved now and I love the feel/look. I just have to accept that I cannot use the full functionality of the climate controlled 18-way memory X351 seats because the electronics was simply too complicated and required additional components and programming. The remaining spare parts from the XF/XJ seats that I do not need are shown in a picutre and available free of charge to anyone here who may find a use for them (you would however have to pay for the postage from Germany).


hybrid XF/XJ seats with transplanted heated pads. The original 8-way switch-pack and wiring loom from the XF had to be used to allow functionality.


various Jaguar XF/XJ seat components. 10 different seat positioning motors, seatbelt pre-tensioners, memory seat modules (under seat) and corresponding wiring looms, 18-way switch-packs, seat blower modules (air blower with cooling/heating elements - 2 seat units and 2 back units), electronically adjustable head-rest modules with motors and air-bags.