HELP my e32 memory seats dont fit my e34 wiring plugs

[mystic_525_tds]

ok i got the e32 seats delivered and they are in good condition, i set out today to fit them, removed my drivers seat then had a look under the e32 drivers seat and there is nowhere for my plug to go, as suggested on my previous post about this i might need an extra wiring loom, i dont know what i need and i have looked at the wiring diagrams on the web and i dont understand them, i though i might be able to to a diy job on wiring the seat up or do i really need the proper wiring loom ?

i plugged the passenger non memory seat in, only 4 of the 5 adjustments owrk, the one that moves the seat back and forward does not work, what a bummer.

anyway here is the wiring under my drivers seat, the typical 12 pin found under many e34 seats although mine only has 4 wires

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v256/mystic_bertie/E34/DSCF0383.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v256/mystic_bertie/E34/DSCF0382.jpg

here is the wiring under the e32 drivers memory seat, all the memory module is under this seat but these connectrions i believe are for memory mirrors and memory steering column.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v256/mystic_bertie/E34/DSCF0375.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v256/mystic_bertie/E34/DSCF0377.jpg

[mystic_525_tds]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v256/mystic_bertie/E34/DSCF0378.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v256/mystic_bertie/E34/DSCF0379.jpg

[shogun]

The memory module for the E32 is for all responsible, not only for the mirrors.
Memory steering column was very rare on the E32, I have it only on a 03/1994 750iL, which was the last production month of the E32. As far as I can remember, memroy steering column in E32 was only in the last production series, all others had manual adjustable steering columns and only telescopic style.

You even did not indicate out of which production year/month the seats come. Here some pics of the cable connectors under an E32 750iL Highline out of 12/1992 production.
http://infinitier.ddo.jp/e32/page/mainte/mainte_047.htm


Go to my website below and download the following:

Seat & Mirror Memory Training Reference Book (1.04MB)

[mystic_525_tds]

hi mate i dont know what year the seats came from, i bought them off ebay, the guy selling them got them from somewhere but it was not his car he had a few interiors for sale but was not a car breaker. ill ask him what year the donor car was.

i was also told the wiring loom he has cut through is what i need ie the extention wiring loom and can cost £70 from bmw

i cant get into that link its asking for a password and login

[mystic_525_tds]

link working now and i seent he pics cheers dude

i am biting my tongue here and trying not to give the seller a mouthful, i have asked him to see if he can get the rest of the loom from the breakers, so he says he will pop down and see if its still there so fingers crossed.

[nirvana19]

I have this same issue. I pulled a set of E32 seats but the driver's side has all the memory functions, and the white connector doesn't seem to plug in anywhere. I'm not sure how difficult it would be to swap the wiring from my old seat (everythings working on that), probably not too bad, but I'd rather make this work.

I have to head to lancaster tomorrow so I can actually go back to the yard and spend time and get whatever parts I want. What else should I pull for the memory system? Is there any other module aside from the big black one? And does anyone know where the other end of the harness that connects to all the plugs goes.. I can't seem to find the fitting EWD in my E34 stuff. Would definitely be nice to make everything work, else i'll just convert my current seats.

[mystic_525_tds]

if your old seats have memory the wiring loom that goes from the seats to the white connector should fit, i complained to the seller for cutting the cable on mine, it turned out he was breaking another e32 with memory seats so he sent me the wiring loom, this plugs into my white plug and into the seats, i have not had time to fit the seats as i just moved house but the wiring loom for the memory seats is necessary, i was told on another forum that you cant get the memory features to work so you have to earth 1 wire to use it as a normal electric seat.

[nirvana19]

if your old seats have memory the wiring loom that goes from the seats to the white connector should fit, i complained to the seller for cutting the cable on mine, it turned out he was breaking another e32 with memory seats so he sent me the wiring loom, this plugs into my white plug and into the seats, i have not had time to fit the seats as i just moved house but the wiring loom for the memory seats is necessary, i was told on another forum that you cant get the memory features to work so you have to earth 1 wire to use it as a normal electric seat.

I just pulled the entire wiring memory wiring harness with the exception of the part that runs up to the dashboard (i think this is for steering column.. don't know what else). This includes the plugs for the mirrors, though I don't have them. All the potentiometers pertaining to the seat controls are present. Did anyone determine if the memory function would work without feedback from the mirrors and/or steering column?

The build date of the donor car (or at least the seat according to the stamping inside the back cover) is January 1992, which I guess makes this the "early system" for memory described in some previous threads.
http://www.bimmernut.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31854&highlight=E32+seats+E34

Kalevera hadn't tried out the early system, perhaps someone else has?

[nirvana19]

Just an update, my car had the same body harness as mystic's. From the wiring harness, you just connect the seat connections and white plug for the body, then are brownish ground connection and all the power functions of the seat work. I still haven't experimented with the memory function since I haven't even sorted the seat twist.. but that will come.

[mystic_525_tds]

Just an update, my car had the same body harness as mystic's. From the wiring harness, you just connect the seat connections and white plug for the body, then are brownish ground connection and all the power functions of the seat work. I still haven't experimented with the memory function since I haven't even sorted the seat twist.. but that will come.


glad to hear they work ok dude, i still have not fitted them i have been so busy since i moved house a few weeks ago and my seats are stored at my mums i was going to go get them this weekend and then fit them.

i have heard of the 'twist ' problem are you doing something to fix this if so what, im not sure what the seat twist is ?

[mystic_525_tds]

glad to hear they work ok dude, i still have not fitted them i have been so busy since i moved house a few weeks ago and my seats are stored at my mums i was going to go get them this weekend and then fit them.

i have heard of the 'twist ' problem are you doing something to fix this if so what, im not sure what the seat twist is ?

wee update

i have moved house so it took me ages before i had time to fit the seats, anyway i managed to get the wiring loom from the seller as he broke another e32 with electric seats. so he sent me the wiring for £10 inc postage.

i got the front seats in fine and working, although i had to earth one wire to bypass the memory (thanks to Geeza for this vital info) anyway the seat works as a standard electric seat but no memory function but im happy with that, these seats are super comfy and i feel posh having electric adjustment

back seats are a tight squeeze indeed but i got there and i would say i dont need to alter the back seat for the doors to shut so no need to modify the seats, there is 1 problem though, the seat belt clips cant get into the holders as the seat stops them getting in fully so im going to try bending the base of one of the holders to bring it forward so hoping that will fix that unless someone has a better suggestion.

a couple of questions , the seatbelt tension wire thing below the seat, one of them seems faulty and does not pull out as far as it shoul, does this actually make any difference to anything ??

i have a few spare feet of cable under the drivers seat im wondering how i should tidy and route it rather than leave it sitting tucked away as i believe there is a seat twist problem or something that affects the wiring?

anyhoo im finally happy with my e32 electric seats, will get some grey leather restorer to enhance them a bit

[nirvana19]

The seat twist problem is related to the flexible shaft cables which run between the seat motors and gearing. There are two cables for each seat function because the gearing goes to both sides of the seats. Seat twist occurs when the cable somehow shrinks and the shaft pops out of one end, so only one side of the seat works for certain functions. If your seat is working fine don't worry about it, the electrical wiring doesn't affect this.

[mystic_525_tds]

The seat twist problem is related to the flexible shaft cables which run between the seat motors and gearing. There are two cables for each seat function because the gearing goes to both sides of the seats. Seat twist occurs when the cable somehow shrinks and the shaft pops out of one end, so only one side of the seat works for certain functions. If your seat is working fine don't worry about it, the electrical wiring doesn't affect this.


thanks mate now i know i dont need to worry, many thanks :)

[nirvana19]

Just a very delayed update, I'm in college and a coast away from my car (its in DC, i'm in CA) however before I left I hooked up my 7-series memory seats from a early 92 production model and the seat memory worked! I was quite shocked and didn't do any modifications, just plugged it in and in worked. I thought this would only work with 93 builds but it seems at least some 92 production variants also work without input from the mirrors.

On a more annoying note I dyed my seats the wrong color AND noticed that the seats originally in my car were gathered so the front doesn't match the rear. argh, still looks quite nice though.

[Panzer Captain]

Will I have any problems installing E32 power memory seats into my E34 with manual seats?

[nirvana19]

Will I have any problems installing E32 power memory seats into my E34 with manual seats?

I believe your car would have the same standard plugs my car does (they were all prewired even if you didn't originally have power seats). Make sure you have the full wiring harness from the E32 (its quite massive), and you can ground it to one of the parking brake adjustment cables for a clean install. Can't guarantee the memory will work like it did for me but the seat adjustments at least should work.

Also, this really just applies to the drivers seats as the passengers seat doesn't have memory and is identical to the non-memory cars.

[adrian525tds]

if your old seats have memory the wiring loom that goes from the seats to the white connector should fit, i complained to the seller for cutting the cable on mine, it turned out he was breaking another e32 with memory seats so he sent me the wiring loom, this plugs into my white plug and into the seats, i have not had time to fit the seats as i just moved house but the wiring loom for the memory seats is necessary, i was told on another forum that you cant get the memory features to work so you have to earth 1 wire to use it as a normal electric seat.

Hello Mystic,
I too am trying to fit a memory driver's seat to my 525tds. I have the memory wiring loom that goes between the white connector under the carpet and the various connectors on the seat and the seat memory controller but when everything is plugged in the memory light just flashes and none of the buttons do anything. I'm guessing perhaps the memory controller is unhappy because all the wires that would have gone to the mirror potentiometers, transmission indicator, steering column etc. have been cut.

Is this the same problem you solved by grounding a wire? Please could you post the details as I'm keen to try to get the seats working using the existing wiring before I have to cut everything and wire the switches up to the motors from scratch.

[Dave M]

Hello Mystic,
I too am trying to fit a memory driver's seat to my 525tds. I have the memory wiring loom that goes between the white connector under the carpet and the various connectors on the seat and the seat memory controller but when everything is plugged in the memory light just flashes and none of the buttons do anything. I'm guessing perhaps the memory controller is unhappy because all the wires that would have gone to the mirror potentiometers, transmission indicator, steering column etc. have been cut.

Is this the same problem you solved by grounding a wire? Please could you post the details as I'm keen to try to get the seats working using the existing wiring before I have to cut everything and wire the switches up to the motors from scratch.

You're not likely to get a response from such an old thread. Try to pm (private message) the original poster or start a new thread with links to this one.

Good luck with it,

Dave

[nirvana19]

Hmm, I might be able to offer some insight. I'm not sure what memory light you speak of, but when I installed the memory seats the seat had a very large wiring harness which came with it which has it's own ground. Without grounding this, the seat functions would not work at all (not only memory, the seat won't move). My memory function does work, but I'm told some of the later ones will not work if the mirrors and such are not attached. If anyone knows a bit about potentiometers (I did some research when I wasn't sure if the memory would work) it seems as though it wouldn't be that tricky to look at a wiring diagram and solder in a few resistors or something into the wiring harness to give fake values to the memory computer so it will be happy.

[adrian525tds]

Thanks - there are more pins in the seat side of the harness than the connector under the carpet so I'll dig out my wiring diagrams and try to identify the ground wire. Hopefully I should be able to wire in some resistors in place of the mirror potentiometers too.

[adrian525tds]

For anyone else who may need to do this - the wire you need to connect to ground is brown / orange. With this connected the seat controls work, though the memory computer does not - perhaps it notices that the memory mirrors, door jamb switch or reverse transmission switch are missing.