e30 Heated Seats OEM switches aftermarket elements

[akalair]

Hi,

I am wanting to fit heated seats into my car. I have the oem switches and loom but no elements. I was wondering if it was possible to buy an aftermarket kit online and use the elements from that with my oem switches/harness.

I'm guessing it should be possible...anyone have any experience in doing so and if so and advice?

Have searched online and most threads describe how to retrofit all oem components only.

Many thanks

[Satan]

Any reason why you want to fit them, I assume you have leather seats and the car is in regular use?

[Cloggy Saint]

I have aftermarket elements with oem switches. There are 4 wires from each switch, 2 for the base and 2 for the back. Just cut off whatever connectors you have and replace with bullet connectors or similar but don't solder as you won't be able to remove the seats in future.

[martauto]

Two steps here;
1, try and grab hold of some e36/46 heated seats as they can be a lot cheaper and take out the elements
2, buy a heated seat pad from E-bay at a silly price which will help you over the winter. I have done this for my e46 sport and they work just fine £8.00

Asuming you cant get hold of any e30 ones.

Mart.

[Satan]

I have aftermarket elements with oem switches. There are 4 wires from each switch, 2 for the base and 2 for the back. Just cut off whatever connectors you have and replace with bullet connectors or similar but don't solder as you won't be able to remove the seats in future.

Do they work on both settings?

[Cloggy Saint]

I have aftermarket elements with oem switches. There are 4 wires from each switch, 2 for the base and 2 for the back. Just cut off whatever connectors you have and replace with bullet connectors or similar but don't solder as you won't be able to remove the seats in future.

Do they work on both settings?

They sure do.

[akalair]

Any reason why you want to fit them, I assume you have leather seats and the car is in regular use?

Just think it is a really nice feature to have - especially with winter almost upon us!

[akalair]

Two steps here;
1, try and grab hold of some e36/46 heated seats as they can be a lot cheaper and take out the elements
2, buy a heated seat pad from E-bay at a silly price which will help you over the winter. I have done this for my e46 sport and they work just fine £8.00

Asuming you cant get hold of any e30 ones.

Mart.

Thanks Mart,

are e36/46 connectors for the elements plug and play?

[akalair]

I have aftermarket elements with oem switches. There are 4 wires from each switch, 2 for the base and 2 for the back. Just cut off whatever connectors you have and replace with bullet connectors or similar but don't solder as you won't be able to remove the seats in future.

Thanks CS - just what I wanted to hear

Called Dealer earlier and elements for leather are NLA and fgor cloth backs are 65ish each and bases are 70ish each.

Did you buy any particular ones? So wiring is straight forward then?

[Cloggy Saint]

My elements were sourced by the people who re-trimmed my seats. I already had heating elements in my sports seats but didn't want to put them in the recaros as they were old and I didn't want to be replacing them further down the line. The wring was a piece of cake, if I can do it so can you!

[akalair]

My elements were sourced by the people who re-trimmed my seats. I already had heating elements in my sports seats but didn't want to put them in the recaros as they were old and I didn't want to be replacing them further down the line. The wring was a piece of cake, if I can do it so can you!

Many thanks for your help and advice!

[Satan]

If you are going to do the job yourself then its not fun, you will need hog rings and hog ring pliers to refit certain bits.

The connectors for under the seats you can buy and make them up as it tidies the install up, there is also a plastic clip that clips to the underside of the seat that holds the connector, I did this job myself its a pain and now I have a garage the ca car stays there in winter so its never used.

[Satan]

Part 6

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showpa ... Id=52_3142

[akalair]

Thanks Satan. I would definitely like to keep the install tidy but where would I get the connectors to add to the aftermarket elements from? I have put a wanted ad out but no joy as yet...

[Satan]

If you have the loom you should have the male end of the connector so you just need to work out the female end shape, should be on eBay or Amazon.

Remember you need to cut the holes in the care console for the switches the position of the switches are marked underneath.

[akalair]

If you have the loom you should have the male end of the connector so you just need to work out the female end shape, should be on eBay or Amazon.

Remember you need to cut the holes in the care console for the switches the position of the switches are marked underneath.

Yeah. I’ve read the holes are pre marked underneath. Will search the net to try and find female side. Thanks

Thanks for the advice dude. Much appreciated.

[Satan]

I "think" they may be similar to a four pin PC PSU type connector, I can't remember to be honest as I did mine years ago and I think the heater elements from BMW comes with bare cables.

I did have some photos somewhere......

[Cloggy Saint]

It's a 'molex' type connector and he elements come with the corresponding plug. I wanted to keep the original connections but the pins were in a sealed unit and had to be cut.

[Satan]

Weird mine weren't sealed and I could remove the pins with the pin removal tool.

[Cloggy Saint]

Pin removal tool? Maybe I'm remembering it wrong, it was a good few years ago.

[Contours]

I got an aftermarket set up some years ago. The heating pads glue to the seat. You have to be careful taking the seat apart and there are tutorials on the net. The kit comes with a fuse and relay and I connected it into the Heated rear window circuit. The switch on button is where the blank is for the air conditioning so all looks very neat. In my case I just fitted the elements to the drivers seat, the passenger having to put up with the conditions.

[twenty]

Late to the party - I plan to do the same but only have OE switches.
BMW has the sport seat loom, pads and switches for around 500 but I think that's a bit ott, even for me.

I assume that something like this https://www.ebay.de/itm/334171967420 should do the trick and I should be able to make my own loom.

[Contours]

You get a loom with the kit you referred to above. You can plug in the power wire from the kit to Position U in the C302 plug behind the glovebox which is for the heated seats and put a 15 amp fuse into position 16 in the fusebox. It's handy to have the carpet out as the loom has to be channelled under the seats to plug into the heating pads installed in the seats. I never had a problem with my install many years ago with a similar kit and it is a very worthwhile addition especially with the leather sport seats.

[twenty]

You get a loom with the kit you referred to above. You can plug in the power wire from the kit to Position U in the C302 plug behind the glovebox which is for the heated seats and put a 15 amp fuse into position 16 in the fusebox. It's handy to have the carpet out as the loom has to be channelled under the seats to plug into the heating pads installed in the seats. I never had a problem with my install many years ago with a similar kit and it is a very worthwhile addition especially with the leather sport seats.

That’s great to know. Did you use OE switches with the kit? If so how did the wiring look like?

Thanks.

[Contours]

Heated seats.JPG

No, I used the wiring loom that came with the kit. The switch provided was a rectangular type which I managed to shoehorn into where the blank for the air con is on these cars (photo). The loom provided is fairly bulky but it routes from behind the switch under the carpet and plugs into the pad connectors at the back of the seats.

[twenty]

Ah I see. I’m planning to use the OE switches especially I paid a fortune for them haha.