Z4 power seat problem '05 2.5i

Noticed yesterday my passenger side side doesn't recline anymore. I can hear the motor whirring but nothing happens. Power seat does everything else. Moves forward, back etc. but won't recline or sit straight up.

Any ideas?

unfortunately the seats in the z3 don't have replacement parts for the seat guts... sounds like the transmission between the actuator motor and the frame is stripped out. all that's available from bmw is the entire seat rail/frame.
http://parts.bmwofsouthatlanta.com/p...107111890.html

you might be able to dissect yours and a used one and come up with enough parts to make one of them work, but I've never had my hands on one that deeply.

wish I had better news, but there you go.

What? You offend reason friend. That doesn't make sense for BMW to sell that all as one unit. Wasteful. At least I have a part number, though thank you!

Yeah.... Some of the things we see here on daily basis could be grounds for a comedy!

"Logical" doesn't always apply!


Sent from my DROIDX using Bimmer App

I bet! Almost brought my car in the other day to address a funny rattling sound. Then I realized it was my seat belt hitting the door...

I checked TIS and it references replacement of 2 transmissions I think one moves the seat forward and back and the other changes the angle of the bck rest. Not sure which is which.

Are these accurate? If BMW won't sell me the one part I need I can always go somewhere else.

Yeah that sounds right... If im not mistaken, the transmission housings are built into the seat frames.

Sent from my DROIDX using Bimmer App

Try this: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.d...id=47798&hg=52

All part numbers are BMW part numbers so you should be able to order most things in RealOEM...

Maybe I'll just update my seats to M sport seats...? Is that hard to do?

Hard? no.

Expensive? Yep.

Plus you need to make sure you get the proper year (range) seats or you will set the SRS code. The interface box under the seat for the passenger seat mat is differnet on MY 2006-2008 and is not compatible with older years cars.

Is it a simple swap, plug and play?

The seat rails fit the same bolt holes, so they are a 'drop in'. As far as plug and play, it depends on the model years (seats vs. car) and the wiring harness. As you already have power seats, your car harness already has the necessary power, ground, and memory wires if you replace them with power M sport seats.

If you have heating, same thing. Apparently, the earlier cars had wiring in the car harness for heat and power adjust regardless of whether the seats were so equipped - I know my MY 2006 did not have the power adjust wiring, and I had to add it when I changed from manual to power seats.

As mentioned, the passenger seat occupancy sensor was different (and incompatible) on the earlier and later cars. The early cars used a 'black box' under the seat in line with the sensor mat wiring, the later years plugged straight in. AFAIK, the sensor change was done with the facelift cars, so for ease of installation you'd want to ensure you have seats from a compatible year. There is no easy fix otherwise, as you either have to bypass the sensor (not a desirable option for me) or tear your seats apart to swap the sensor mat from your old one to your new one.

Good luck, whichever way you decide to go. The sports seats would be a great way to solve your issue and upgrade at the same time.

Oy... Might be better to just fix the problem lol or just let it go

Why wouldn't you fix it?

TIS tells me there are 2 major parts to the power seat but I'm unsure which does what... Not sure I can buy the one piece I need based off an earlier posting. Another member says I need $700 worth of parts because the entire assembly will have to be replaced. See earlier post. $700 to make the seat recline for my passenger doesn't seem THAT important. driver seat works perfectly

Did you ever get your seat fixed? If so can you share what you found to be the problem and how you fixed it.

My 03 Z4 has the same problem. I read on other posts that it is likely a small plastic gear that is stripped that can be purchased from Odometer gears for $50.

No not yet sorry. It's been low priority