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Thread: 525i twisted seat repair procedure

  1. #51
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    I take the bus to work.
    lol.... i took the DIY instructions to my indy mechanic and figured it would take him 20min per seat like the directions quoted. Expecting a bill for a half or full hour of labor, I get a phone call an hour and a half later with a bill for $150 for one seat. He calls me up and told me he took it to a bmw shop to fix it. He had it fixed without giving me an estimate, so I paid it and told him to leave the passenger seat alone - I wasnt going to get taken for another $150.

    Now im in the middle of the job... I have the seat unbolted and tilted toward the backseat. do I have to take the seat out of the car? Do I have to disconnect any of the cables/electrical plugs? If so, does this trigger the SRS light?
    -M3J0N

  2. #52
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    70 Bronco 95 525i
    no you don't have to take the seat of out the car. You do have to disconnect the black and white cables that run in the way of the motors at the front of the seat.

    Just unclip them... You really didn't need to unbolt the seat, but since you did it's probably easier to see and work on...

  3. #53
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    1991 535i/5
    This is the reason I like forums so much. I love doing my own work....ok, ok. I have trust issues. I don't like people touching my stuff. And the prices these shops charge. I'm in the wrong business. This one is gonna save me a bunch of cash. I gotta do one twisty seat and 2 headrests. Thank you for the help!
    So other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

  4. #54
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    1989 BMW 535i A/T - sold

    Thumbs up

    Just to clarify this picture, the Torx bolt is the seat belt anchor for the seat. The other arrow points to the seat belt anchor point adjustment cable attachment to the seat track. Mine on the pass. side was broken - the stud that protrudes from the track hole was missing, so I just bolted the clip directly to the hole.

    Quote Originally Posted by wastedincome View Post
    The pic below shows where the cable mounts to w/ the clip....HTH

    http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/seat2.jpg
    I did this repair to the pass. seat on Saturday. Here's what I did & the issues I had:

    - unbolted the rear of the seat, although it was hard due to the seat laying back so far. Tipped the seat forward to get it off the front hooks, no big deal for me. I believe the 11mm 12-point socket did the trick, as I don't have e-torx sockets.

    - used a crappy 8mm box end wrench to loosen the motor, which made it more of a hassle, as the wrench kept slipping off the bolt.

    -did the "torch" method to remove the end of the metal ferrule from the end of the cable. Snipped about 1/2" off the outer plastic jacket, then reheated the metal end & slipped it back on.

    - used my electric drill to straighten the seat back to be even on both sides. I did this right after pulling off the metal end, as I had more room to chuck the end of the drive cable. Ran the drill & watched as the seat back moved to a straight position as compared to the other side.

    - put everything back together & had to pull the cable one more time to get the seat back in a true position so that it felt straight.

    - my hassles: the seat rail where it connects to the hook on the outer side was bent from a prior repair & I had a terrible time getting it under the hook. Had to beat it with a mini sledge to get the plate flat like the other side. Other problem was my fault - I didn't pull the one e-Torx bolt from the track & when I tilted the seat forward, it jammed in the seat track & I had to fish it out. Otherwise a pretty easy repair & the seat works great!
    Last edited by not my 535i; 05-24-2010 at 12:49 PM. Reason: Automerged Doublepost
    I've read the last page of the Bible. It's all going to turn out all right.

    M30 quarter-million mile club
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    SOLD it....

  5. #55
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    ^^^at least it's fixed now... so the easy part was the actual repair... it was putting everything back together that was the hard part. Also notice that the actual bolt that holds down the motor is also a torx on the inside.... saves a lot of turning with a wrench if you have a torx screw driver...

  6. #56
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    AquilaBMW is offline Mad Bimmerist BMW CCA Member
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    I need / want to get this done on my seats, but I feel a bit daunted by it. I have heated memory seats in my car and it seems they might be a bit more complex?



  7. #57
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    I did mine( driver's seat back and head rests). Took under an hour to do it all while watching my 4 and 6 yr olds. I used a cig. lighter for heat. This forum saved me a lot of money! Thanks.
    So other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

  8. #58
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    bmw 525i
    I fixed my driver's seat today. My symptom was that the right side would move up and down with the left side but when it approach to the high point is when the right side stopped working and the twist occurred. Before I read this thread I thought something was caught in the gear like a penny or something.

    Taking the seat out of the car was pretty easy. Like someone else said, you can just take out the rear 2 torx bolt and tilt it forward without removing the front from the floor clips. Before I realized how easy it would have been to keep the seat in the car, I took out the seat and getting it off the hooks seemed to be a small challenge.

    I went ahead and inspected the cable(s) which was a lot easier than trying to figure out how to acess the gear box. Even though my left side was working ok, I went ahead and did both since I figured if one side went then the other side will be next. When I pulled the cables from the motor I found there was hardly any metal cable to seen.

    The only thing you need to watch out for is getting the metal cable cap off. When I first read this thread, I thought this was some kind of soldered connection. But actually the cap is crimped to the plastic housing and heating the cap is to soften up the plastic so the cap can be pulled off. Putting too much heat could damge the plastic housing. The only good thing is the part that will most likely get melted is the part that you are going to cut off.

  9. #59
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    Quote Originally Posted by vchanpe View Post
    Today, I just repaired the dreaded twisted seat problem by simply replacing the drive cable. It is fairly easy for a 1995 BMW 525i without memory seats. Here are the step by step procedure:

    (1) Move seat forward to expose two torx head screws. Remove with a 11 mm socket (12 sided socket will fit the torx head).
    (2) Lift the rear end up and tilt seat forward. Then push hard to slide the seat off the front hooks. WD40 may be necessary at the hooks.
    (3) Remove head rest and disconnect electrical plug. Leave the seat belt attached to the seat since it is too hard to remove. However, there should be enough slack to remove the seat from the car.
    (4) A thin seat belt tensioning cable at the bottom should also be disconnected.
    (5) Remove seat from the car and turn it upside down to access the electric motors.
    (6) Use a 8 mm wrench or 8 mm socket to remove two screws to the aft motor. (Not the front motor!). There are 4 screws to the aft motor but you only have to remove two screws to rotate the motor so you can remove the cables. One of the 8 mm bolt is hard to access and this is the hardest part of this job,
    (7) Since the seat is upside down, you should be able to see the retaining clips to the reclining mechanism. Simply pull the retaining clips out with a small screwdriver. Both cables can now be easily removed.
    (8) Reinstallation is simply reverse order.

    Buying a new cable from the BMW dealer only cost approximately $20 so I did not resort to the cutting or repairing the cable method touted by other internet sites. I estimate a skilled mechanic should do this in one or two hours. Double that time for a home mechanic drinking beer. If you take it in to a BMW dealer, they better not charge you more than 4 hours of labor unless they are drinking on the job!

    If you want to order the cables before taking the seat out from the car, you need to identify the type of motor (RHW or BROSE) and the length of the cable. The length is printed on the cable. To access this information, you need to perform steps 1 and 2 above.

    Hope this helps!

    vchanpe
    My first post was asking questions, not being informative. I welcome you to the board and recognize your superiority.

  10. #60
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    OK, will this procedure work on my 2002 E39 with "memory" seats? Both seats are badly twisted... painful on a long drive, I kid you not! Thanks to all !

  11. #61
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    Quote Originally Posted by 540Ace View Post
    OK, will this procedure work on my 2002 E39 with "memory" seats? Both seats are badly twisted... painful on a long drive, I kid you not! Thanks to all !
    The E39 subforum would probably be a better place to ask this question—not sure how different the seats are, if at all.

    If they're similar, the procedure is a bit more complicated than for non-memory seats. Some helpful info in here:

    http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1521342

    -Matt
    Current: '94 MX-6 V6/5 • '72 240Z • '10 Mazda5
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    Wish list: Type 44 • Manta • Pre-'85 CGT • 405 Mi16 • SVX • W123 Coupe

  12. #62
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    Oct 2003
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    92 325i: 96 Corvette: 99 Infiniti QX4: 00 Jeep

    Twisted seat repair

    OK, I have a 2003 540i with memory seats. This includes the pad that moves out from the seat bottom to support your legs. That option came in handy to do this fix. I unbolted the seat and leaned the seat back and adjusted the seat extension to rest on the steering wheel. This gave me the room needed to fix the cable by resting the seat on the steering wheel and avoid having to remove the seat from the car. In fact, look close and you can see the cable I cut (I used the fuel line and 2 clamp repair method). To find what cable that was giving me the problem, I felt each cable under the seat while engaging the seat motor (s) and could feel which cable inside the sheath was not in the grove at either end by the vibration I felt through the sheath.

    My issue was the right rear back half of the seat that was giving me the twist. Took about 1 1/2 hours but like everything else we do to our cars, after we are trained, the next time it will take probably 30 minutes.

    Have fun!
    Attached Images Attached Images

  13. #63
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    2003 530I

    Help on twisted seat

    Happy Hooligan -Hi, I'm glad I saw this forum and immediately became a member. Do you think you can help me out to fix my driver seat untwisted? I took it to the dealer and will charge me too much. I am in Diamond Bar.
    Thanks in advance.
    Oliver
    Last edited by OLEEVER; 06-17-2011 at 08:23 AM.

  14. #64
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    Guys...far and away the quickest fix is to remove the circlip that retains the ferrule of the non-working cable. Grab a $1.00 plastic lighter and a pair of pliers. heat up the metal ferrule for about 10 seconds with a regular lighter and then push it farther onto the cable..hold it there for 5 seconds while it cools. The center drive cable will now protrude properly. Reinstall into motor, attach circlip...done.

    In and out in 1 minute.


    this is the desired result.
    Easy-peasy.

    Here's a picture for some perspective of what the job is. It took me longer to pull the seat out than to fix the cable, BTW-
    Last edited by TSMacNeil; 06-17-2011 at 11:59 AM. Reason: Automerged Doublepost

  15. #65
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    1994 BMW 530i

    Twisted Seat

    I have tried the methods listed and my seat is still messed up. I noticed in the photos that my seat is different than others. I finally found the right motor and where the cable went to but then couldn't get to the cable for all the metal bars crossing over. Once I got into the seat more I got cut the cable out, actually the rubber hose, the cable was so far shrunk into the cable I cut right through the rubber hose. The silver connection head is still in the gear box waiting for me to heat it up to get it out. This has not been easy for my 1994 530I. I am mechanical and a dyi person but this has been a bear. I am waiting for the video to come out on Youtube so I can actually watch someone else do it first...

    Fed Up!

  16. #66
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    I just posted this in another thread, but I'll repeat it here.

    I just did this, except I went at it from the other end. The end of the recline cables opposite the motor are just under the rear corners, and are just held in by a spring clip which is easily removed with a pair of pliers. I simply unbolted the seat, leaned it forward enough to be sure not to set the carpet on fire, and pulled the clip and cable out. I then removed the grease seal (cotton sponge thing in the end of the thimble) and heated the thimble for about 5 seconds with a torch while pulling on it. Trim to length, reheat thimble, and press back on. 15 minutes. Not sure if all seats are the same, I have a 95 525.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  17. #67
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    92 525i soon w/ snail
    This is awesome! My driver seat wont move on the right side and i was going to just replace it. But now i can fix it. It would be nice if there was a diy that contained pictures.

  18. #68
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    Hi all. Similar to the above post, I just did this repair to the passengers seat. As easy as falling off a log, once you know how. A word of caution, find a buddy to help you remove the seat from the car. I damaged the passengers arm rest so will have to find a replacement on the net somewhere. I will do the drivers side later today. Very happy with the results, it went exactly as vchanpe said it would. I also managed to break one of the rear seat rail covers but hey, I'm sure someone will sell me a replacement.

  19. #69
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    ChoasHawk, great idea to attack the problem from the rear. I attempted to do the repair without removing the seat (passenger). I taped aluminum foil to the underside of the seat and floor.

    My problem was trying to maneuver the cable, tools, and flame in a limited space. Bottom line I removed the seat and repaired both cables controlling the backrest.

    Next time I will not remove the seat, but will reroute the cables so that they can be accessed from the seat front area. This would allow much more room to work without removing the seat. Either way it’s very doable. Thanks to all for posting the how to. Great forum.

  20. #70
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    BMW 535i/1970 Plymouth Roadrunner
    Thanks. I'll live with the twist! Too much work.

  21. #71
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    Dec 2012
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    Sfv, ca
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    2003 bmw 530i
    Thanks bro for the post both my seats( driver and passanger) have the twisted syndrom i will be dedicating my time tom on both seats and repair them. Hope i don't make it worse. Thanks again

  22. #72
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    Jan 2013
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    My 92 525it drivers seat wont do anything i tried to switch the relay i think its the motor or fuse wher is the fuse the passenger seat works fine

  23. #73
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    Quote Originally Posted by 70383roadrunner View Post
    Thanks. I'll live with the twist! Too much work.
    No its not, took me about an hour to do both seats. Once you tilt the seats up, or take them out like I did, you'll see how simple this fix is. Have an e34 too.

    02 e39 540i Sport (Son), 01 DINAN 7 (Me), 12 e70 X5 x35i (Mrs), 95 e34 525i (Daughter 2), 01 e46 325Ci vert (Daughter 1)

  24. #74
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    I gotta do this fix! Both headrests on my 530i don't move, the motors whine but no movement. Also my passenger seat doesn't tilt but sometimes it will go into tilt mode. I pulled the passenger seat today to look into what was causing the problem and unclipped the cables from the gearboxes, only to see that they didn't protrude at all on the left side, and only about 1/8" on the right. I'll tackle the fix on Monday.

    I guess the obvious question should be, why are the cables shrinking? Or is it the plastic cable housings that are stretching over time?

    Oh yeah, great sig Kouks!


    '99 E38 740i Sport
    '07 E64 650i w/mods
    '95 E34 530i [SOLD!]
    '01 Porsche Boxster (For sale)
    '03 Ford F250 Super Duty

  25. #75
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    wiki: Housing
    The original, standard Bowden cable housing consists of a close-wound helix of round or square steel wire. This makes a flexible housing but causes the length to change as the housing flexes. Because on the inside of the bend the turns of a close-wound helix can't get any closer together, the bending causes the turns to separate on the outside of the bend, and so at the centerline of the housing, there must also be an increase of length with increasing bend.
    In order to support indexed shifting, Shimano developed a type of housing that does not change length as it is flexed. This housing has several wire strands running in a multiple helix, with a pitch short enough such that bends in the cable are shared by all strands, but long enough so that the housing's flexibility comes by bending the individual strands rather than by twisting them. A consequence of a long winding pitch in a support helix is that it approaches the case of parallel strands where the wires are bound only by the plastic jacket. Housings with a long helix cannot withstand the high compression that is associated with high cable tensions, and on overload tend to fail by the buckling of the housing strands. For this reason, helical support for brake cables is close wound, while housings with a longer helix are used for less critical applications. Longitudinally arranged support wires are used in applications such as bicycle gear-shifting.
    A third type of housing consists of short hollow rigid aluminum or carbon fiber cylinders slid over a flexible liner. Claimed benefits over steel wire housing include less weight, tighter curves, and less compression under load.

    Inner wire
    Inner wire ropes for push applications have an additional winding that runs in the opposite direction to the wind of the actual inner wire. The wind may be like that of a spring or a wind with a flat strip; these are called spring wrap and spiral wrap respectively.

    There is some controversy surrounding the existence of the phenomenon known as "cable stretch". Newly installed cables can seem to elongate, requiring readjustment. While it is generally agreed that inner wires actually stretch very little - if at all - housings and linings may compress slightly, and all parts may generally "settle in". Lightweight assemblies such as those used on bicycles are more susceptible to this phenomenon.
    Shogun tricks and tips for the E32 series are HERE!

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