martin01
10-31-2007, 02:52 AM
ok, quick explanation and I'll get to important stuff.
After a lot of reading, sifting and consideration I decided that the least PITA way to get power is from the cigarette lighter. I read in a thread here that you could use the wires powering the bulbs that go into ash trays but after examining these, I was unsure as to the safety of this since the gauge is so small. The cigarette lighter on the other hand is made to power all kinds of things and so should be an ideal tap. It has a 30 amp fuse and a similar if not exact gauge wire as on the power seat harness.
Even though each seat should have its own fuse, this set-up should be ok since the likelihood of both seats being moved at the same
time is low. Worst case, you blow the fuse to the cigarette lighter . . . no biggie.
OK, parts / items you will need:
-(2 ea) 14 ga. wire, 10 ft (I used black and white, call me a traditionalist)
-(2 ea) wire tap in splice connector , got these at Radio Shack p/n 64-3052, best things since sliced bread.
-(2 ea) OE female connector from the dealer, part # 61-13-1-378-135
-(4 ea) sockets that go inside the above connect, part # 61-13-1-376-204
(make sure they don't give you the wrong p/n with wires attached)
-2 wire clothes hangers (undone) or similar length solid wire
**there are other ways of connecting if you choose not to use the oem connectors above, I'll give other options at the end.
Here we go:
1)Disconnect the negative cable on the battery or pull the cig lighter fuse (should be #32)
2)get the old seats out, there is plenty written up on this, search or Bentley.
3)remove shifter
-on a/t's, there is a small hex screw on the front of the shifter. (the screw may be prevented from fully coming
out if the leather wrap is not aligned, so rather than pulling till it pops off and nearly breaking something [clears throat] try to
get the screw out and the shifter should come out easily)
-on m/t's I don't know exactly, I have an aftermarket shift knob with 3 little hex screws
4)take out the shifter cover. This should just pop out, a bit difficult on the a/t since cover is more rigid and thus breakable. on m/t's take out the foam insulation around the shifter.
5)take out the rear center console, i.e., the section of console with the coin holders and the hand brake. see pic below of console removed.
(see the Bentley or Old School's write-up (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=328939))
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/1.jpg
6)remove the computer. there is a hole in the sunglass cubby, reach in with a finger and push the computer out. I suppose you can remove the computer altogether by disconnecting the harnesses but I just let it hang out of the way. see pic below
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/2.jpg
7)slide the cubby up and out enough that you can disconnect the wires going to the cigarette lighter (see above pic) and any other wires that may be attached to the underside of the cubby. Mine only had the cigarette lighter but my other car has switches for the heated seats. Remove the cubby once everything is disconnected.
now the fun part . . .
8) take your wires and mock them in place so you can see how much you will need and of course leave yourself plenty of extra. I routed the wires from the cigarette lighter to the opening in the carpet next to the hand brake, then over to the pre-cut hole where the harness for the seat goes (in the direction of the arrow of the pic below).
Once you have a length of wire, double it and cut once so you have only one long wire for hot and one for ground (you'll see why in the next step).
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/13.jpg
9)Now, let's take a moment to look at the splice connector.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/3.jpg
These work by laying two wires next to each other within the connector, then pressing a metal tab into the connector with some pliers. This tab cuts
into each of the wires and completes the circuit. Then you simply snap the plastic cover in place and voila! No stripping, soldering or anything like
that. This means you can tap into the power and ground wires in the cigarette lighter without disturbing them very much at all.
However, in the above picture you can see that one wire runs completely through and the other does not; there is an integrated
stopper that prevents that wire from running all the way through. see pic below.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/14.jpg
If left this way you would have to use 4 splice connectors instead of two (explained below). So, take a drill bit and drill out the plastic thus enabling wire to pass through both slots unimpeded (I forgot the bit size but as long as you don't use a drill bit that's too big, you will not damage the connector, the tab is out of the way at this time). Thus, you can run one continuous length from side to side with the splice in the middle of the wire. See pic below
Go ahead and splice the wires; I took care to splice into the power and ground so that the connectors go back in to the cig lighter without twisting the wires.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/4.jpg
If you choose not to alter the splice connectors, you'll have to splice each tap wire individually to the positive and ground wires. Or you can do a little splice on splice action, i.e., splice the 1st tap wire to the power, then splice the 2nd tap wire to the 1st; repeat for the ground.
Reconnect the battery (or put fuse back in) and test the wires for power with a multimeter. Then disconnect the battery or fuse.
10) for you AR types, you can either twist the wires à la American Chopper drill method or bind them with tape or whatever. Zip ties probably will get caught as you try to pull the wires underneath the carpet but I suppose you can try. Guess which one I did? If you do the same, you should temporarily zip tie the wires near the splices to something rigid so as not to damage the connections by the twisting (or just twist them before you splice). If you don't try this trick you're missing out on all kinds of fun!
11) open the flaps of carpet material next to the hand brake and trim/cut as needed. referencing the passenger side, run a wire hanger from the opening near the handbrake, underneath the carpet and out the rear left hole for the seat bolt.
Then run the other wire hanger from the hole for the harness out the same bolt hole as before (rear left). In the picture below the green lines represent the wire hangers and the red box is where you will make entry. The harness opening is just outside of the picture. You can probably just use one long stiff wire but fishing it through will be more challenging; I didn't have any so I had to use the hangers.
Some tips here:
-pry open the carpet near the hand brake to enable a smoother entry
-bend the end of the wire hanger into a hairpin so it doesn't get caught in the carpet as you try to push it through.
-for the second wire hanger, lift the carpet at the base of the rear seats (the red arrow in the below picture) so you can get it through. Drop the carpet back once you are done fishing the wire hangers.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/5.jpg
12) Now you can run the wires. As you can see in the pictures below, the twisted pairs are running underneath the console from the cigarette lighter to either side of the shifter , out down the center following the path of the ashtray bulb wires.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/6.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/7.jpg
Fashion the cables to the waiting wire hanger by twisting a loop with some pliers and crimping it down tight. Make sure to keep the end of the loop pointing away from the direction of travel again so as to not get it caught on the carpet. Now pull the wire hanger out and the cables will follow in tow. Repeat the process for the final leg to the harness opening. You may want to open up the carpet again from the back to make it easier to pull the wires through. This is what it should look like once you pull out the cables completely. Make sure you have enough wire out to accomodate for seat movement, 1 ft should be good.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/8.jpg
13)Once out, cut the end off of the cables where you crimped down on just to be sure you won't be using any damaged cable.
14) Afix the sockets to the end of the wires. You will only need to strip about 1/4" of the wire. The upper set of tabs should wrap around the exposed wire, the lower tabs should wrap around the insulation.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/15.jpg
15)Insert the sockets into the connector and they will lock in place.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/16.jpg
16)Mate the connectors and you are done! (Well not really, you still have to put everything back together now. . . )
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/17.jpg
****************
Alternatives to connector types
You might notice in step 12, pic 3 that I was using some butt connectors, these were temporary while I waited for the oem connector. Of course, you will need 4; these had heat shrink wrapping. I first removed the heat shrink so that I could splay the connector open and fit onto the pins on the seat-side connector. Once they fit just right I attached them to the wires and put the heat shrink back on.
Here's what they looked like plugged in.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/9.jpg
The butt connectors worked fine and I could have left the connections this way but what the hell, might as well do it right.
BTW, does anyone know what this small black connector is for on the right side? Someone posted on another thread that if you start the car with the seats out you will get an SRS code? Could this have anything to do with that? I'm not sure this is it though since I have no failure codes and it's not plugged in. There is actually a harness on the floor but only on the driver side and it has a different shape connector so I couldn't plug them. Since I've had no problems I've left them disconnected.
Alternatively, you can buy (2 ea) male & female connectors also available at radio shack p/n's 274-151 & 274-154 respectively. You can either cut off the oem seat-side connector and attach the new connector OR splice the new connector in place in order to preserve the oem (in my case I may end up putting the seats back in my '94 if I ever get around to fixing it).
*********
Final Comments
As of the last update, I've been driving around with no problems. No SRS codes, no blown fuses, nothing. I'm actually amazed how much better the car feels; I was blaming a lot on the suspension but turns out a lot of movement was taking place in the seat, more than I originally thought. Plus, even though the leather is a bit worn, the cushions are in much better shape than the originals!
If asked how long this job should take, I would say just a couple of hours but as I'm sure you guys can relate, you end up distracted by other crap. Whether it's cleaning pieces as you go, or simply checking stuff out, how it was assembled, how it works and what not. Then there are those variables like those pesky plastic pieces that you feel like you are going to break trying to get them out. OR having to grind down the seat belts attachments so they can align in the rail. :shifty
Well, I hope you guys find it useful and maybe figure out other ways of doing the job. Tapping the battery cable itself with a fused line is another way to go. Also, someone else here has mentioned grounding to the seat bolts so all you need to do is run the hot cable. You decide.
After a lot of reading, sifting and consideration I decided that the least PITA way to get power is from the cigarette lighter. I read in a thread here that you could use the wires powering the bulbs that go into ash trays but after examining these, I was unsure as to the safety of this since the gauge is so small. The cigarette lighter on the other hand is made to power all kinds of things and so should be an ideal tap. It has a 30 amp fuse and a similar if not exact gauge wire as on the power seat harness.
Even though each seat should have its own fuse, this set-up should be ok since the likelihood of both seats being moved at the same
time is low. Worst case, you blow the fuse to the cigarette lighter . . . no biggie.
OK, parts / items you will need:
-(2 ea) 14 ga. wire, 10 ft (I used black and white, call me a traditionalist)
-(2 ea) wire tap in splice connector , got these at Radio Shack p/n 64-3052, best things since sliced bread.
-(2 ea) OE female connector from the dealer, part # 61-13-1-378-135
-(4 ea) sockets that go inside the above connect, part # 61-13-1-376-204
(make sure they don't give you the wrong p/n with wires attached)
-2 wire clothes hangers (undone) or similar length solid wire
**there are other ways of connecting if you choose not to use the oem connectors above, I'll give other options at the end.
Here we go:
1)Disconnect the negative cable on the battery or pull the cig lighter fuse (should be #32)
2)get the old seats out, there is plenty written up on this, search or Bentley.
3)remove shifter
-on a/t's, there is a small hex screw on the front of the shifter. (the screw may be prevented from fully coming
out if the leather wrap is not aligned, so rather than pulling till it pops off and nearly breaking something [clears throat] try to
get the screw out and the shifter should come out easily)
-on m/t's I don't know exactly, I have an aftermarket shift knob with 3 little hex screws
4)take out the shifter cover. This should just pop out, a bit difficult on the a/t since cover is more rigid and thus breakable. on m/t's take out the foam insulation around the shifter.
5)take out the rear center console, i.e., the section of console with the coin holders and the hand brake. see pic below of console removed.
(see the Bentley or Old School's write-up (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=328939))
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/1.jpg
6)remove the computer. there is a hole in the sunglass cubby, reach in with a finger and push the computer out. I suppose you can remove the computer altogether by disconnecting the harnesses but I just let it hang out of the way. see pic below
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/2.jpg
7)slide the cubby up and out enough that you can disconnect the wires going to the cigarette lighter (see above pic) and any other wires that may be attached to the underside of the cubby. Mine only had the cigarette lighter but my other car has switches for the heated seats. Remove the cubby once everything is disconnected.
now the fun part . . .
8) take your wires and mock them in place so you can see how much you will need and of course leave yourself plenty of extra. I routed the wires from the cigarette lighter to the opening in the carpet next to the hand brake, then over to the pre-cut hole where the harness for the seat goes (in the direction of the arrow of the pic below).
Once you have a length of wire, double it and cut once so you have only one long wire for hot and one for ground (you'll see why in the next step).
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/13.jpg
9)Now, let's take a moment to look at the splice connector.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/3.jpg
These work by laying two wires next to each other within the connector, then pressing a metal tab into the connector with some pliers. This tab cuts
into each of the wires and completes the circuit. Then you simply snap the plastic cover in place and voila! No stripping, soldering or anything like
that. This means you can tap into the power and ground wires in the cigarette lighter without disturbing them very much at all.
However, in the above picture you can see that one wire runs completely through and the other does not; there is an integrated
stopper that prevents that wire from running all the way through. see pic below.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/14.jpg
If left this way you would have to use 4 splice connectors instead of two (explained below). So, take a drill bit and drill out the plastic thus enabling wire to pass through both slots unimpeded (I forgot the bit size but as long as you don't use a drill bit that's too big, you will not damage the connector, the tab is out of the way at this time). Thus, you can run one continuous length from side to side with the splice in the middle of the wire. See pic below
Go ahead and splice the wires; I took care to splice into the power and ground so that the connectors go back in to the cig lighter without twisting the wires.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/4.jpg
If you choose not to alter the splice connectors, you'll have to splice each tap wire individually to the positive and ground wires. Or you can do a little splice on splice action, i.e., splice the 1st tap wire to the power, then splice the 2nd tap wire to the 1st; repeat for the ground.
Reconnect the battery (or put fuse back in) and test the wires for power with a multimeter. Then disconnect the battery or fuse.
10) for you AR types, you can either twist the wires à la American Chopper drill method or bind them with tape or whatever. Zip ties probably will get caught as you try to pull the wires underneath the carpet but I suppose you can try. Guess which one I did? If you do the same, you should temporarily zip tie the wires near the splices to something rigid so as not to damage the connections by the twisting (or just twist them before you splice). If you don't try this trick you're missing out on all kinds of fun!
11) open the flaps of carpet material next to the hand brake and trim/cut as needed. referencing the passenger side, run a wire hanger from the opening near the handbrake, underneath the carpet and out the rear left hole for the seat bolt.
Then run the other wire hanger from the hole for the harness out the same bolt hole as before (rear left). In the picture below the green lines represent the wire hangers and the red box is where you will make entry. The harness opening is just outside of the picture. You can probably just use one long stiff wire but fishing it through will be more challenging; I didn't have any so I had to use the hangers.
Some tips here:
-pry open the carpet near the hand brake to enable a smoother entry
-bend the end of the wire hanger into a hairpin so it doesn't get caught in the carpet as you try to push it through.
-for the second wire hanger, lift the carpet at the base of the rear seats (the red arrow in the below picture) so you can get it through. Drop the carpet back once you are done fishing the wire hangers.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/5.jpg
12) Now you can run the wires. As you can see in the pictures below, the twisted pairs are running underneath the console from the cigarette lighter to either side of the shifter , out down the center following the path of the ashtray bulb wires.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/6.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/7.jpg
Fashion the cables to the waiting wire hanger by twisting a loop with some pliers and crimping it down tight. Make sure to keep the end of the loop pointing away from the direction of travel again so as to not get it caught on the carpet. Now pull the wire hanger out and the cables will follow in tow. Repeat the process for the final leg to the harness opening. You may want to open up the carpet again from the back to make it easier to pull the wires through. This is what it should look like once you pull out the cables completely. Make sure you have enough wire out to accomodate for seat movement, 1 ft should be good.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/8.jpg
13)Once out, cut the end off of the cables where you crimped down on just to be sure you won't be using any damaged cable.
14) Afix the sockets to the end of the wires. You will only need to strip about 1/4" of the wire. The upper set of tabs should wrap around the exposed wire, the lower tabs should wrap around the insulation.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/15.jpg
15)Insert the sockets into the connector and they will lock in place.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/16.jpg
16)Mate the connectors and you are done! (Well not really, you still have to put everything back together now. . . )
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/17.jpg
****************
Alternatives to connector types
You might notice in step 12, pic 3 that I was using some butt connectors, these were temporary while I waited for the oem connector. Of course, you will need 4; these had heat shrink wrapping. I first removed the heat shrink so that I could splay the connector open and fit onto the pins on the seat-side connector. Once they fit just right I attached them to the wires and put the heat shrink back on.
Here's what they looked like plugged in.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/slash63/9.jpg
The butt connectors worked fine and I could have left the connections this way but what the hell, might as well do it right.
BTW, does anyone know what this small black connector is for on the right side? Someone posted on another thread that if you start the car with the seats out you will get an SRS code? Could this have anything to do with that? I'm not sure this is it though since I have no failure codes and it's not plugged in. There is actually a harness on the floor but only on the driver side and it has a different shape connector so I couldn't plug them. Since I've had no problems I've left them disconnected.
Alternatively, you can buy (2 ea) male & female connectors also available at radio shack p/n's 274-151 & 274-154 respectively. You can either cut off the oem seat-side connector and attach the new connector OR splice the new connector in place in order to preserve the oem (in my case I may end up putting the seats back in my '94 if I ever get around to fixing it).
*********
Final Comments
As of the last update, I've been driving around with no problems. No SRS codes, no blown fuses, nothing. I'm actually amazed how much better the car feels; I was blaming a lot on the suspension but turns out a lot of movement was taking place in the seat, more than I originally thought. Plus, even though the leather is a bit worn, the cushions are in much better shape than the originals!
If asked how long this job should take, I would say just a couple of hours but as I'm sure you guys can relate, you end up distracted by other crap. Whether it's cleaning pieces as you go, or simply checking stuff out, how it was assembled, how it works and what not. Then there are those variables like those pesky plastic pieces that you feel like you are going to break trying to get them out. OR having to grind down the seat belts attachments so they can align in the rail. :shifty
Well, I hope you guys find it useful and maybe figure out other ways of doing the job. Tapping the battery cable itself with a fused line is another way to go. Also, someone else here has mentioned grounding to the seat bolts so all you need to do is run the hot cable. You decide.