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Thread: E36 Heated Seat Repair DIY

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    1993 E36 M42 318iS

    E36 Heated Seat Repair DIY

    When I bought my 1993 318iS, I noticed that the drivers seat heating did not work, the passenger seat was fine and I was jealous. So I thought I'd see if i could repair my seat and it occurred to me that I should do a DIY so other people may benefit from my experience.

    The seats I am working on are the sport seats BTW.

    So without further ado, here it is.......

    REMOVING THE SEAT

    Slide the seat all the way back on it track and pop off the nut caps on the front of the seat rail and remove the 2 nuts and washers.



    Afterwards, slide the seat all the way forward, and remove the 2 bolts and washers.




    Carefully lift up on the seat and slide it out so that the outboard seat rail is resting on the rocker panel to allow easier access to disconnect the 3 electrical connectors. 2 for the seat heaters and 1 for the seatbelt.



    When this is done go ahead and remove the seat from the car and place it on a work surface.




    REMOVING THE SEAT FROM THE FRAME

    On the bottom of the seat near the front are 2 torx screws holding the front of the seat. Remove these.



    At the back of the seat are 2 clips holding the back of the seat to the frame. Carefully pry up on the back of the seat to release them. But do it carefully, I broke one in the process.



    Once the seat is off you can now start to remove the seat cover. Around the outside, the seat cover is looped over tabs along the perimeter of the seat frame, just slide them off the tabs.



    Now you can remove the hog rings holding the cover down. A hog ring plier would work easier, but since I didn't have one, I just used 2 needle nose pliers and they worked fine.





    Once all the hog rings are off you can now remove the seat cover and underneath that you will find the seat heating element. It is attached at the front by 2 tabs as well, simply slide them off and remove the heating element from the seat. Guide the wiring connector through the hole as well.






    ELEMENT REPAIR
    When I inspected my heater, I noticed a burn mark near where the wires exit.



    Using a multimeter set to continuity, I found that the wire was broken in this area.






    Strip the wire (be cautious here, the wire is very thin and there are only a few strands), and I soldered them back together. I then used my multimeter on the connector to make sure that there was now continuity.



    Installation is the reverse of removal.

    SEAT BACK REMOVAL

    Leave the seat bottom off for this procedure. Remove the 2 hog rings from the seat back cover and the seat frame bottom.



    Remove the head rest.



    Remove the 4 torx bolts. 2 from the seat back bottom and 2 from under the head rest.






    From under the seat remove the 2 clips from the bowden cable that is used to unlock the seat so someone can get into the back seat, and remove it from the holder.





    Slide the seat back upwards to remove it from the frame.

    SEAT COVER REMOVAL

    On the bottom of the seat back, there are 4 staples 2 on each side. Remove them with a screw driver.



    The seat cover will now slide out from the grove all the way around.



    Carefully remove the clips as you get to them by inserting a screwdriver behind the clip and give the screwdriver a twist to free the clip.



    As with the seat bottom, remove the hog rings. I didn't have to as I found the same burn marks here as well.



    Again I stripped the wires and soldered them together testing with the meter to make sure there was continuity.



    Reassemble is the reverse of disassembly.

    Hope this helps someone out there, and I will post an update later on to let everyone know if the repair lasts.

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    1998 328 convertible

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
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    Sheveport, LA
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    1994 318is; 2001 525i
    Great write up. Glad the car didn't burn up.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    Jasper, Ontario, Canada
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    1993 E36 M42 318iS
    Thanks for the responses.....took it out for a drive and yes I have a warm bum now

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    Japan
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    11/88 E32 750iL+98 E36M3
    Great, good timing for many of us, thanks a lot.
    Shogun tricks and tips for the E32 series are HERE!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
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    e84, e36, e21
    Yeah, I definitely need to do this soon. The ass section of my drivers seat doesn't get hot anymore.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
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    E36, F10, W205
    this is a whole lot easier and less expensive than replacing the mats. i replaced them in my car a while back. each mat was about $80 IIRC and each seat had probably 100 hog rings, which are awful to mess with. my hands were so sore after finishing that project.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2010
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    Hamden, Connecticut, USA
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    1995 325is
    hmm how much do you think bmw charges for this? I dont feel like playing with all those clips

  9. #9
    Join Date
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    Actually the clips came out fairly easily, I used 2 needle nose pliers and just spread them open so I could remove them. On the seat bottom there are 4 on each side, with 2 more on the rear and 2 in the middle. The seat back does have a lot more tho.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
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    wilmington De
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    vinyl wrapped 97 328is
    Sweet diy! I took the heat pads out of my old seats and put them in my corbeau race seats ) heated race seats ftw
    Last edited by whoshaunq; 10-22-2010 at 09:19 AM.

  11. #11
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    Atlanta, GA
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    97 M3/4/5, Techno
    Nice write up. Only thing I will add is that seats vary, so don't be concerned if yours isn't like his. On some seats, they have 4 clips holding the seat bottom in, no screws. Others still you have o remove the front leg-rest before doing the rest (those will have screws, and a bypass release to get the legrest out. Newer seatbacks are also much easier, you can take the back off from the bottom w/ 2 torx screws, pull then side levers out (friction insert), remove headrest, then remove entire seatback. Once there, the upholstery can be removed by undoing the leather from the attachment clips (pull overs)

    I fetched a couple heated seat pads from a set of 99 seats a few months ago...if I ever get ambitious, I'll install them in my 99 M3. Has anyone ever tackled wiring in heated seats in a car that didn't have them? I do have the switches as well....

  12. #12
    Join Date
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    http://www.bmwe36blog.com/2006/12/21...s-for-bmw-e36/


    Heated seat install in a vehicle with no heated seats

  13. #13
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    Bump

  14. #14
    Join Date
    May 2006
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    DE-spec E36 328i/M3 cab
    This write up is for the old style seats. BMW did a major make over of the seats somewhere between 1994-95. Frame is totally different and the whole backrest is its own frame. Connectors for the heater elements is also different.

    The major hassle is those hogrings. Getting them out is ok, but getting them back in..how did you do that without a special tool?

    I'm not sure, but the hogrings go around metal bars that are inside the foam part. I believe you can pull these out, instantly freeing all hogrings without the need to open them up. Then on reversal you can reinsert the metal bar. Althought this might be too easy to be true. I have never tried myself.

    When doing this, it's a good thing to replace the foam as well. Most of our cars now have a worn driver's seat with sagging bolster. This is always a good moment to fit a new one.

    I'm also looking into some later model base heater element, as newer types have a special section for the extendable thigh support, that can move with the sliding motion. I would love to have that heat up as well.

    And could anybody confirm. On the backrest part, it's only the lower back portion that heats up. Not the whole backrest as all diagrams suggest. But the heater element either works or doesn't. There can't be a section broken and the rest working.
    But it still has me wondering
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  15. #15
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    1993 E36 M42 318iS
    I used 2 needle nose pliers to gently pry the hog rings apart leaving a gap between the ends and then using the pliers I then pried them back together. The ends of the hog rings overlapped each other and when I pried them back together they still had an overlap.

    As for the upper part of the back section of the seat, it seems that mine does not heat up as well, ergo your comment that the upper portion is not heated is probably right. I did not have to remove the seat cover so I don't know if the heater is in that section as well.

    And yes it would be nice if the thigh support heated up as well.

  16. #16
    Join Date
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    DE-spec E36 328i/M3 cab
    This is a diagram of the E9x heater elements. Basic seat left, sport seat right. You can see the thigh extension heater mat. This would be nice to fit to an e36 sport seat. And as you can see, even the side bolsters have heater elements.

    Last edited by MParallel; 10-24-2010 at 10:11 PM.
    1998 BMW M3 3.2 Cabrio • Alpinweiί III on Schwarz • German spec • 1 of 12
    SMG • SRA • PDC • AUC • OBC • GSM • HK • UURS • IHKA • FGR • MFL

    IG:
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  17. #17
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    washington dc
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    Avus Cosmos Calypso!
    Great DIY thanks! I've been putting this off since last winter. I need to do this in the next few months...Bought new elements but I guess should look into getting new cushions too....Anyone done this with vaders?

  18. #18
    Join Date
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    E36, F10, W205
    Quote Originally Posted by MParallel View Post

    I'm not sure, but the hogrings go around metal bars that are inside the foam part. I believe you can pull these out, instantly freeing all hogrings without the need to open them up. Then on reversal you can reinsert the metal bar. Althought this might be too easy to be true. I have never tried myself.
    From my experience, it would be difficult to remove (and replace) the metal bars without damaging the rest of the foam. When the foam that secures the bars is damaged, it doesnt hold the bars in place very well. When the bars aren't held in place, the outer appearance of the seat would lose the sunken seams wherever a bar isn't held down.

    The hog-ring pliers are pretty cheap. If you end up adding e9x heating elements, you might want to just buy the pliers too. Or use very small zip-ties instead of hog-rings. I used zip-ties because it was easier, but then I found out that I could pull the seam closer to the metal bars, which made the seams look a little better from the outside when the project was all done.

  19. #19
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    1993 E36 M42 318iS
    Bump

  20. #20
    Join Date
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    1993 E36 M42 318iS
    Just an update to the repair.....still working!!!!

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Aug 2020
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    Netherlands
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    1995 318i Convertible
    Hi! Sorry to bump this thread, but I was wondering if it would also be possible to transfer the bottom seat from a wide to a narrow back seat? They do look similar.


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