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Thread: Swapping Heated Seats

  1. #1
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    Swapping Heated Seats

    I thought I should open this up to the entire E39 forum.
    Here's a link to my post on the Touring/Wagon sub-forum-

    https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...Swap-Questions

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    Here's that actual post to save people the Richarding around:

    I am swapping the black interior with heated seats from my '99 540i 6spd donor car into my '99 540iT . The carpet and console are out so there's easy access to the wiring harnesses.The console switchplate on the donor has buttons for the seat heating as well as DSC and rear sunshade. The wagon that all this is going into has non-heated sport seats and just the DSC button on its console. There's one big plug for all the seat electrics on each seat. Can the wiring harnesses for the non-heated seats be modified? What exactly would I need to do to make the seat heating function work in the wagon?
    2003 M3CicM6 TiAg
    2002 540iT Sport Vortech S/C 6MT LSD TiAg
    2008 Audi A3 2.0T DSG (the daily beater)
    2014 BMW X1 xDrive28i (wifemobile)

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    Here's a post that suggests the seat heating harness is a separate part, so maybe it'll be easy to swap from donor to your car?

    https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...0#post29572840

    The wiring from the seats thankfully only goes to the switch center, so even if its a matter of doing a hack add-on job (aka its too involved and messy to swap the harnesses in a factory way), the wiring is really simple.



    The great thing is both your cars should be same era seat connectors so no black/yellow connector and airbag issues there.
    2003 M3CicM6 TiAg
    2002 540iT Sport Vortech S/C 6MT LSD TiAg
    2008 Audi A3 2.0T DSG (the daily beater)
    2014 BMW X1 xDrive28i (wifemobile)

    Former:

    1985 MB Euro graymarket 300SL
    1995.5 Audi S6 Avant (utility/winter billetturbobattlewagen)


  4. #4
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    The heating harness used to be available as a retrofit kit but is NLA. Cars that have it from the factory have the heating wires bundled in with the rest of the wires, so that won't be an option. The wiring is simple with the seats out of the car as I've done it years ago. Now since there is no more retro wiring kit available, It would be cool if someone could suggest which wires to splice into at the switching centre to power everything.
    2001 Z3 3.0i -Oxford Green/Sandbeige
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    good to know.... need to do this with my car. cold seats in winter is not fun!

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    Quote Originally Posted by amancuso View Post
    The heating harness used to be available as a retrofit kit but is NLA. Cars that have it from the factory have the heating wires bundled in with the rest of the wires, so that won't be an option. The wiring is simple with the seats out of the car as I've done it years ago. Now since there is no more retro wiring kit available, It would be cool if someone could suggest which wires to splice into at the switching centre to power everything.
    That's what I meant by a 'hack add-on'... but if you have a full donor, and the carpets out of both cars, its probably not too hard to snip the seat heating bits out of the donor car. You might even be able to cut the bundles and take it out as a piece but in a worst case you snip a pigtail from either end (one at the seat and one at the switches) then just make up the wire inbetween yourself, lay it into the car tidily while the carpet is out, test it before carpet goes in, then button everything up.

    I'm surprised there's no well known "Heated Seat Retrofit" writeup yet - seems like something that would have been done 10 years ago...
    2003 M3CicM6 TiAg
    2002 540iT Sport Vortech S/C 6MT LSD TiAg
    2008 Audi A3 2.0T DSG (the daily beater)
    2014 BMW X1 xDrive28i (wifemobile)

    Former:

    1985 MB Euro graymarket 300SL
    1995.5 Audi S6 Avant (utility/winter billetturbobattlewagen)


  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by geargrinder View Post

    I'm surprised there's no well known "Heated Seat Retrofit" writeup yet - seems like something that would have been done 10 years ago...
    There is one, but it utilizes the OEM retrokit that comes with instructions. Wish I had kept mine as it tells you where to plug things in at the back of the switching centre and the fusebox. Would be nice to tap into power elsewhere with an inline fuse rather than having to remove the fuse box and getting the specific terminals for it.
    2001 Z3 3.0i -Oxford Green/Sandbeige
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    Thanks for all the response. I was hoping to do this along with switching driver and passenger seats to even out the wear. It wouldn't matter to me if the 3-posistion memory no longer functioned.I saw other posts regarding the retrofit kit that amancuso & G.G. spoke of. I thought that was for adding the heating elements into a non-heated seat I wish there were pin out wiring diagrams for the different seat configurations. I will try pulling the seat harnesses from the donor car

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by SirTweakAlot View Post
    Thanks for all the response. I was hoping to do this along with switching driver and passenger seats to even out the wear. It wouldn't matter to me if the 3-posistion memory no longer functioned.
    I've not seen that done on BMW's but guys on my old Audi platform used to do it. You skin the seats and swap the whole padding/covers over from one seat to the other, you don't just swap seats.

    Were you thinking that you'd just be able to plop the seats in the opposite positions? Cuz dat no gonna worky! The seats are asymmetrical in a number of ways...., the outside stuff (trim with the seat controls) won't even begin to fit on the inside next to the console where there's zero room.

    On the other hand if you swap skins those indeed might be symmetrical I dunno. Actually the things my buds would do would be skin a junkyard passenger seat and put it on the drivers side. With those seats there was one issue which was a manual lumbar knob that needed a hole on the outside but that wasn't hard to have made, and you were just left with a 'ghost hole' on the opposite side. With our seats not sure that's gonna be an issue?

    Quote Originally Posted by SirTweakAlot View Post
    I wish there were pin out wiring diagrams for the different seat configurations.
    You didn't like the wiring diagram I already gave you?

    The seat connector pinout doesn't much at change at all it seems, the pinouts are mostly always the same, its just whether you do or do not have the guts for the seat heat. That seems obvious in hindsight as its well known that all the various E39 and E38 seats are 'drop in' compatible, aside from the airbag and pin-shape change, and the issue with the old early seat heat system vs later. At any rate there's no major pinout difference for same production car with/without heat except that your connector will be unpopulated.

    I know this is unreadable print when linked like this but its on bmw-planet.net clear as day under "Components.... X275"
    You use that in combination with the other diagrams like the one above ("Body/Seat and Mirror/Seat heating...") to identify what the pins are going to.


    But honestly you don't have to worry too much about super details on the pinouts.

    Just find the harness in the seat that goes to the heat. Will look like this.



    Then - you don't want to mess with that wire/connector on the seat! - you want to take the wires and pins out of the donor cars harness side connector that correspond to that connector.

    According to the diagrams you want pins 23 & 25. Should be those same ones. Diagrams say wires should be white / blue (stripe) and white / yellow (stripe).

    Then those wires should be run out to pins 12 & 1 on the switching center for driver, and 22 & 13 for passenger.

    Honestly it should be as easy as "grab the pins your car doesn't have" but I only mention the above so you have a 3way triple check/confirm and feel good about it.

    Beyond that it seems all you need is to be sure you have the fuse power at the switching center from F45 and F32 on pins 23 & 7. I take it from aman's comments that one or the other of those aren't wired up, that seems like it will be the most involved thing to deal with...

    2003 M3CicM6 TiAg
    2002 540iT Sport Vortech S/C 6MT LSD TiAg
    2008 Audi A3 2.0T DSG (the daily beater)
    2014 BMW X1 xDrive28i (wifemobile)

    Former:

    1985 MB Euro graymarket 300SL
    1995.5 Audi S6 Avant (utility/winter billetturbobattlewagen)


  10. #10
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    After some planetary exploration I see that BMW Planet is gonna be my new BFF. Thanks GG.

  11. #11
    geargrinder's Avatar
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    LOL.

    Yeah its slightly PITA to get running (and keep running) these days but once I set my mind / accepted to just keeping a 'dedicated' version of obsolete Firefox on my computer just for that, and ensured all 'auto updates' were turned off for Java AND the Browser... it's absolutely great.

    There's a slight learning curve to getting 'good' at using WDS, but one big trick is figure out early how to note the Component ID's on any wiring diagram, and then go down and look them up in the Components section. Guys who just look at the diagrams miss half the documentation that's available.. a lot of time a pin-out for a connector say (i.e. an "X____" part number) will be listed in text form down under Components... but not many people figure all that out it seems like... As well look for those text entry descriptions about how systems work... there's a ton of gold nuggets in that documentation about how stuff really​ works...
    2003 M3CicM6 TiAg
    2002 540iT Sport Vortech S/C 6MT LSD TiAg
    2008 Audi A3 2.0T DSG (the daily beater)
    2014 BMW X1 xDrive28i (wifemobile)

    Former:

    1985 MB Euro graymarket 300SL
    1995.5 Audi S6 Avant (utility/winter billetturbobattlewagen)


  12. #12
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    This is priceless. I have already figured out how to wire up the fusebox and switching centre.
    2001 Z3 3.0i -Oxford Green/Sandbeige
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  13. #13
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    The "hardest" part of this install looks like it's routing the F32 fuse location to the distribution/fuse box under the passenger side carpet. You can see it here in this sunshade install. Sunshades also require those 2 fuses and power at the central switching bank.

    http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/63956-...comment-655682

    Also have a look at this thread!
    https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...t-BMW-Loom-WIP
    Last edited by amancuso; 11-20-2017 at 03:06 PM.
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  14. #14
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    I think you might find you already have F32 wired there.

    I just looked at DSC wiring and it provides for F32 to be wired to pin 7 already. The UK examples might be bit different between the LHD/RHD angle, and, the fact that they always have 'stripper' base cars but even our low-option cars are still highly provisioned.

    Seems to me F45 is the one that will be possibly not populated. Easy enough to check at the switching center - see what ya got there on pin 7 & 23... if there's power to them you're in business.
    2003 M3CicM6 TiAg
    2002 540iT Sport Vortech S/C 6MT LSD TiAg
    2008 Audi A3 2.0T DSG (the daily beater)
    2014 BMW X1 xDrive28i (wifemobile)

    Former:

    1985 MB Euro graymarket 300SL
    1995.5 Audi S6 Avant (utility/winter billetturbobattlewagen)


  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by geargrinder View Post
    I think you might find you already have F32 wired there.

    I just looked at DSC wiring and it provides for F32 to be wired to pin 7 already. The UK examples might be bit different between the LHD/RHD angle, and, the fact that they always have 'stripper' base cars but even our low-option cars are still highly provisioned.

    Seems to me F45 is the one that will be possibly not populated. Easy enough to check at the switching center - see what ya got there on pin 7 & 23... if there's power to them you're in business.
    Hmmm, When I did this in my 540i years ago, I can't remember if I had to tap into that power fusebox or not. Tonight I did make a lot of progress. I ran the wiring from the seat connector to the center switch and I also ran the wiring from that power fusebox under the carpet over to the glovebox fusebox and the wire from the glovebox fusebox to the center switch, but I didn't hook anything up to the fusebox yet. I'll let you know if I find there is power to it already when I get the pins for it tomorrow. I should have the heated seats arriving by Friday if my buddy gets them to me on time.

    PS: Just realized there was nothing in pin 7 at the switching center, so maybe it's wired from the panel under the carpet to the fusebox. I'll let you know!
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    Last edited by amancuso; 11-20-2017 at 10:06 PM.
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  16. #16
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    Think I can get away with a switch that says DSC, or are they wired different from ASC ones?


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    2018 430iC- Estoril Blue II/Black
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  17. #17
    geargrinder's Avatar
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    The signal out from the switching center to ABS is on same pin, same signal name (S_ASCPAS), same color code, same abstract for the switching circuit (seems to supply voltage through a transistor circuit) - for both ASC and DSC all looks identical.

    I think you should be good.


    2003 M3CicM6 TiAg
    2002 540iT Sport Vortech S/C 6MT LSD TiAg
    2008 Audi A3 2.0T DSG (the daily beater)
    2014 BMW X1 xDrive28i (wifemobile)

    Former:

    1985 MB Euro graymarket 300SL
    1995.5 Audi S6 Avant (utility/winter billetturbobattlewagen)


  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by geargrinder View Post
    The signal out from the switching center to ABS is on same pin, same signal name (S_ASCPAS), same color code, same abstract for the switching circuit (seems to supply voltage through a transistor circuit) - for both ASC and DSC all looks identical.

    I think you should be good.


    Thanks much! The wiring kicked my ass tonight. It's sooooo hard to get the pins into the fuse panel!
    2001 Z3 3.0i -Oxford Green/Sandbeige
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  19. #19
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    It works!!!! Thanks Geargrinder. Was able to wire up and hook up the passenger's seat today. Tomorrow after Thanksgiving celebration, I'll be wiring up the driver's side and fixing the seat twist on it. The leather isn't as good as my basic seats, but they're sports, and look really nice and they have HEAT!
    Attached Images Attached Images
    2001 Z3 3.0i -Oxford Green/Sandbeige
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    2018 430iC- Estoril Blue II/Black
    2018 330it - Melbourne Red/Venetian Beige/Black

  20. #20
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    Got everything wired and hooked up, heat works great! However there is one problem. Airbag light is on and the code is for Belt lock driver and passenger - Short circuit to batt +. Error 16 and 17. I thought maybe the buckles were bad, so I replaced them with the ones from my original seats, but as soon as you clear the code, it comes right back again instantly. Any thoughts?
    2001 Z3 3.0i -Oxford Green/Sandbeige
    2016 428xi -Estoril Blue II/Black
    2018 430iC- Estoril Blue II/Black
    2018 330it - Melbourne Red/Venetian Beige/Black

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