Did some searching on my seat twist thing...

[digitaldragon03]

I need some help clearing some stuff up. I need to get my drivers seat fixed and need you guys' help.

Do i pull the inner cable all the way out of its jacket? Or do i just pull out just enough so i can cut the jacket?

Which motor is the one that controls the seat back?

The mechanism that moves the seat up an down is also twisting, does the process to fix that one, the same as the seatback? If it is, which motor controls that part of the seat?

Thanks alot guys, some local bmw repair places want to charge me up to $250 to get it fixed, if it werent for you guys, i would be dirt poor. lol.

[Javier]

shortened the jacket, and then put the wire back in, twisting it so to match the connecting hole at the end of the jacket. You can skip this and work with the wire in, not an issue.

The best way to identify the motors is: remove the seat, plug it back in a position you can have some access to the bottom, briefly operate the levers, and feel what motor is operating in each case.

Javier

[Kalevera]

I agree with everything Javier's said. The seatback recline motor is the most visible one (lower down towards the floor) of the two at the front of the seat. It *can* be removed without pulling the seat out, but I recommend taking the seat out the first time around. You'll need to loosen the bolts, remove the motor, and the cable ends will pop right out. Then, use a small torch to heat up the metal end on the offending cable, remove the metal end, then cut the black plastic cover and reattach the metal end.

If the seat back's twisted, get an electric screwdriver or portable drill and set the line in the chuck. Doing it by hand takes forever (worm gears :( ).

best, whit

[Kalevera]

oh...also - the stock motor (at least on mine, and any other e34 that I can remember) for the seatback recline has brown and green as the two leads, going into a black harness that is affixed to a holder at the front part of the seat frame.

best, whit

[shogun]

The headrest power motor repair is similar. David Cecil has made a nice instruction on that.
Have a look here, maybe it helps
http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/5326

[epj3]

Anyone know about fixing the seatbelt height thing? My drivers side works fine, but the passenger doesnt. It's stuck at the bottom, and if you push it up, it feels as if a very stiff spring is keeping it down.

[digitaldragon03]

Thanks guys, one last thing about removing the inner cable, One end is connected into the motor(i will remove this end), do i have to remove the other end of the cable to get it all the way out of the jacket? Or do you recommend just cutting the jacket with the cable still inside? Carefully of course.

[Kalevera]

I'd cut it with the cable inside -- it's like using a wire stripper...don't use SO much force that the cable could be cut. It would be a waste of time to remove the cable and reinsert it, IWT, although doable.

[Kalevera]

Have you checked the anchor? Have a look at your DS first to see how it works - there's a cable that connects to the upper rail (the one that moves) and runs from a recoiler mounted on the floor near the front of the seat. The attachment mechanism can break/come loose/whatever and then the cable will recoil, the height adjuster will go to the lowest setting and stay there.

best, whit

[uscharalph]

I've got the same problem. How much time does this repair take?

[digitaldragon03]

Well i did it today. It was much more easy than i thought it would be. I didnt take the seat out, i just slid the seat as far back as it would go and removed the cable from the front. I didnt have to cut the jacket either. Turns out that the cable got disconnected from the other end, so it didnt have anything to do with the motor. Used a drill to spin the seat back into place and its working fine now. The whole process took me about an hour, but think i could do it in half the time the second time around. THANK YOU ALL! You guys were a big help.

[taseal]

i'm going to attempt this tomorrow. hopefully i can do eet without taking the seat out. it does look really cramped there....

will the seat kind of like adjust itself after i do this, and move to a normal position?

[mikell]

If you try this withoutn removing the seat, an 8mm Gearwrench is a very useful tool for removing the motor bolts - space is really tight.