I want to add heated seats to my S420
 

Well it's COLD in Cincinnati!!! The fact that my S420 does not have heated seats bothers me enough to explore the possibility of retrofitting the heaters into my car.
I have done a search on this, but it appears that most of the posts are specific to cars older than mine.
Has anyone retrofitted the heating elements into a mid-90s Benz? Is the wiring already there or does this require a wiring harness from the fuse box to the pushbuttons to the seat? Does MB sell a kit to do this? What are the costs and how difficult is it for a DIYer?
Thanks in advance for your input...

Wouldn't be easy!! You would have to purchase the parts that would be needed separately. MB doesn't offer a kit.
UNLESS you found one at the local junk yard & could get all of the parts that would be needed.

Possibly an aftermarket heated seat pad would help.

Two exclamation points next to "it wouldn't be easy". Enough said. I haven't sourced the local junk yards for a misfortunate W140...Does anyone know of a prospect in Ohio/Kentucky area?
Thanks for the post M.B. Doc.

Have you considered sheepskins? They surely beat cold vinyl or even leather on a cold morning. My wife uses an aftermarket seat and back pad that has both motors for massage as well as heaters in it. Great if you have a bad back and it is sold at Costco for about $35-40. Much cheaper than a new set of seats.

No, I have not considered sheepskins...but based on my research on this subject, your suggestion makes the most sense. I'll check out Costco.
Thankyou...

Heated seats
 

CK, did you price the heated seat upgrade, and do you know if the wiringing is in place to add heated seats, I would like to add them to my 400E. As MB DOC stated , the scope of the job is not easy, but if the electrical connections are in place, I going to try to locate a system from a junk yard. I will get many brownie points from the wife!
timreid

Some suggestions:

you could probably find all of the components from a donor in a bone yard someplace. There are some on-line sources for checking used parts availability. Here is an example. The utility in this case is unknown: http://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi

2) I found a place in Seattle that will retro-fit seat heaters for most any car. The cost was about $600 per pair. They weren’t as good as the MB heaters but worked well. I was told about this from a SA at a MB dealership. It is entirely probable that someone near you does this as well

3) as mentioned, places such as Target, larger department stores and probably pep boys and similar also sell pads which have both heat and massage options. Very inexpensive

Good luck!

I have not had a chance to price the parts for the heated seats. I am looking for an S Class in the junk yard to see if there's any seats that I can use. That car would also have the necessary switch(s) and the proper wood dash for me to use. There's a lot more to it than I originally thought.
I'm also going to check out some of the suggestions from Lebenz...it's not factory, but I think it may be a hell of a lot lower cost.
I'll keep you posted.

I don't know if they're prewired. Would be nice to know before moving forward. I can cut the holes for the switches, but I thought that if the yard had one with heated seats, then I would be that much more ahead of the game.
I got the same message when I tried to access the site.

Heated Seats
 

CK
Concerning your wood dash, if you are handy or have a friend who does wood working it's not too difficult in cutting out the hole for the switch. I cut a hole to add an interior temperature display and it worked out very good. If you buy the wood dash piece from a car graveyard, take a piece from your car to assure the color and grain matches, the color can vary greatly. When I check I'll see if there is a system for your car and let you know.
Lebenz, do you know if these cars are prewired for the heated seats?
Also tried the site and got,
"Sorry illegal reference to Our Domain"
figure that one out?
Thanks, timreid

You can remove rear seat and check if your car has wire harness for heated seats.
On the picture black device in the middle is a control module for heated seats. See if you have connector somewhere around rear passenger side area under the rear seat, but I doubt you have it.

There are a number of aftermarket heating pads available that get inserted under the seat skin. I think that www.bergwerks.com has them.

Matt.

Well, I do not have the required wiring. But, I did contact Bergwerks who gave me some direction here in Cincinnati. I have found a reputable shop that can supply the parts and labor for approximately $400 to $500. One day to install. They say they have done several S-Class's.
I'm going to check them out next week.

I'm planning on the front two seats only. I found a good upholstry shop in town that can install them...I'm going to see them this week. I'll let you know what the outcome is.

Hey Charlie,

I was going to suggest European Connection down in Falmouth, KY. About 35 miles from Cinci. Call Precision and Dan or Mike can give you the number down there. The guy's name is Bernard Scheutz.