Manual To Electric Seat Swap

[Tommm]

I'm posting prematurely.

I have a heated electric E82 sport seat on the way. My '08 128i has heated manual base seats. The heat and metallic paint are the only options on the car.

Since I don't have the fancy key, I assume the memory buttons will be for show.

Other than finding a power source, what do I need to do? I assume the airbag will plug in. I assume the harness for the heater will plug in.

Anyone have any thoughts on where to get the power from? I have a Bluetooth and phone charger in the lighter, will I overpower it if I run a line?

Does the car already have the harness so it will be plug and play?

Anyone have pictures of the connectors under the seats? My searches didn't turn up the answers.

Thanks

[captain slowly]

Here is your answer http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...73104&page=186
I'd talk to Jackp0t, he can probably guide you

[Tommm]

If anyone else has links or pearls of wisdom, please share.

Originally Posted by captain slowly

Here is your answer http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...73104&page=186
I'd talk to Jackp0t, he can probably guide you

Thanks.
I posted a direct link below. Post 4071 I've done tougher jobs, but this one will surely be a PITA! I also have to swap the airbag.

Originally Posted by jackp0t

So i sourced this full* on red interior and i pounced on that with the quickness!

My only complain was that its electric sports seats and mine is the manual sports seats.

With past exp i was able to retrofit the s2000 seats unto my prelude by switching the seat pan and using the rails for the prelude. So i thought forsure being as its the same car i could just easily switch the rails and i retain the manual controls. WRONG!

*

[chadillac2000]

I wish we could have swapped -- would love some manual heated seats over my current power ones!

I'll be interested to see what you find out as I may be doing this down the road in the opposite direction.

[Tommm]

Originally Posted by chadillac2000

I wish we could have swapped -- would love some manual heated seats over my current power ones!

I'll be interested to see what you find out as I may be doing this down the road in the opposite direction.

I'm doing it for the lumbar and lateral support. Lumbar for my hour plus commute, lateral for the half dozen days a year its on the track.

The seats look about as slow as the ones I had in my Holden GTO. Those were probably the best seats of any car I owned, except for when it was pouring rain and I was battling a two year old who didn't want to go in her car seat. "No. I sit front daddy." She hasn't changed in a dozen years.

[Tommm]

I am going to add links that look like they may help someone in the future. I will start this job after April 15th.
https://parts.bmwofsouthatlanta.com/..._BMW_StockCode Link to Dealer site with pins if you want them.
http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/633686 Great pictures of the parts under the seat. He added memory to a 7 series.
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...ht=power+seats Power seat retrofit with pictures of the frames with motors.

[Tommm]

I took a few days off this week, and today I tackled the seat. I relied a lot on this thread
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=480313

I don't have the keyless option so I figured I would skip the memory seat portion. I was wrong. you have to go through the K-CAN in order to move the seat.

Here are the steps I took that worked.
Take a sheet of paper and make four columns. Car harness, Old seat, New seat, notes. Number one to thirteen (fourteen forward is the airbags).

Note next to the pin number the color of the wire. If you don't have memory pin one and five are used, those power the little box on the bottom of your seat for heat. If you do, then pin two and three are used.

My new seat had a red wire in pin four (the car and old seat didn't). My car and old seat had a red wire in pin nine. I moved four to nine. I have lumbar which is pin seven. I bridged that to pin nine.

The new seat has a brown in eight and thirteen. My car and old seat were blank in thirteen. I bridged the two browns, and bridged the two reds on the new seat.

Since I don't have wires that go to the K-CAN I could have added pins to the car side harness and run them, but since I didn't have the wire with pins, I removed the pins from the seat harness and spliced some wire to each wire, and added a connector. The hardest part for me was the K-CAN. I wasn't sure what people were talking about. I started to remove the console, and instead removed the plastic panel with the seat heater buttons. I then removed the bezel around the radio. I then took out the temperature cluster. That came out with a good pull.

Then, I ran some wire up the edge of the console to the area in back of the radio which was now wide open, and spliced the wires into the K-Can orange/green and green wires.

The rest was cake.

I reused my airbag and seatbelt clip.

The biggest waste of time was my attempt to avoid tying into the K-CAN. I sip tied the control box from my old seat to the new one, and bridged the harnesses together. the heat worked, but without the K-CAN the seat wouldn't move forward or recline.

I think I covered al the relevant parts. Read and reread the links.

[smi2710]

edit never mind i just swap seat covers

[b1aze]

Originally Posted by smi2710

rehashing an old thread here as i jsut got a set of powered seats from a 12' 135i and want to swap them in my 09 non powered seats. For Fun i tried hooking them then to see if maybe by chance the car was wired. False hope plugged it in and had power to lumber and lateral support but no back and forth movement.

Also im not hooked on having power seats i would swap to the manual bases if possible as im only switching because my drivers seats is ripped. I can find any one who has swapped bases yet

I pulled all the upholstery off of electric seats and put them on my manual frames. Assuming they’re both the same style seat (sport vs non-sport) it’s a direct swap. Seat backs are also interchangeable without taking them off the frames but you gotta pull some of the wiring out.

[nachob]

Originally Posted by Tommm

I'm posting prematurely.

I have a heated electric E82 sport seat on the way. My '08 128i has heated manual base seats. The heat and metallic paint are the only options on the car.

Since I don't have the fancy key, I assume the memory buttons will be for show.

Other than finding a power source, what do I need to do? I assume the airbag will plug in. I assume the harness for the heater will plug in.

Anyone have any thoughts on where to get the power from? I have a Bluetooth and phone charger in the lighter, will I overpower it if I run a line?

Does the car already have the harness so it will be plug and play?

Anyone have pictures of the connectors under the seats? My searches didn't turn up the answers.

Thanks

Funny how the grass is always greener. The manual sport seats are the hot setup. They are a little lighter, they move faster for rear access and most of all they sit about 1 3/8" lower than the power seats. On the M2, the only way to get them is pay extra for a CS version....just funny how things work. Manual seats are the bomb. At least it's easy to go back if you don't like the higher seating position. One practical thing I can add, is put them in and drive around before you tear the upholstery apart. Many people, myself included did not like the higher seating position. Some don't care, but usually it was people that only sat in power seats so they didn't know any better. Anyway, I strongly recommend you try it out before doing the upholstery.

Let us know how it goes and best wishes.

[jsciam]

Originally Posted by nachob

Funny how the grass is always greener. The manual sport seats are the hot setup. They are a little lighter, they move faster for rear access and most of all they sit about 1 3/8" lower than the power seats. On the M2, the only way to get them is pay extra for a CS version....just funny how things work. Manual seats are the bomb. At least it's easy to go back if you don't like the higher seating position. One practical thing I can add, is put them in and drive around before you tear the upholstery apart. Many people, myself included did not like the higher seating position. Some don't care, but usually it was people that only sat in power seats so they didn't know any better. Anyway, I strongly recommend you try it out before doing the upholstery.

Let us know how it goes and best wishes.

I recently bought manual heated sport seats to swap into my 135 that has electric heated sport seats. I know this thread shows swapping in the opposite way, but have you heard of this swap in the reverse? Immediately after plugging in, I get an airbag warning, seatbelt warning, and passeneger restraint error.

-All connectors are tight underneath the seat (I get power to the lumbar)
-Reset airbag light using BMW Protool and JB4 function, still there.
-Checked electric seat/heated seat fuses, all good (unless I missed one).
-Heated seat function does not work.

I'm wondering if I could recode the car to believe it has manual sport seats? I can't figure out the issue. Thank you.

[nachob]

Originally Posted by jsciam

I recently bought manual heated sport seats to swap into my 135 that has electric heated sport seats. I know this thread shows swapping in the opposite way, but have you heard of this swap in the reverse? Immediately after plugging in, I get an airbag warning, seatbelt warning, and passeneger restraint error.

-All connectors are tight underneath the seat (I get power to the lumbar)
-Reset airbag light using BMW Protool and JB4 function, still there.
-Checked electric seat/heated seat fuses, all good (unless I missed one).
-Heated seat function does not work.

I'm wondering if I could recode the car to believe it has manual sport seats? I can't figure out the issue. Thank you.

I disconnected the battery before disconnecting seats. Then I reconnect and last step is to reconnect battery. If you don't reconnect you will get codes. You should be able to reset the codes though with a bmw obd tool. If you've tried that you can try coding but I think it might disable the airbags and belt tensioners.

[jsciam]

Originally Posted by nachob

I disconnected the battery before disconnecting seats. Then I reconnect and last step is to reconnect battery. If you don't reconnect you will get codes. You should be able to reset the codes though with a bmw obd tool. If you've tried that you can try coding but I think it might disable the airbags and belt tensioners.

Yes, I disconnected the battery, but I removed the connections too quickly. After a couple more days, I found a code for the seat belt tensioner. After confirming the connection was good, I disabled that seat belt tensioner using BMW Protool. I no longer have any codes, but my seat heater does not work. I'm wondering if that is a mechanical problem vs connection issue.

Thank you for your help.

[nachob]

Originally Posted by jsciam

Yes, I disconnected the battery, but I removed the connections too quickly. After a couple more days, I found a code for the seat belt tensioner. After confirming the connection was good, I disabled that seat belt tensioner using BMW Protool. I no longer have any codes, but my seat heater does not work. I'm wondering if that is a mechanical problem vs connection issue.

Thank you for your help.

Heated seats are probably a different issue but I don't know if disabling the belt tensioner will disable it? The tensioner is really important. You can slide out of a loose belt or even if you don't a loose belt will hurt more.

[Sanchez14]

Originally Posted by jsciam

I recently bought manual heated sport seats to swap into my 135 that has electric heated sport seats. I know this thread shows swapping in the opposite way, but have you heard of this swap in the reverse? Immediately after plugging in, I get an airbag warning, seatbelt warning, and passeneger restraint error.

-All connectors are tight underneath the seat (I get power to the lumbar)
-Reset airbag light using BMW Protool and JB4 function, still there.
-Checked electric seat/heated seat fuses, all good (unless I missed one).
-Heated seat function does not work.

I'm wondering if I could recode the car to believe it has manual sport seats? I can't figure out the issue. Thank you.

Where did you find manual sport seats? I’ve been looking for a pair myself and having a hard time finding any.

[jsciam]

Originally Posted by Sanchez14

Where did you find manual sport seats? I’ve been looking for a pair myself and having a hard time finding any.

car-part.com , selected seats by distance, found manual heated pair 400 miles away for $100 each. $50 shipping. Gave me 1.25'' of headroom, and they're probably 10lb less each.

[Sanchez14]

Thanks for the reply! Much appreciated. I searched car-part.com, but couldn't find manual seats on any of the m3 listings anywhere in the country right now. I'll keep looking though.

Originally Posted by jsciam

car-part.com , selected seats by distance, found manual heated pair 400 miles away for $100 each. $50 shipping. Gave me 1.25'' of headroom, and they're probably 10lb less each.

[Lucky1]

Is it worth doing this conversion? I am seeing a few interesting N55 135i coupes but many of them have manual seats. Should I just wait for a car to come for sale that has sport electric seats already?