You are going to have to pull your seats out. 2 nuts in front, 2 bolts in the rear of the sliders. If you can, slide the seat all the way back then disconnect the wiring harness underneath, unbolt the seat belt and remove the seat. Hide your keys at this point because if you turn the car on, you will get an airbag light that will have to be reset by a special scanner. The dealer is expensive for this. The seat has two motors. One for forward/back and another for up/down. I think you may have broken the piece that connects the motor to the shaft that turns in the frame rails that moves it forwards and back. It looks like a large piano wire with square ends on each end. Search for seat bushing relace ment in a Z3 (I have the link saved in my computer at home) and there is a great video on how to change your seat bushings (which you should do while you have the seats out anyway) but it will also show you how to check the part that I think is broken. I just had my seats out last week changing my bushings. The first seat took me an hour and a half. The second seat took 15 minutes. A little bit of a learning curve but definitely a DIY.

 

seat removal and DSC control

Did you see the DSC control while you were in there?,which side if yes,
thanks,RON
I found it under the driver side carpet after seat removal

 

You are a gent....

Wertles...what can I say, thank you so much for the in-depth answer...however...get this. Last night after work I went to try and take the seat out, went for the front 2 bolts and thought I'd have a feel about before I undid them. Put my hand under and jiggled all the wires etc...

The seat started working!!!!!

Prob luck, so I'll see how long it keeps, but deffo keeping your answer in the file for future use.

Thanks again and drive safe.

: )

 

Wertles...what can I say, thank you so much for the in-depth answer...however...get this. Last night after work I went to try and take the seat out, went for the front 2 bolts and thought I'd have a feel about before I undid them. Put my hand under and jiggled all the wires etc...

The seat started working!!!!!

Prob luck, so I'll see how long it keeps, but deffo keeping your answer in the file for future use.

Thanks again and drive safe.

: )

It's not uncommon for the wires under the seat to get frayed or chewed up by the movement of the seat mechanism over time. Worst case is you have a bare wire under there somewhere that is grounding out. It would probably be a good idea to pull the seat and patch up the bare wire before it breaks completely and then you won't be able to move the seat to get to the bolts needed to remove the seat.

 

Glad you got it going. One weekend you still might want to pull them out to change the bushings, lube everything up and inspect them before you really have a problem. 3 beer job.

 

Hi All

Would like to join this Thread and ask following question. Passenger seat Motor dealing with Forward and Backward motion in my 2001 Z 3, is Noisy when compared to Driver`s Seat motor. Comments Pls. RJJ

 

Same. Need to pull the seats, replace seat bushings, lube and inspect everything. It's also a great time to get all those lost French fries vaccumed out. Unbelievable what you find under there from previous owners.

 

Wertles, seems you and me are dealing with similar issues at the same time, suspension and seats. My bushings need redone, starting to get a little wiggle in my seat. Got the bushings from Whalen, instructions seem straight forward. What type of lubrication is recomended after getting the bushing replaced and putting it all back together?

 

Wertles, seems you and me are dealing with similar issues at the same time, suspension and seats.

I am dealing with anyone who has had just about any issue with their car. I have thoroughly detailed my 7 month journey to rebuild a car here.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1730255

Yes, I know, shameless plug. But with the help of this forum and others, was able to figure out MANY MANY issues and have only had to go to the dealer once for work and that was only because I needed special scanners to figure out that someone had stolen the DME out of the car and replaced it with one from a 5 series. No way I was figuring that out in the garage...Actually I was close.

 

lithium grease,look for the z3 seat bushing change on you tube.

John

 

Ok, my seat motor on my passanger seat is fried, I took it apart and it looks like the bushing failed. made a little mess inside it!
Where's the best place to get the motor, its the one that moves it forward and back?
this is for a 2001 roadster

 

i'd like to see a thread about converting these @#$%! electric seats to manual. you can include the electric windows in that, too.

 

Electric seats to manual.



I'm with you on that. My mechanic said it would cost me 900.00 per seat to fix a little rocking back and forth in my seats. I asked him if he can convert to manual. When he gets back to me I with post what he said.

 

To Cobrafixer

Actuator F Moving Seat Forward/Backward as it is called, part num 67318398810 costs $138.74 per Internet Site of BMW of South Atlanta. Have a look That does not seem that expensive if that is all you need. RJJ

 

Part number 67318398810 is 109.88 at thebmwpartstore.com with free shipping, no tax.

 

power seat issues

Just did this repair last weekend although I started off replacing the bushing so while you have the seat out replace the bushing common issue for Z3, if you dont have set rocking now you will. Staraightforward repair your problem is probably the small flexible power seat drive shaft in front of seat railing. had to reassemble mine twice getting this drive shaft in and seated correctly

 

I had the same problem

If you are only trying to get the seat to go back or foward, I can tell you how i manually did it without taking the seats out. Under the front of the seat, you'll see the motor with two flex cables coming out of both sides.

Rip the cables out of the motor and seat bracket. put one end in a power drill. (MAKE SURE THE DRILL IS ON LOW) and adjust each side a little at a time. This was my temporary fix. getting the flex cables back into the moter is more dificult. you have to actually unbolt the motor.

 

If you are only trying to get the seat to go back or foward, I can tell you how i manually did it without taking the seats out. Under the front of the seat, you'll see the motor with two flex cables coming out of both sides.

Rip the cables out of the motor and seat bracket. put one end in a power drill. (MAKE SURE THE DRILL IS ON LOW) and adjust each side a little at a time. This was my temporary fix. getting the flex cables back into the moter is more dificult. you have to actually unbolt the motor.

THANKS! My seat was stuck over the front bolts and there was no way to get them out. I saw your post and found the cable lying on the floor (I just bought it...). I was able to take the cable out of the plastic cover and use needle nose pliers to twist it back into place. Easiest if you put the motor side in first and use the needle nose to push into the wheel track side.

 

Thanks guys, I'll get around to the seat later, right now I'm more worried about the rear sub frame that's almost broke in half!!

 

Cobrafixer

Understand there is an aftermarket KIT to repair/strengthen sub frame seperation but installation not cheap. Have a Word Doc which I can froward if you are interested. I found the Doc when I began looking for a Z 3 a few years ago. After reading the Doc I stopped looking at Full M`s as most of the one`s I found were too far away and I did not want to get involved with Sub Frame issues. If you send me a PM with your E-Mail address I can send the Doc. to you.

RJJ

 

Thanks RJJ, I'll do it myself of I have to, doesn't look too bad for pulling it out, have to get a new subframe, this one is broke almost in half, I need to check the upper mounting tabs to see if they ripped!
Email is cobrafixer@aol.com

 

The rocking back-and-forth is probably the most common do-it-yourself fix on a Z3. Do a search here, check out the YouTube videos, etc., then buy some Whalen Delrin seat bushings and fix it, or have it fixed.

 

Thanks. The mechanic, who was recommended from bfest, mentioned something about the rails being bad. I'll ask him about the bushings,but either way I'm not paying 900.00 to have it fixed. I'll check out the video. Thanks again.


Sent from BimmerApp mobile app

 

I had problems with the driver's seat not working. Found out it was the wire under the carpet that had eroded and shorted. Cut it, spliced it..works fine!!!