2003 yukon denali electrical woes - sporadic unlock via fob not working, heated seats question

[CBIII]

Hey all,
As the title says - Sometimes my truck won't unlock using the aftermarket fob. Remote start and lock works, and when I hit the unlock button, the headlights and dash lights flash so it's receiving signal but it doesn't seem to want to unlock. The security light is also sometimes on, but not consistently. I can unlock the door with the key no issues, but not sure what's going on. Thoughts?

I may need to do a deeper search on this one (or post in the interior section.. new here so I guess I'm doing a problem dump) but since I've already started a thread, figured I'd toss this in here just in case:
Driver's heated seat works momentarily, sometimes up to several seconds but ultimately (audibly) clicks off. Seats get warm while it's on but they don't stay on. I believe the passenger seat is in a similar condition, but I don't use it enough to test. Switch? module?

 

[Joseph Garcia]

FOB:

Take the truck and fob to your local locksmith and have them re-program the fob to your truck. It may cost a few bucks, but at least you will know whether or not it is a programming issue, or some other cause.

Heated Seats:

Confirm whether or not both front seats are experiencing the same issue. If yes, I'd lean toward an issue with the control module. If you have, or can borrow, or have a friend who has, or live near a Forum member who has (they are listed here in a thread) a good bi-directional scanner/programmer (like the Tech 2), you should be able to obtain additional information on what is going on in the seat heating circuitry.

 

[CBIII]

FOB:

Take the truck and fob to your local locksmith and have them re-program the fob to your truck. It may cost a few bucks, but at least you will know whether or not it is a programming issue, or some other cause.

Heated Seats:

Confirm whether or not both front seats are experiencing the same issue. If yes, I'd lean toward an issue with the control module. If you have, or can borrow, or have a friend who has, or live near a Forum member who has (they are listed here in a thread) a good bi-directional scanner/programmer (like the Tech 2), you should be able to obtain additional information on what is going on in the seat heating circuitry.

Viable responses here, thanks. I programmed the fob myself with the vendor on the phone and it's worked fine for months, now it just kinda doesn't sometimes.
Were I a betting man, I'd say it's both front seats because I did have troubles keeping the passenger one on the one time I attempted to warm the seat up for a passenger but would that identify the control module even though the controls for passenger side are only on passenger side?

 

[CBIII]

FOB:

Take the truck and fob to your local locksmith and have them re-program the fob to your truck. It may cost a few bucks, but at least you will know whether or not it is a programming issue, or some other cause.

Heated Seats:

Confirm whether or not both front seats are experiencing the same issue. If yes, I'd lean toward an issue with the control module. If you have, or can borrow, or have a friend who has, or live near a Forum member who has (they are listed here in a thread) a good bi-directional scanner/programmer (like the Tech 2), you should be able to obtain additional information on what is going on in the seat heating circuitry.

Delayed reaction on my part, sorry. So yeah, it seems the passenger seat heater(s) stay(s) on fine.. until I hit one of the buttons on the driver's controls and when it kicks off, so does the passenger side. I meant to pull the panel this weekend and see what Icould see but I forgot.

 

[CBIII]

I don't know if it's weather-related or not, but I've not been having the lock issue the last few weeks.. Also not noticed the security light on the dash.

 

[CBIII]

ok, back to being annoyed by this now that we're in sigle-digit weather. I took the control switch completely apart and cleaned it all with compressed air and q tips and such. Got it all cleaned and put back together and same thing.

I notice that the passenger seat heater works fine when I turn it on but if I turn on the driver's seat heater, it clicks and takes them both out otherwise I believe that teh passenger side stays on. When I hit the driver's side I almost immedately hear a clicking coming from the driver's side of the vehicle, just not certain where or why. When I hit either button for driver's side, it does turn the light on for both buttons but both shut off.

Rarely, it'll stay on for a few seconds or longer when I initially get in and hit it but afterwards, it just immediately clicks off. I'm leaning towards the element at this point but open to any suggestions this info generates.

 

[Fless]

IIRC, the seatback element feeds the seat element. Have you tried using only the seatback on the driver's side, to see if the same thing happens?

 

[CBIII]

IIRC, the seatback element feeds the seat element. Have you tried using only the seatback on the driver's side, to see if the same thing happens?y

yeah, that's actually the only button I hit. It lights up the bottoms too.

 

[CBIII]

D'ohble post.

 

[CBIII]

IIRC, the seatback element feeds the seat element. Have you tried using only the seatback on the driver's side, to see if the same thing happens?

went and messed with it. the button closest to me lights itself and the other button up and blinks out immediately. The other one lights up itself but clicks off immediately also. The passenger seat can cycle its settings fine but when I hit either button on the driver's side it kicks the passenger's off immediately also. I have a driver's bottom element in my amazon cart currently. Thoughts?

 

[Fless]

I think you should be able to disconnect the driver's bottom element under the seat. Then try your test cycle again with the passenger seat on, and see what happens when you turn on the driver's seatback element.

 

[CBIII]

I think you should be able to disconnect the driver's bottom element under the seat. Then try your test cycle again with the passenger seat on, and see what happens when you turn on the driver's seatback element.

Will do! Thanks! I went ahead and ordered the seat element anyhow for JIC.

 

[BigDogYJ]

any updates here? I have an 04 Yukon with same behavior. I put a new bottom element in the driver seat but no difference. I haven't tried to unplug the back element to isolate it. But passenger seat seems to be functional. Just curious if unplugging the element made a difference for you. I'll need to get the keys from my wife to take look at ours. thx

 

[BatsTDK]

any updates here? I have an 04 Yukon with same behavior. I put a new bottom element in the driver seat but no difference. I haven't tried to unplug the back element to isolate it. But passenger seat seems to be functional. Just curious if unplugging the element made a difference for you. I'll need to get the keys from my wife to take look at ours. thx

went and messed with it. the button closest to me lights itself and the other button up and blinks out immediately. The other one lights up itself but clicks off immediately also. The passenger seat can cycle its settings fine but when I hit either button on the driver's side it kicks the passenger's off immediately also. I have a driver's bottom element in my amazon cart currently. Thoughts?

I had a similar issue with my seat heaters. Neither the driver, nor the passenger would work. The heater system is tied together, so if there's a short or fault with the driver's side, it takes out the passenger too.

You can use a volt meter switched to the continuity setting to test which seat and heater pad is bad. The seatback heater hooks up to the bottom heater through a green connector plug. In your case, the passenger seems to be working fine, so you can focus on just the driver's side. Most likely it's the bottom heater pad since it gets the most wear and tear.

I pulled one from a junkyard and took a gamble. Fixed the issue.

 

[CBIII]

@BigDogYJ I replaced the seat element in the seat last winter, along with a new seat pad and cover from theseatshop and it resolved the issue. The bottom was definitely shorting out.

@slypher25aussie My passenger side would work fine independently, but when I'd turn driver's side on, it'd kick passenger off too. fixed now.


A lot of updates happened on this as I started to have issues with a battery draw. I wound up replacing the ignition module (incorrectly...), removing head unit, gauges (had it rebuilt since some gauges weren't working), VATs, and the remote start/keyless entry that was having issues.


TL;DR - replaced driver seat's bottom and heated seat worked. Due to chasing ongoing electrical issues, I now have a new BCM (Now I have an airbag light on because dealership didn't update the BCM/impact module restraints), ignition module, battery, remote start/keyless entry system and rebuilt gauges. Been going good since spring.

Thanks everyone for the help and sorry for the super late response here. Hopefully this was helpful for someone