heated seats and power windows.

Hi All,

First off, Merry Christmas to you all!

I have aquired an 85 Jetta (for parts) with power windows and heated seats. I know I can make the seats fit as I already have jetta seats in my 74 super, but I'm wondering if the power window setup will fit in the beetle door? Anyone ever tried this?

Also, the heated seats seem to be intermittent or not working at all. The connector under the drivers seat gets hot, and I wiggled it one time, then I could swear the seat was getting warm, but it never seemed to get hot. Anyone know if this is a common problem? The seats are in mint condition, I'm surprised the seats are not working properly. Mind you its over 20 years old.

I appreciate any input anybody would have with either the seats or the windows.

Thanks.

Ryan.

Reply to
Cyclone Guy
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Be careful with the power accessories for two reasons:

  1. The wiring harness may not be able to cope with it. The more power you draw through, the thicker the cable should be. Either that or draw your own wires with separate fuses. This may be the problem with the power seats, in that the wire is too small to draw that much current. Be careful, you may be overheating the wire elsewhere! Have you popped a fuse yet?

  1. If you tack too many power accessories on the venerable VW, it may not have enough output from the generator/battery combo to cover that and all else the vehicle needs.

Remember the VW was supposed to be an inexpensive Everyman's Car. To that end, things were worked to keep the costs down. Check the wiring diagram to see what you're drawing where and that you're not overdrawing the current on a circuit.

Also, the Beetle doors are pretty thin compared to the later models. It may be tough getting a power window arrangement going with the Jetta motors, but I believe some of the Califorinia-lookers have done power windows. Again, seek out those who have successfully done it for help in how to do it and pitfalls to avoid.

I suspect the problem with the power seats is that mentioned above, that you don't have enough juice going to get it properly powered with the 1974 alternator and battery.

BTW, do you have those horrid interlocks required of 1974 vehicles? (We're the Federal Government, we're only here to help.) I took my Driver's Ed course in a Ford LTD that had one. The car was less than a year old and we had the interlock act up now and again.

Charles of Kankakee

Reply to
Charles

I forgot to mention, that I have not removed the seats from the Jetta yet, I just got the car two days ago, and was playing with the heated seats to ensure they worked before I pulled them. I plan on fixing the seats before I remove them so I know they will work in my bug. I know what you mean about the weaker electrical system in the bug, I am going to run a 10 gauge wire from the battery to the seats and run my own fuses.

The seatbelt interlock was disengaged on my bug long ago, I have never had to worry about it.

Ryan Lester

1974 Super Sunbug 1974 Super "PlowBug" 1973 "Monster Bug"
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Reply to
Cyclone Guy

Sounds like a plan and I am certainly not saying it won't work.

You do want to make sure that the bug's alternator is indeed rated for that kind of current. (normal operating current + bun warmer current) It will also put some strain on the engine - a loaded alternator is harder to turn so will cause your bug to have to work harder.

If it works, I want to be your passenger :)

Remco

Reply to
Remco

I wouldn't be surprised if it is able to keep up. So far, its able to keep up with the gas heater, electric winch (raising and lowering the plow), wipers, headlights, halogen backup lights, bilge blower booster fans, cd-player, all going at once, with the temperature usually around

-20C and sometimes colder. This car is used almost exclusively for plowing snow (or thrill rides for the kids), and has worked flawlessly for around 8 or 9 years. I really should install a volt gauge on this thing, but the factory 50 amp alternator has not failed since day one. As for the extra load on the engine, it has not stalled yet, other than bad gas (car only gets filled up two or three times a year, old gas gets stale).

Ryan.

Reply to
Cyclone Guy

Just to be nosy, how much amps do the heated seats draw at 12 volts?

Charles of Kankakee

Reply to
Charles

about 4 to 5 amps each at full heat (each seat has settings of 1 to 5).

Reply to
Cyclone Guy

I can tell Charles and I are on the same page because of the question he asked just then.

It could very well work, but you conversely could be very close to your capacity with the stuff you have running - the current you can draw does have some limit and you don't know how close you are to that limit now.

I'd measure the current as it stands now and separately measure the current for the bunwarmer and make sure you don't exceed of the max (less a 10 percent margin, to be anal). If you blindly hooked the bunwarmer up to the present system, you may blow out the alternator's diodes (not a huge deal, but why find out this way, right) or you may get lucky and find it all works fine. I'd measure it to make sure it would work.

If it works, it would make a very nice addition. I'd be jelous :)

Remco

Reply to
Remco

I sure hope I can get them working.

I'm going to try this regardless, if the alternator goes, so be it, its

32 years old, and its bound to go anytime. The seats will only be turned on when I first go out and start the car, I then go back into the house and let it warm up for around 10 to 15 minutes, or longer depending on how cold it is outside. The winch, headlights and other things are not operating at this time. Then, when its warmed up, I go back out and start plowing. By that time, the gas heater has heated the car up nicely, and the seats would be nice and warm. If I did continue to keep the seat heater on, I would probably keep it on low. As it is, I usually have the window wide open regardless of the temperature, as I need to see when I back up. Half the time this car is in reverse. The gas heater almost makes it too hot in there sometimes.

In the end, I probably wont use the heated seats much at all, but it will be nice to have.

I'm really looking forward to the power windows (if I can get them to work), as I roll the window up and down with nearly every trip up and down my driveway. Funny thing is, we have had only 4 inches of snow here so far this winter, usually we have at least 18 or more, so I only used the PlowBug once yet.

Ryan.

Reply to
Cyclone Guy

You may have said so and I missed it but, what care are these seats out of? Most cars that I can think of that come with heated seats are pretty damn big and the seats wouldn't come close to fitting in a bug.

BTW. It wouldn't be that hard (or expensive) to wire up an external diode pack for the alternator that would take more abuse than the stock one.

T> I sure hope I can get them working.

Reply to
Anthony W

jetta

Reply to
bugninva

jetta

Reply to
bugninva

Interesting. If they work out for you, I'll go looking for a pair. My seats are trashed and I'm ok with welding in new mounts.

Tony

Reply to
Anthony W

Joey - Chris ?

blast from the past ?

Rich

Reply to
tricky

i am here...just as i have been for nearly ten years....like santa, you may not see me, but i'm watching...

Reply to
bugninva

whats with the 'retro' user name ? kinda cool !

Rich

Reply to
tricky

bugninva is my oldest(nearly) and permenant screen name...the email is even valid, although i never check it....

Reply to
bugninva

and that "bugninva" is one hell of a fella too...

Reply to
Joey Tribiani

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