Need advice please

[t-tony]

I'm not 100% sure mate to be honest. But I would say so because I took my seat off it's mounting to fit a set of my seat lifters and it didn't put the light on or when we put some in @Grumps car either. It's not the end of the world if the airbag light comes on you just need a reset tool to put it out.

Tony.

 

[Mazza]

Ok thanks.

(I was going to get on with it this morning, but just been reminded that it’s dustbin day, and Tesco shopping day....oh goody !)

 

[Mazza]

Found these

But had to do this !!!!!!!

Other than the dull alarm noise for 30seconds again all ok. Got drivers seat out and the centre console removed.

Found a bunch of connectors buried, two of which are for the heated seat switches. I can do continuity checks to make sure all wires are ok, then install the heated seat switches when it all goes back together.
Found two mini bulbs that were blown and did know they even existed. Pick up replacements for them tomorrow.
Found more money...£1.17. Again £1 coin not legal any more.

My only problem now is remembering how it all goes back together

 

[t-tony]

Some good progress there mate.

Tony.

 

[Mazza]

Just need to pick someone brains !!! ( and confirm that I have thought this through correctly!!)

The black plug in the photo is the connector for heated seats that is located under the seat.
Have confirmed today that BMW ‘own’ the mating half and the crimps, so they are not available to buy on their own.
Sod it !!

After checking the new heat pad wiring kit, I think I have found a way of making the least amount of connections by taking out the crimps from the pads 2 way plugs and reinserting them all together into a 4 way plug ( ie seat and back in one connector as I would assume they are in a factory fitted heated seat.)
As I only actually need the heat pads ( I think !), most of the wiring that came with it will be redundant any way.
So I can take the bits I need.

I just want to confirm that the relay that came with the kit is not required and that there is one somewhere in the Z3 wiring loom already.
And, That if I cut the black connector off, it is ok to solder , heat shrink and sleeve the 4 wires ( 2 brown and 2 white) to the wires of a 4 way socket ( which can be cut from the new loom), and this then will connect with my new 4 way heat pad plug.

 

[Dino D]

Just need to pick someone brains !!! ( and confirm that I have thought this through correctly!!)

The black plug in the photo is the connector for heated seats that is located under the seat.
Have confirmed today that BMW ‘own’ the mating half and the crimps, so they are not available to buy on their own.
Sod it !!

After checking the new heat pad wiring kit, I think I have found a way of making the least amount of connections by taking out the crimps from the pads 2 way plugs and reinserting them all together into a 4 way plug ( ie seat and back in one connector as I would assume they are in a factory fitted heated seat.)
As I only actually need the heat pads ( I think !), most of the wiring that came with it will be redundant any way.
So I can take the bits I need.

I just want to confirm that the relay that came with the kit is not required and that there is one somewhere in the Z3 wiring loom already.
And, That if I cut the black connector off, it is ok to solder , heat shrink and sleeve the 4 wires ( 2 brown and 2 white) to the wires of a 4 way socket ( which can be cut from the new loom), and this then will connect with my new 4 way heat pad plug.

View attachment 72589

That’s how I did it. One thing I found was the connectors with the kit are hard plastic and not as robust so you want to secure them so the do not foul anything and crack. The little metal spades in the connector itself can bend easily and then not make contact so just keep that in mind if you find a pad is not working.

Re the relay - my car already had it fitted, I believe it is pot luck as to wether your Car already has it (mine has the ‘winter pack’ of heated mirrors and washer jets or the previous owner fitted it for the rear demister button, I’m not sure which but my car had it and I’ve heard of others that don’t).

Think it’s a case of opening the fuse box in the engine bay and checking?

 

[Mazza]

Just been out in the garage...doing odd bits.......
I think I have found where the heated seat relay goes although in the Bentleys manual it calls it an Unloader Relay.
There is only one option really!!

The 2 fuses identified in a wiring diagram (F4 and F23) in the are already in place.

Also, while I am posting......underneath the fuse box is this alarm unit. Anyone got one the same??
Mine doesn’t work, I don’t have a remote/fob for it, so would like to take it out. In the engine bay there looks like one wire goes off to the front of the car...lights or horn???, the rest go through the bulkhead. Does anyone know if this useless lump of crap has connections to the cars ECU or anything important.??

I have full confidence that the car will get back on the road with everything working.........

It’s just the time scale that I am unsure about

 

[Mazza]

Getting there !!

Pull strings made it so much easier

Now to get the seats stripped down and put the heat pads in

 

[Mazza]

Did one of the seats today..
Not quite as complicated as I thought it would be , but have to be careful on reassembly.
I did take quite a few pictures and wrote things down to make it a bit easier.
It took about two and half hours from start to finish.
You have to gently separate the leather seat cover backing from the seat swab. Not difficult but don’t rush it.
The blue stuff is the old glue.

I did the seat first then the back.

I stuck the heat pads in place with the tape that was in the kit, and put the covers back on.
Didn’t look too bad after and more or less retained its shape.
I was lucky as I didn’t have ‘ hog rings’ to attach the cover, there were spikes in the seat base that you just hammered flat after tensioning the seat cover over them.

P

And what to get for all this effort...... two wires sticking out the bottom of the seat!!

 

[Dino D]

It’s well worth the effort for top down drives in winter!

 

[Mazza]

More work today, and stripped down the other seat. Covers with a local company to restitch a seam on the base that had come undone and repair a rip in the seat back.

I also picked up a relay that is shown in the wiring diagram. Which led me on to the following.........

To check that the empty relay base was in fact the one where the seat heating relay goes, I followed the circuit ( part of which below) to check the fuse to base connections.
Fuse No 4 which is a 15 amp gave a connection to terminal 6 of the base which corresponds to Relay terminal 30. It did, so all looking good !!!!

Fuse 23 is a 5 amp and should connect to base terminal 8 (Relay term 86), with base term 4 (Relay term 85) going to earth ...........no it doesn’t !!

Fuse 23 is actually connected to Base term 4, and base term 8 goes to earth.
It would appear that someone has installed the two wires round the wrong way in the relay base. ( according to Circuit diagram)

I’m guessing, and someone please tell me if I’m wrong, that this line only activates the relay switch, so if it’s not polarised then it will work either way round so ok to leave it as is. I could take out the base and try to swap the wires over.....but relay bases are notoriously difficult to work on.