e34 seat twist questions.

OK... I've found all the links on the infamous seat twist, and I'm going to give it a go on Wednesday. Just a couple of questions before I get started. It's a 94 540i with memory seats and it's the drivers side with the problem, by the way.

1) Should I take the entire seat out or not?? I've read that it's easier, but not a must... but I've also read that the seat may be a real pain in the @ss to get back in after taking it out.

2) Which link for directions should I follow??
2a) http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/page_11.htm
2b) http://bellsouthpwp.net/m/i/miales/seatcablesfix.htm

3) Anything else I should know about?

thanks in advance


-brown

I took my passenger seat out and it was really easy to reinstall.

Depends on my mood as to whether I take the seat out of the car, or just tip it over.

I did this just the other week. I've also got memory seats, and since this was the first time I've done anything like this, I don't proclaim the way I did it as the best way, but it worked.

Here's the thread that has a description of what I did:

http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=23200

I left the seat in the car so that I could quickly and easily plug it in and test if the cable was working. Its a little cumbersome, but the only advantage removing the seat entirely gets you is some better more comfortable leverage when maneuvering the cable. The memory seat doesn't make this more difficult, but just adds some extra crap in the way that you'll need to move-- its pretty obvious when you get the seat propped up and look at it what you'll need to do.

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll go at it tomorrow.

peace

-brown

For removing the metal end on the cable, I found a tool that worked perfectly for me.

My little sister had a creme brulee torch in the kitchen that worked perfectly for heating the plastic in the cable. Directional and controlled (like a blow torch) without the massive flame. If you have one, use that!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DanDombrowski

For removing the metal end on the cable, I found a tool that worked perfectly for me.

My little sister had a creme brulee torch in the kitchen that worked perfectly for heating the plastic in the cable. Directional and controlled (like a blow torch) without the massive flame. If you have one, use that!

---

I went to pepboys and they sold a butane torch that tool standard run of the mill butane lighters as a fuel source. I just plug it in, click the switch and get a really F'ing hot blue flame. Worked very well for the purpose of fixing seat twist. Will I use it again? probably not till I need to repair seat twist again. :)