Z4M power seat: two questions.

[brother i]

Hey fellow z4 owners!

I had a z4m and loved it for a while, then life forced me to switch to a different car.... But now I have returned, and own another z4m!

Now to the topic. I discovered my passenger seat does not recline (I can hear the motor whirring, but it is not moving). For another project (sim racing rig) I needed to get a seat from the junk yard anyway - so I picked up one of these for $200, with intent to use the base/motors for fixing up my car and remainder for my sim rig:


Overall in very nice shape, got some dents in the leather - but I think nothing a hair dryer wouldn't be able to fix.

So first question, regarding using motors from that seat in the seat of my car (the color is different, so can't just swap the whole seat out): Does anyone know which motor is responsible for which motion? Here's a pic of the motors:



And final question, which might possibly help me identify motors as well - do you think there is a reasonably easy way to wire power to it from sources other than car? Using something like 110v to 12v converter? Which is to say - it would be cool if some of the power functions worked in my sim racing rig, too :P. Here's a close-up pic of the connector:



Any input appreciated!

[ShakyDog]

Wow, I wish I could find a pair of Sport seats for $200 a piece in the mid-west. That cheap, I could have them re-leathered.

Steve

[Tlarkk]

RealOEM has some diagrams, looks like they are all different motors according to this part list.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=52_2974

[Fishy Dave]

Hi Ivan,

I may able to help you out as I bought (from the US via ebay) the seat wiring looms for a set of pre-facelift seats and now don't need them. You may (or may not) have a bit of a challenge getting power to them out of the car due to the canbus wiring?
I added heating elements to my Z4M seats, using carbon elements, the correct BMW switch panel and adapting an E83 X3 retrofit wiring kit, the result works perfectly but I was thrashing in the dark and thought the wiring loom I mentioned above could be useful (it wasn't).
Happy to bring them with me in hand luggage in September?

Regards, Dave

[brother i]

Cool, thanks for the input! Looking them up by part numbers it seems they actually cost over ~200 individually, so I'm pretty happy I got the whole seat

Not quite obvious on the diagram where do which motors go, but I suspect it's #4 in my picture. I'll just try swapping it out when I get a chance. Thanks again!

Originally Posted by Tlarkk

RealOEM has some diagrams, looks like they are all different motors according to this part list.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=52_2974

[wdb]

I bought a pair of M Sport seats on eBay (for more than you paid!) and was able to power them up 'on the bench' using a 12v battery charger. I don't have the diagram handy but two of the large connectors are for the heating element and the other two are for the rest of the seat functions. With a diagram you should be able to figure it out, as well as which is the ground and which is 12v. I recall that it was not hard for me to do.

FWIW my battery charger puts out 3 or 4 amps. I doubt that a trickle charger would deliver enough power to drive the motors. Also I did not try to drive the heaters with my puny 3 amps - I suspect they would take more than that.

[Tlarkk]

I thought the M sport seat conversion was a plug and play fit? I am looking into doing it eventually, is the problem the power connectors?

[wdb]

Originally Posted by Tlarkk

I thought the M sport seat conversion was a plug and play fit? I am looking into doing it eventually, is the problem the power connectors?

I sure hope it's plug and play! I'm putting my faith in German engineering + a bit of laziness on the part of the factory in terms of fitting whichever seat they need to whichever car they wanted. In my case I'll need to swap the seat belt connectors as well but again I'm trusting it to be a fairly straightforward matter of turning a few bolts.

OP was asking about powering up the seats without installing them in the car -- 'bench testing' them if you will, so that he can troubleshoot his seat motor issue.

[Tlarkk]

Originally Posted by wdb

I sure hope it's plug and play! I'm putting my faith in German engineering + a bit of laziness on the part of the factory in terms of fitting whichever seat they need to whichever car they wanted. In my case I'll need to swap the seat belt connectors as well but again I'm trusting it to be a fairly straightforward matter of turning a few bolts.

OP was asking about powering up the seats without installing them in the car -- 'bench testing' them if you will, so that he can troubleshoot his seat motor issue.

Ah, makes sense. Well keep us updated when you do your swap, I hope it is plug and play!