Retrofit Electric Memory seats to replace manual seats

[harmank]

Hi,

Hopefully one of you will be able to help me from going grey!!

I recently purchased a E53 with manual cloth seats and picked up some leather memory seats.

They went in resonably easily and the passenger seat was 'plug&play' but the drivers seat did not work. I swapped over the seats to ensure the drivers seat actually worked and when plugged in on the passenger side it worked fine.

All the fuses (Drivers side - 2 - 30amp / 5amp and passenger 30amp) are fine, i even swapped them around to ensure that they are okay and still the same problem.

Am I missing something or is something special required for the drivers side, i have done a few searches and the mention of the K-Bus pops up for retrofitting memory seats but as my car seems to be pre-wired (otherwise why would passenger seat work and fuses be present?) I am sure I am missing something (simple I hope, as the wife is having a go at me )

Can anyone help or point me in the right direction of what the pins (square seat connector) are so that I can at least do some testing to see if power is coming through.

Is the final alternative just to run a 12+ve feed to the plug? Can I tap this into the passenger feed 12+ve?

Any help would be much appreciate for a novice

Thanks guys

[JCL]

Could be an interesting project.

The following link will provide an overview of the Central Body Electronics for the E53. This was part of the BMW training material when the E53 was introduced. The module being discussed is ZKE III. The functions for electric memory seats are integrated into this module. There are also additional modules such as the door modules. See in particular page 58 on this link (seats), as well as the introduction (overview) of the main module:

http://www.bmwmotorsports.org/BMW_docs/x5zkeIII.pdf

Strongly recommend you do not jump 12 volt to the seat motors, due to the nature of the control strategy used. There are often control signals used that are not 12 volt, and you don't want to fry something.

My first steps would be to determine if any of the modules involved are different between models equipped with memory seats or not. I would look at the driver's door module, and the memory module in particular. Realoem will show part numbers.

Next step would be to determine if vehicle coding is required for the seat to be recognized. The memory module is on the bus, and can be coded for diagnostics and memory functions. Perhaps it isn't being recognized due to your specific vehicle coding. That would require specific tooling. Someone on the board with a GT1 may be able to tell us if memory seats are a switchable selection in the software.

Good luck. I will do some more thinking and see if I can come up with anything more.

Jeff

[harmank]

Thanks for that Jeff.

I have had a look and the SZM is different on my car as it doesn't have the heated seats. I also do not have automatic folding mirrors or elecrtronic steering wheel adjustment.

I checked the fuses again using a voltmeter and also the power going to the seats. There is power at all the fuses (the 5amp when the ignition is on - this, I believe goes to the SZM control).

The passenger seat is okay and works without the ignition switched on but there is no power at all going to the drivers seat.

I called up my local indy and asked if he could do teh coding (if required) but he said he hadn't come across this before and was not sure if coding was required.

I havent given up just yet......I know the car is pre-wired for the seats but I am flumuxed on why no power is going through to the drivers seat when the passenger seat works.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[mrbmwx5]

Have you check the seat control panel on that seat yet? it cound be bad control panel .

[harmank]

That's a great name "MrBMWX5"

I plugged in the drivers seat onto the passenger plug and it worked fine, so the panel is fine. Just not getting any power to the plug on the drivers side.

Thanks for the heads up though.

[ienjoydrifting]

want to sell your cloth stuff?

[Helmuth]

You will need that one to remove your glove box:

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...x-removal.html

and that one to have power on the plug below the driver seat:

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...r-shocked.html <- #8

I did the bridge with a cable - works like a charm for months now - you can also add the right relay if you want.
Coding is not required.

The rest is plug and play.

Good luck

[JCL]

Great information.

[harmank]

Helmuth,

Great, many thanks for that - really appreciate the help - i tried searching for ages for that information so apologies for not spotting it earlier and "wasting" your time.

I am away this weekend visiting the folks but will pick up a relay and plug it in and will update you on how it went.

Thanks again

[harmank]

ienjoydrifting - if i get the electric ones to work, i will be looking to off load teh cloth ones (they are in really good condition, no nicks or tears0 BUT I am based in the UK, Berkshire - dont think thats any good to you is it?