Driver heated seat

[INDY-S5]

I am wondering if anyone has had a similar issue and if so what was a good place to start looking. I have an 04 S4 and I thought the driver side seat heater was bad but to my surprise today when I go tin the car and left the setting on 4 from yesterday trying to see if it worked (it did not yesterday) the bastard worked today. VAG scanning says their is a short to ground and I just assumed the past 2 years it was a bad element. Apparently that is not the case and I may in fact just have a wire grounding somewhere since today the thing starting warming normally again. I am thinking it may be in the seat and when I sit a certain way the wire touches just right and allows it to heat up? Just looking for a starting point as I am not real familiar with heated seats and their components.

Thanks guys.

[2004B6S4]

I wish I could help, haven't ever heard of that happening though. Your theory makes sense, the other thing I would suspect is the plug underneath the seat (I may be mistaken but iirc I believe there are 4 plugs and one of them is just for the heating element). If you have to take it apart, please document and update! I may attempt to replace my heater element at some point because mine only heats the bottom cushion but not the lumbar area

[richB7S4]

Had the same issue with passenger side. I checked all wires for connection and fraying. All good. I took out the knob controls, have to take out the radio first though, and found out that the rotary knob ( interior side) was full of gunk between the electrical connections. Cleaned it, ensured it had good electrical contact especially when turning the knob, reassembled. My process worked. I did not do VCDS scan so i can't tell you any codes. Hopefully this can help you out.