stemirra

My 01 ls430 drivers seat cooler blower is not strong at all. I place a paper over the filer to see if it is sucking air and it is. I removed and vacumed the little filter which was very dirty but it did not help too much. It is a paper filter so perhaps the fibers are clogged and will not respond 100% to vacuming and just need to be replaced. $35 is the cost. Has anyone paid the $35 and slipped it in to realize a noticible improvement?

caddyowner

I cleaned mine and I know other folks tried replacing them, but the seat foam compresses over time and the cooling is weak. Some folks had better luck fashioning diverters to blow the under-seat HVAC vents toward the seat filters and running the AC on bi-level.

stemirra

I replaced the filter for $25 even though the original filter was seemingly unrestricted after cleaning the original one. I will say that I "can" actually notice a slight difference. Because the cooling was slight to begin with at best I would have to say I am somewhat pleased. If I knew the slight % that change I have recieved be the outcome for the $25 investment I WOULD do it over again.

I am interested in hearing if anyone has addressed successfully the compressed foam issue causing the reduced circulation. I happen to have a friend who owns an upholstry shop locally and he would be more than willing to remove the seat covers and install new foam for me for free if I can specifically tell him where/what to do once the covers are off. So, if someone knows how to rectify the compressed foam/air cooler issue please chime in. Many thanks.

Lynzoid

You need foam with little holes.
Yes, sure about 99% of old LS'es suffer from compressed cushions.
Also, there's 'film', that is glues to the inside of the seat covers, it have holes in it too. In time, this film gets dislocated, and holes will be dislocated too, restricting the air flow...

jayclapp

For what it's worth. One day, while cleaning the car, I needed to move it. I threw a towel over the drivers seat and moved it. I instantly noticed that the seat cooling was significantly increased. What this told me was that when one sits on the perforated leather that you close off the cooling that would otherwise come thru those holes. The porous towel allowed some airflow to escape. You can try this yourself.

This does not mean that I am suggesting that you throw a towel or get a terry cloth cover and put on your seat! Heaven forbid. But, it may mean that changing the porosity of the foam under the leather covers may not give a significant improvement as one might expect. You might result in completely changing the comfort of the seat with no noticable improvement in cooling.