Hi all,

I took my car (98 M3, CPO'd) to one of those gas station car wash places over lunch and when I picked it up the driver's seat would not go forward/backward.

I've got power seats and two direction knobs on the side to control them. One is the seat back tilt, which works fine. The other knob controls the front seat tilt, the back seat tilt and the forward/backward motion. The two tilts on this knob work fine. Just the forward/backward which does not respond.

Could someone cleaning the car (vacuuming, removing / replacing the floormats, etc...) damage this seat adjustment somehow, or is this just an unfortunate (for me) coincidence?

They did manage to move the seat all the way back from where I had it positioned, so it did work for them.

And, more to the point, does anyone have any advice on how to fix this, or things to check for (loose wires, fuse, ...)?

"Does not respond" = ??? Do you hear the electric motor humming or just nothing at all? Was the inside of the car wet when you got it back? Maybe they shorted something out. Otherwise they probably broke something inside the seat.

No motor noises. Car wasn't wet inside. No floor mats were jammed under the seat.

Guess it's time for a trip to the dealer. :(