The front passenger seat heater of 2005 Chevy Silverado lights up when door button pressed but shuts of within 30 seconds without heating the seat. Is there a likely cause that is easily fixed by a novice?

Answer: The heater switch turning on but not heating the seat In your Chevy Silverado is most likely caused by one of the heater elements not working. Each seat has a heater element under the seat covering- either the cloth or leather seat cover. One on the seat bottom cushion and one on the seat back. These seat heater elements are wired together and use a temperature sensor to control them. If one is bad, then neither will work. It takes a while for the system to realize that the seats are not heating up, so then finally shuts them off.

What usually happens is that over time, getting in and out of the seat can causes one of the elements to break and or burn. This usually happens on the lower outside portion of the cushion or back. You would need an Ohm meter to test the circuits at the connector location under the seat to see which one is the open circuit and would need to be replaced. Most of the time, people just go ahead and replace both.

Replacement is not an easy job. Depending on the style, covering material, year of the truck, etc. the seat needs to come of of the truck and be disassembled to replace the heater elements. If yours has seatbelts in the top side and also airbags, this is a real difficult job.

See this link for more information on heated seat