Cooled Front Seats - What's Normal?

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Jun 5, 2014 | 11:01 AM

Tom57

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Cooled Front Seats - What's Normal?

First summer with '06 CL 60K miles garage queen 2nd owner. Cooled seats don't seem very cool, even on full cool variable setting. Checked seat filters - don't appear very dirty at all. Ran seat cooling without filters (test) to see if cooling improved - maybe slightly. What should I expect with seat cooling feature? Are the seat chillers in a separate cooling system from the main A/C? Is there R134 (or similar) separate for seats, or are the seat chillers part of the main A/C? There is a seat blower motor, of course (hence the need for filters). Is there a condensing coil that needs cleaning too? Any and all comments/suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance.

Jun 5, 2014 | 11:27 AM

Lavrishevo

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No much you can do. They are not known to cool a tone. I would just make sure the filters are in good shape and others have commented on running the AC in dual mode so its pushing air towards your feet. Mine work good. If anything, maybe the motors are a tad noisy with everything else off inside the car. I thought I remember someone blocking the floor vent under the drive and passenger seat and he claimed this helped. Mine work good enough for me to not mess with them.

Jun 5, 2014 | 01:07 PM

Tom57

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From: Illinois

Thanks Lavrishevo. Peltier effect (thermoelectrics) is how the seats are engineered in 430's. These are 1st Gen cooled seats for Lexus. Later models of Lexus (post-2006) cool much better apparently. Per Lexus Parts Mgr. > the filters are for pollen. (I do think air-borne dust circulates to where filters are located under seat front near floor.) Like you said, not much to do here.

Jun 5, 2014 | 01:19 PM

BradTank

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From: AZ

There's nothing you can really do, they're just not well designed. Part of the issue may be because the foam disintegrates with time and blocks the air passages. But even when everything is working perfectly, it's just a gimmick.

I had a day with a new IS250 that had the seat cooling option, and on these you can actually feel air blowing on you or you can dial it down to where it's barely perceptible. That's how it should be.

I don't know why on their Flagship car they can't get it right but they can on their entry model. Maybe they heard enough complaints.

Jun 5, 2014 | 04:05 PM

jayclapp

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From: AZ

My 04 UL seat cooling works just fine. When you sit in the seat your butt closes off the seat perforations where it comes in contact with the seat consequently closing the air thru those perforations. If you throw a towel over the seat before sitting in it, you can actually then feel some of cool air making its way to your bottom. Of course I don't recommend that you put a towel on your seat as a "fix". When I sit in my seat and put my hand down in front of my crotch I can feel the cool air. I think Lexus intentionally did not want to overcool someone's bottom.