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Thread: DIY:Seat release cable fix

  1. #1
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    DIY:Seat release cable fix

    Well my passenger seat has a failed tilt cable. So I started taking apart the seat to repair it.

    First take the headrest off.
    Second look at the back at the bottom. You may need to remove these staples in order to get enough slack to pull the leather off. I would prefer not to remove them, but it may be necessary.
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  2. #2
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    Next start working the leather out of the shell. There are 5 clips on either side. Be careful of these because you can bend them and the you might need to replace them.
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  3. #3
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    Then simply lean the leather and foam forward together.
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  4. #4
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    My "bowden" cable was the one that went bad. It just broke at the top where it connects to the lever. The plastic caps on the two lever mechanisms are easy to remove by pulling on the two tabs. The rubber band keeps the handle in the down position. This might be something you want to replace while you are in there. The metal bars in the middle connect the two handles so you can release the seat from the driver's side of the car. I disconnected it from the top and then fed it down through the hole in the bottom of the seat back.
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  5. #5
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    Then on the bottom of the seat it is connected with a spring washer. I pried the washers off the shaft. They are deformed, but I will buy new ones. Then I just slid the spring and cable off the bracket.
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  6. #6
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    The directions I was following mentioned removing the storage net on the back of the seat. Very bad idea. I would not remove this if you don't have to. It is very easy to break it, it is stapled to the seat back, and it doesn't help you one bit to remove it.
    If you did need to remove it though, you would simply pull the staples from the leather at the bottom as pictured above, then pull the staple holding the bottom plastic flap onto the seat. Then just lift the whole assembly up. The plastic guides on the sides will pull off the plastic pins in the seat back. If you just pull this thing back while it is attached to the car, you may pull these plastic studs out of the seat back or break the plastic part of the net assembly. Putting it back on is equally tricky if you pull them. I guess I don't really have any pics for this but I can take some.
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  7. #7
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    You also don't have to remove the screws under the plastic piece under the headrest. This is only if you want to pull the whole seatback off the main frame. In order to do this however, you will need to first remove the bottom seat cushion and then the small leather flap at the seam that is being held down under the seat cushion. You can remove these with a T30 torx. I imagine you need to do this if you are repairing or replacing the heating element.
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  8. #8
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    Here is the plastic part that is removed under the headrest.
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  9. #9
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    There is also a cover attached to the bottom of the seat frame with two more T30 torx screws.
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  10. #10
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    To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. ~ Thomas Paine
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  11. #11
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    Old skool, I hope you never buy a new car....How in the world are we EVER going to keep our DIY indexes updated? Thanks!

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by UKFan4Sure!
    Old skool, I hope you never buy a new car....How in the world are we EVER going to keep our DIY indexes updated? Thanks!
    Honestly let me tell you how much I now hate taking the car apart....the more you mess with it the less perfect it is....well to some extent. At this point I would be much happier if I could just bolt the vaders in and be done with it.
    To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. ~ Thomas Paine
    You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do. — Anne Lamott
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  13. #13
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    What problem does this fix?

  14. #14
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    Thank you I've been waiting for someone to write this up. I'm getting tired of letting everyone get in on my side. Plus the passengers going in and out on my side were starting to wear out my weatherstripping

    Looking for: 11-button OBC, Driver and passenger side door strikers

  15. #15
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    another great write up oldskool! i didnt have a camera when i pulled my seats apart, at least you did. gj again! i know this will help alot of people out.
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  16. #16
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    will the tilt lever becoming increasing harder to pull as the cable wears out or is high lever effort indicative of something else?

  17. #17
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    It just failed suddenly for me.
    To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. ~ Thomas Paine
    You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do. — Anne Lamott
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  18. #18
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    Hey, we tried this fix today but bmw ended up getting me the wrong bowden cables. They were like 6 inches shorter than the regular ones. So there must be 2 different versions. Thanks for telling me that bmw

  19. #19
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    May I offer one more step to this fix and that would be to disconnect the battery (maybe negative terminal only from what I've read) if you're going to do this by taking the seat out of the car which is hard to tell by looking at the pics here, but is how I did it. If the battery is not disconnected and you unplug the harnesses from underneath the seat it will turn on the airbag warning light permanently. Unfortunately my SRS light is on now the st(d)ealer wants $60 to re-set (turn off) the warning light. Peake code reader/reset unit is $120. If anyone wants to sell the Peake unit, I'm in the market.

    When I did my cable fix, I did not know how to get the shell off the seat back. This is a great post. Thanks! BTW, my cable was broken at the very bottom end where the small "barrel" end of the cable fits into the release bracket on the bottom of the seat frame. Being impatient, I cut a small electrical connector crimp end from it's blade and crimped it onto the end of the cable to effectively make a new barrel and reinstalled. Sort of works but because it's a half-inch or so short, sometimes the seat back pops forward if I go over a bump. But saved me from taking the entire seat apart. Oh well!
    Last edited by Speedshift; 01-14-2008 at 05:56 PM. Reason: clarify reply

  20. #20
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    Yes. You are right about the battery.

    I recently installed these in my new car and even though I had the battery disconnected for 30 mins my airbag light came on anyway...so I don't know what to say about that but I will need to reset it soon,
    To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. ~ Thomas Paine
    You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do. — Anne Lamott
    Custom watch straps for sale

    FOR SALE: watch straps!!

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  21. #21
    wannaMMM is offline Awaiting Email Verification
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    Thanks for this post, it gave me the confidence to tackle my seats. Mine were are little different. The backs of the seats have two screws on the bottom, then pop of the plastic handles (for folding them forward) and the plastic cover around them. Once the head rest is removed, it just pulls off. It was quite easy actually. It was the same procedure on my 98 328 as it is on my Vaders.

    FYI: For anyone else interested the manual bottom frame and the electric frames have the same mounting points. I was able to swap the electric motor frame from my original seats for the manual frame from a set of Vader seats I bought a while ago and have fully working power Vader seats!!

    Its quite easy once you figure out how to remove the cushions. On the standard 328is seats there are four black plastic tabs that must be popped out (be careful I broke three removing them) to remove the bottom cushion. The vaders have a two screws in the front and two black plastic tabs on the back.

    With this removed you will see the four (standard seats) or six screws (vader seats) holding the plastic bottom to the frame. Remove these and you can remove the bottom plastic mounting tray. You can remove the electric or manual controls by removing the four screws holding it in place.

    Remove the back seat cover, as mentioned before. Then there are four screws on the lower back and two in the front holding the rear frame to the lower seat frame. Unscrew these and remove the bowden cable and it will all come apart.

    Swap the bottom base and put it all back together. Its that easy.

    It took me a while to figure exactly how the seats come apart. I took pictures if anyone is interested in doing this I'll post them, but this is fairly straight forward. I was able to completely dissemble a seat in about 20 mins once I knew what I was doing.

    -Evan
    Last edited by wannaMMM; 01-02-2009 at 04:47 PM.

  22. #22
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    Related to this.. does anyone find that their Vader's have about 1" of freeplay on the seatback? With the seat securely bolted down, I find that under braking the seatback moves forward slightly as if there's something loose in the recline mechanism.. I took out the seats to have a look, seems like the only place this could happen is in the recline gear itself i.e. worn teeth

    Anyone else experience this?
    - Peter Shen -

  23. #23
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    Done it ! and it worked like clockwork Awesome DIY !



  24. #24
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    Thanks, Old Skool! Successfully got my driver's seat back release working today.

    Mine ('94 325iS) looked a little different, but same principles. A plastic ball joint fitting that the cable end snaps into under the seat had come off of the ball. After removing the seat to get to it (disconnecting the battery first) I reseated the cable and snapped the socket back onto the ball. I noticed some fraying in the cable so I'll probably order a new one for the day when it breaks, but meanwhile I'm back in business. No ar bag light, either!

    Thanks again for these great DIY write-ups.

  25. #25
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    another great DIY old skool!

    My problem seems to be at the bottom of the seat where the retaining clip fell off/ broke off... I just needed a verification of how that stayed in place!




    Last edited by Camarok; 03-18-2010 at 03:04 PM.
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