I have a facelift ’06 model. One thing I’ve wanted since I got my Z4 was heated seats! Not long ago I bought a leather interior as an upgrade which had heated seats. Firstly the new seats were on electric bases (the face lift has no pre-wiring for this) so I swapped them over to my manual bases from the original cloth interior. I was happy to lose the electric bases as they weight a ton and I never move the seats out of position anyway. So the only thing needed was to wire up the heating – how hard can it be?
Well apparently very! In all my searching I have not come across anyone doing this before. This being the case I have tried, in between fitting, to take some pic’s and hopefully make some sense as a ‘how-to’. Also this retro-fit was made especially difficult as I cracked a rib sledging last Monday, hardly ideal but without that it is surprisingly easy.
So what will you need?
Wiring harness
Centre console switch with heater buttons
Seats with heating elements
About 10-15 tie wraps some big some small is helpful
Hands of a ninja and about 4 hours
I believe the BMW retrofit kit number is: 61 11 0 301 538 and this is where I got the BMW wiring instructions from. You need this in order to understand which wire goes where in each harness.
1. Firstly disconnect the battery (putting the roof & windows down first for access) and dismantle everything below knee level!
1a. Side trims pull up and out both sides
1b. Then forward of this you need to take out the under side panel trim and the speaker trim on both sides (drivers side has the bonnet latch so unscrew this from the centre and prise it off) and detach the glove box on passenger side
2. Next remove the centre console, one screw under the ash tray and then pull up on it - it will arch from the rear; then detach the wires. Get your new console and do a quick swapsy
3. Next feed the wiring harness behind the centre console footwell to footwell you can get your hand through at the back and feed the harness to where the buttons are.
3a.Consult the instructions and clip in the wires to the relevant sockets.
3b. slot it back in arching from the back and making sure the little black guides go into the holes
4. In each footwell you need to earth the harness to the earthing posts
4a. Passenger side up above where your feet would rest
4b. Drivers side just below the speaker
5. Then you have to insert the power line into the appropriate socket on the fuse box (this just pushes in to the front of the pink socket you can see in pic 1b next to the fuses), and run the remainder of the harness under the carpet with the existing stuff to the seats and clip the cables into the appropriate sockets on the harness (this point is not pictured, sorry!)
6. Put it all back together in the reverse sit back and be smug
Well apparently very! In all my searching I have not come across anyone doing this before. This being the case I have tried, in between fitting, to take some pic’s and hopefully make some sense as a ‘how-to’. Also this retro-fit was made especially difficult as I cracked a rib sledging last Monday, hardly ideal but without that it is surprisingly easy.
So what will you need?
Wiring harness
Centre console switch with heater buttons
Seats with heating elements
About 10-15 tie wraps some big some small is helpful
Hands of a ninja and about 4 hours
I believe the BMW retrofit kit number is: 61 11 0 301 538 and this is where I got the BMW wiring instructions from. You need this in order to understand which wire goes where in each harness.
1. Firstly disconnect the battery (putting the roof & windows down first for access) and dismantle everything below knee level!
1a. Side trims pull up and out both sides
1b. Then forward of this you need to take out the under side panel trim and the speaker trim on both sides (drivers side has the bonnet latch so unscrew this from the centre and prise it off) and detach the glove box on passenger side
2. Next remove the centre console, one screw under the ash tray and then pull up on it - it will arch from the rear; then detach the wires. Get your new console and do a quick swapsy
3. Next feed the wiring harness behind the centre console footwell to footwell you can get your hand through at the back and feed the harness to where the buttons are.
3a.Consult the instructions and clip in the wires to the relevant sockets.
3b. slot it back in arching from the back and making sure the little black guides go into the holes
4. In each footwell you need to earth the harness to the earthing posts
4a. Passenger side up above where your feet would rest
4b. Drivers side just below the speaker
5. Then you have to insert the power line into the appropriate socket on the fuse box (this just pushes in to the front of the pink socket you can see in pic 1b next to the fuses), and run the remainder of the harness under the carpet with the existing stuff to the seats and clip the cables into the appropriate sockets on the harness (this point is not pictured, sorry!)
6. Put it all back together in the reverse sit back and be smug
