HELP: Front power seat won't return back to upright position

[vladinecko]

i don't know what happened but when my girlfriend put the front passenger (power)seat back and tried to return it back to its original upright position, it wouldn't do it. there is a sound coming out of the electric motor trying to move the seat back up but it seems like it's just slipping.

i'm not trying to fix the problem because it's obviously something that would need to be looked at by a mechanic but does anyone know how to manually put the seat back? is there a lever or some button hidden somewhere that i could press and gain manual control over the seat?

it moves back and forth ok, even up and down, only reclining doesn't work.

any help is greatly appreciated!

[Rocket26]

I dunno if its similar to the E46 seat, bit depending on the problem, it CAN be an easy fix, or possibly not.

On the E46 (and E36 for that matter) there are 3 electric motors that move to adjust the seat, I'm not entirely sure how, but these motors turn some kind of gears, which move the seat (obviously). If the motor is messed up, its quite easy to replace. Remove 4 bolts in the sliders to undo the seat, and swap out the motor that doesn't work (IIRC its the motor nearest the rear of the seat) by removing the two retaining screws with a torx bit, and plugging in the new motor. Its moronically easy. If its the actual gears, I have no idea how hard they are to replace.

On the E46, I could get the seatback up, however, it wasn't the motor that was broken, it was the gears (or whatever is inside) so even though I could get it up, it wouldn't stay up, as soon as you put pressure on the seatback, it would collapse back down. I got a used seat for $150 from a local junk yard and put that one in. Easier than trying to fix it.

I dunno if its the case in your 94, but mine through an ABS code when I plugged the seat back in. Bill at MSR reset the code for me, no problems since.

You may be able to get the seatback back up, but it may not work when you're done. Now I need to attack the passenger seat in my 97, which reclines fine, but it won't go back and forth, and is stuck in such a way that it covers the freakin screws that hold down the rear seat.

[ducky328i]

my seat did that, but i was lucky enough to get the seat to come up by itself...JUST BARELY. now if i ever try to recline it, it just makes bad sound, like gears grinding or somethin. im sure its just little plastic gears that are worn down or broke or somethin...

[vladinecko]

thanks for the responses. i don't know exactly what broke but it seems like the "gears" or whatever it is are fine because i can't move the seat by force at all. i assume something would be loose if that were not the case.

[vladinecko]

Remove 4 bolts in the sliders to undo the seat, and swap out the motor that doesn't work (IIRC its the motor nearest the rear of the seat) by removing the two retaining screws with a torx bit, and plugging in the new motor. Its moronically easy.

can you tell me where those 4 bolts are? since the seat is almost all the way down it's really hard to see where things are down there. also, do you think the motors are different for each direction or is it the same type just controlling different movement? i'm just asking in case i call the dealership to order a new one so that i know what to ask for. you know how they always try to make you get it done there if you don't seem like you know what you're talking about.

thanks a bunch!!

[Rocket26]

thanks for the responses. i don't know exactly what broke but it seems like the "gears" or whatever it is are fine because i can't move the seat by force at all. i assume something would be loose if that were not the case.
Might be a fried motor. Its a pricey part to replace, might want to see if you can get one from MSR Performance, they recycle BMW parts. The E46 motor was around $100 at the dealer.

[vladinecko]

the weirdest part is that when i press the button the motor is making sounds as though as it were trying to move but something's slipping. wouldn't it be completely dead if it were fried?

[Rocket26]

can you tell me where those 4 bolts are? since the seat is almost all the way down it's really hard to see where things are down there. also, do you think the motors are different for each direction or is it the same type just controlling different movement? i'm just asking in case i call the dealership to order a new one so that i know what to ask for. you know how they always try to make you get it done there if you don't seem like you know what you're talking about.

thanks a bunch!!
There's 3 of the motors, they're all the same thing on the E46, on the E36 I think the wires on the motor are different sizes.

The bolts are on the seat rails towards the very front and very back. In the front, they have plastic covers covering the bolts. I think its a 17mm bolt but I'm not sure.

I haven't had a good look on the underside of an E36 seat, intuition tells me you'll need part 4 pictured in the link below $95 at the dealership.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=CD33&mospid=47501&btnr=52_0708&hg=52&fg=25

[Rocket26]

the weirdest part is that when i press the button the motor is making sounds as though as it were trying to move but something's slipping. wouldn't it be completely dead if it were fried?
logically yes... which leads me to believe its the gearing and crap inside the seat... which is way too confusing for me to figure out from looking at realoem, and I don't have a bentley on this computer...

[vladinecko]

thanks man, i appreciate it!

[bciocco]

Sounds like the gears are messed up. Bavarian auto had a write up on it in their last newsletter.
WWW.Bavauto.com (http://www.Bavauto.com) the part is sg white.

[pment]

Try this place. They sell the gears and have a writeup on replacing them. I did the gears on both seats. They are in Virginia.

http://www.odometergears.com/

[HGS]

This is a known problem and usuually is caused by the plastic gear in the seat back transmission stripping rather than by a bad motor. If you search this forum you will find other threads about this and there is also a DIY page somewhere

[vladinecko]

thanks guys, that helped a lot!

[burntass]

sorry to revive old, old posts.. but I could use this DIY. I can't seem to find it anywhere either. Would appreciate any help if anyone remembers how to do this.


This is a known problem and usuually is caused by the plastic gear in the seat back transmission stripping rather than by a bad motor. If you search this forum you will find other threads about this and there is also a DIY page somewhere

[runnr548]

We just repaired the passenger seat in our E36 using a new gear from http://www.odometergears.com/ It was a 30 minute job & works great!

[Fitzer]

Yeah, just a broken gear. I literally just did this job yesterday. Can be a pain with the wrong tools. DO NOT take it to a mechanic or buy a new motor, that would be way way way too expensive. The gears are already overpriced enough.



DIY Linky: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=421361

ANOTHER DIY LINKY: http://www.odometergears.com/subpages/E36FAQ.html
(On the 4th picture down, you will see that the shaft has an "C" clip that needs to be removed in order to get the gear on. This clip is EXTREMELY small so DO NOT misplace it. The DIY doesn't specify about the "C" clip, so I thought I would let you know.)




EDIT: Wow, way to go with the necro-bump buddy.