How to access the battery in an E32

[jcrosby7]

me and a friend want to clean my battery terminals just curious because i have never accessed my battery on my car into how to get to it.all i know is that its supposivley under the right side back seat.

[Fast 7]

just grab the bottom of the seat on each side and pull up it is just help in by 2 metal tabs. Installing is just pushing it or slamming those tabs back in. You won't hurt it to be a little ruff it takes some force. This is only if you have non power rear seats

[Qsilver7]

If you have ELECTRIC rear seats...then DO NOT try pulling up on the seat cushion...you won't get anywhere doing that...your seat has a more elaborate removal procedure. There is a long way and a shorter way...I will try to walk you thru the shorter way...but it's been a while...I sold my 735iL (w/elec rear seats) back in 2004.

AND FAST 7..you may want to come back and edit your reply...since it is incorrect for those E32 owners that have electric rear seats.

Here's a link to the longer version where you have to remove the buttons, and the panel behind the buttons, and you disconnect the harness behind the panel: http://www.bimmerboard.com/members/q...rogramming.jpg

Here's the shorter version for removing the electric rear seat to access the battery in the e32: you will need a 17mm socket and 6" or 9" extension for your wrench. (if battery is dead…you will need to supply power to the remote posts under the hood...see #1 for the reason why)

1. Turn on the ignition, move the elec right rear seat all the way forward. Turn ignition off and remove key.
2. Pull away the velcroed leather flaps between the upper & lower seats.
3. Remove the plastic cover on the edge of the seat that's between the seat & the car's body...push it towards the seat, then move up and out the gap created between the upper & lower seats.

• Image taken from David C's write-up from the "long version"
• 

4. Use a 17mm socket and 6" to 9" extension to remove the bolt that is securing/anchoring the seat belt receptacle to the body of the car. (you can see the bolt through the opening created by removal of the plastic fill piece in procedure #3.) DO NOT remove the plastic on the lower seat where the switches are...its' not necessary.
5. Raise the front edge of the seat up to release the clip. (its in the center of the lower seat at the forward edge. Locate the clip and push the BLACK button in the center (see 2nd pic below)...pull up and disconnect the electrical connector.

• Image taken from David C's write-up from the "long version" & 2nd pic by Mark740iL
• 

6. Now, you can remove the lower section of the rear seat. Raise up on the front of the seat while pivoting the rear of the seat downward. You need to do this to remove the rear tongs that go up into the guides in the upper part of the rear seat.

TIP: Take some time to look at how the lower section sits on the rails on the floor underneath the cushion and how the tongs are inserted into the upper rear seat back. WHY? Because when you go to put the seat back together you're gonna curse the day the German engineer who designed this abominable contraption was ever born! It can be done...it just takes patience and concentration.

You can follow either procedure...but as I've already stated...you can shorten some of the steps if you pull the seat forward then access the 17mm bolt that anchors the seat belt receptacle at the rear...instead of removing the buttons, the plastic behind them, then undoing the electrical harness and the bolt on the front end of the bracket that anchors the seat belt receptacle.

You can almost see the location of the 17mm bolt I'm referring to in David C's pic below...it is to the far left of the horizontal black piece that's about 8"-10" long just above the seat belt receptacle in the pic below. The 17mm bolt that anchors it to the car is just to the left in the pic hidden by the leather seat and the black insulation:

[04SSHD]

I had a 735 with electric rear seats, I don't remember anything too special, just pull up on the seat bottom and it's right there. Just becareful not to damage the wires to the seat controls.

[Qsilver7]

Colin, There are hooks from the rear seat cushion that go up into the upper seat back...that is how the upper seat cushion moves along with the lower seat cushion as it moves forward.

There are clips also (as seen in the pic below) that release the seat from the platform...which is different than the long rear seat cushion that's in the 735i. I guess you can lift the seat in the scenario that you present...but it will be cumbersome in trying to access the battery...you can see it...but you won't be able to do much but "peer" at it cause the lower cushion will be in the way because it is still attached to the upper seat cushion with those hooks...and especially by the bar that anchors the seat belt receptacle.

You can get an idea of the hooks (#1) that stick up into the upper seat cushion in the diagram below...and the black bar (#5) that anchors the seat belt buckle in 2nd diagram:
-

The black button seen in the pic below needs to be pressed inward to release the electric rear seat cushions in the e32 7 series...the standard non electric rear seat doesn't have this locking clip and can be pulled straight up...but not so on the electric rear seats.

[04SSHD]

I think I jump started it when I lifted the cushion, you may be right if you are asking about removal. I can hardly remember as it's been awhile since I have had my e32

[Qsilver7]

I think I jump started it when I lifted the cushion, you may be right if you are asking about removal. I can hardly remember as it's been awhile since I have had my e32

Trust me...I couldn't remember it all off the top of my head either. I had to go back and look up my old write up on Roadfly! I've been editing my initial post for the last 1 1/2 hours!

Wonder if we'll hear back the outcome...cause I've spent a lot of time on this one?

[shogun]

Ohh, yes, first time is a nice experience with the electric seats
here the full version from David
http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/62868

Qsilver7 is DA MASTER with such nice instructions.

BTW "Q": see my new website below, there is a link to send in new tips and tricks. You are welcome to send as much as possible. Hairywithit (Mike), one of my fellow shade tree mechanics in Japan is from down under (Australia) and lives since many years in Japan, he actually has the site now on his own server and runs the show for that. I am not so good with these PC thingies, I just tell him what we should add or revise etc.
Lot of work for him.

[shogun]

here is a youtube from a E34 540 non electric rear seat, that explains it all https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcv3WrlnLvE

[shogun]

As many have problems to remove/install the electric single rear seats in the iL E32, the DIY info is now on my website. Go to fixes on left side>>>then to seats, detailed instructions with pics
http://twrite.org/shogunnew/topmenu.html

[letank]

for the regular non electrical bench seat, you can push and lift from the outside corner of the bench, it is much easier than pushing at the front pin/clip

I had to replace the 2 year old battery that did not hold up the charge, all is good now

[Singh263]

What should you do if your rear electric seats don't work and you can't move them all the way forward?

[shogun]

which model and year do you have? This is not enough in your profile: My Cars: BMW

You need a lot of power then. Then probably a fuse or the relays under rear right seat is the problem, same procedure basically as when you can move the seat forward, but you might have to break the plastic cover on the side to reach the large bolt which holds the seatbelt mount. Then you need a lot of force to release the metal tab in front of the seat, for that I used a large screwdriver and it took me almost an hour to get the seat up. http://twrite.org/shogunnew/fixes/seats.html
In case yoy can move the right rear seat, remove the seat on the right side first the usual way and check the fuses and the relays for the electric single rear seats. Then you might be able to move the left rear seat again.

[Singh263]

I own a RHD 1991 750il and all the other electric seats work apart from the rear right one which I thought the battery was under

[shogun]

Yes, the battery is under rear right seat. But if you are lucky, it is just a fuse and that is under the left rear seat. Some years back I had the same problem with left rear seat, which did not move, succeeded to get the seat bottom out w/o moving it forward. So try to push a screwdriver onto the clip in front of the seat and you will be able to get the seat bottom out of position and move it up enough, that you then have access to the big bolt which holds the seat and the z-shaped bracket with a long extension.
But as your left seat moves, get that out first and check the fuses and the relays, in my case it was a defective relay for the rear seats under left rear seat. Here is the wiring diagram
http://shark.armchair.mb.ca/~dave/BMW/e32/e32_91.pdf
page 0660-01 shows you all rear power distribution parts under rear seat left, K27 X631 is the left seat heating and position relay, K28 X632 is the same function for right rear seat. Fuse 40 and 42 in the same box under rear seat are the fuses for power seats, see page 0661-04.
add your model 1991 E32 750iL RHD to your profile, so that we can always see it and do not have to ask again.
Try and let us know. The hardest part is to get the seat bottom up even when the seat cannot be moved forward, but in the end I succeeded. So push very hard the clip in front of the seat http://www.bimmerboard.com/members/davidc/DSC07736.JPG
and let someone at the same time pulll the seat bottom up in front, if it comes out of the clip, you have several centimeters space to reach thru that gap then with a long extension to get the bolt out which holds the z-shaped bracket.
some more pics which might help http://www.ow.no/index.php?option=co...d=26&Itemid=13