For some reason both of my seats are only partially working. Whenever I try to lower or raise the seat only one side goes up. Does that mean that one of the motors is not working or is it possibly a blown fuse. They are in the position i want right now but i wouldn't mind them actually working!

i heard something about strechted steel wires and that that will throw things off track

Lots in the archives on this one on how to fix-but yes, it is basically due to stretched seat cables. Happens to everybody at one time or another-

thanks for the good info. I guess i will have to replace the cables! I must with this car it is hard to balance the little things to fix and the upgrades i want to do. Regardless of what i do it is REALLY EXPENSIVE! Good thing I love this car!

no need to replace the cable. The "surgery" only takes but a minute - you can do a seat in about 15 minutes, start to finish.

even better. I assume I have to pull the seats right?

nope, your raise the seat as high as it goes and as far forward. You will be looking for the cable under the rear cover. The "other" cable is in the front of the seat, under your thighs.

thanks a lot i will give it a go tomorrow

For some reason both of my seats are only partially working. Whenever I try to lower or raise the seat only one side goes up. Does that mean that one of the motors is not working or is it possibly a blown fuse. They are in the position i want right now but i wouldn't mind them actually working!

If I understand you correctly, I think you are hitting the option to tilt the seat one side rather than move it up and down. I dont know about you but I have that option on my 1992 850i. When you hit the up and down button at the ends rather than straight up or down, you get that effect. I surely hope mine isnt defective! :lol

nope, your raise the seat as high as it goes and as far forward. You will be looking for the cable under the rear cover. The "other" cable is in the front of the seat, under your thighs.

do the cables stretch or shrink? So far I only know a similar effect from electric headrest on E24, E32 and E34 and in those cases the cable became too short with the year. Cutting the "insulation" of the cable (what is that part called BTW?) a bit and it works again.

do the cables stretch or shrink?

The inner cable shrinks so cutting arround 5mm off the outer plastic cover means the inner now reaches inside the motor ok. I did it on mine and its easy peasy.

There is a very detailed thread somewere about how to do it.

Great post/Thread, I'm having the same issue with one side sliding forwards and backwards.

The inner cable shrinks so cutting arround 5mm off the outer plastic cover means the inner now reaches inside the motor ok. I did it on mine and its easy peasy.

There is a very detailed thread somewere about how to do it.

thanks for clarifying. So the standard "BMW electric seats" issue.

can someone help me find this write up?

can someone help me find this write up?

Yes and no. I have serched but cant find it but do remember reading it.

Its as follows from what I remeber from doing mine.

Put the seat back as far as possable and remove the map pocket or fire extinguisher mounting depending on what seat you are doing and you will see the up/down motor is mounted horizontally with a cable coming out of each end. You will need to remove the cable from the motor on the side of the seat that does not move up and down. Think it is held in with two 10mm bolts and only one has to be completly removed to be able to remove cable. Once cable is out you can pull the inner section out of the cable but mind interia as this cable will be well greasy. Then the metal end on the plastic outer cable will need to be removed and then around 5mm cut from the end of the plastic part. Then replace metal end onto plastic outer cable and reinsert inner metal cable. Connect cable assy to motor and try. If all ok reasemble seat. To remove and replace the metal end on the plastic outer I heated it with a lighter and pulled it off with some pliers then heated it again to replace it. BE SO CAREFUL DOING THIS!

Think that is about it, hope it makes sense.

Regards Luke

what I did was pull off the metal end cap (it has some "prongs" on it to hold it to the plastic outer jacket). I then cut 3/8" off of the plastic ONLY (use a razor blade for this, that way you won't slice anything but your finger - remember she gets her pound of flesh). I then took the metal cap and clamped it in a pair of Vice-grips and heated it a little (just enough to soften the plastic jacket) and slid it onto the plastic cable covering. Hold the metal end cap in place until the plastic hardens up again, and voila! you have a factory cable that works once again.