My Vader Seat Broke! I need Help Fixing It!
 

My Driver's side Vader seat broke this morning. The lever on the side of the seat that we use to lean the seat forward so passengers can get in and out stopped working. At first I would pull it up to lean the seat forward and it would not move. Then I tried it again and this time the lever lost all tension in it. So it just moves up and down freely and of course the seat leans forward. It is part number 12 in the link http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...35&hg=52&fg=25

Everything else on my seat works except for the lever. Please someone tell me how to take apart my seat so I can fix this. Any help is appreciated. I know L84thsky took his Vaders apart. So hey L8 can you help me out??

i have takedn my sport seats apart and they are the same thing.

what you need to do i pop off your headrest then then there are two torx screws at the bottomof the back cover of the seat take those off and then the handle your talking about and then pop it off. hopefully its something back there messed up.

if not you then have to remove the seat and then all the cables are underneath the seats.

Not that I have done this before, but if seems like it can't be too difficult.

I would imagine if there is no tension and the lever moves freely, the bowden cable either broke or popped off the lever.

I am also kind of a 'go figure it out for myself' type of person so I don't mind the adventure in the uncharted territory every once in a while. I would probably just take the entire seat out and check out the bottom and see how the bowden cables attach to the lever, and see if you can find the free end of the cable and match it up.

all in all its not very difficult and its pretty self explanitory when looking at the seat out of the vehicle.

just go check it out when you get soem free time.

i sewwed my old sport seats and it took me like 30 minutes to get the seat removed and the bottom cusion off. and you wont have to remove and cusion for your problem

Well I looked at the bottom of my seat and after finding the bowden cable, I found out that it is my cable that has broken. It is in two pieces and it does not look repairable since the cable is untangling. As of right now I can still reach under the seat and pull up on the piece and it will lean the seat forward.(ghetto but it works) I see on realoem the bowden cable is only Ten bucks. Not bad but considering that I will have to take the whole seat apart just to run the new cable makes me think it will be a pain. Do any of you think that running a new cable will be difficult or tedious?????

nawww removing the cushions arent hard either.

its about 8 torx screws and the bottom cushion will come off.

but i dont think you need to take the cushion to get to that cable do you?

cant you just take the rear cover off? i didnt pay to much attention to the cables while i was under there but i dont think it would take longer than an hour of work.

Vaders are different from regular or sport seats in how the cushions come off... (My bowden cable on the passenger side is broken, I just haven't gotten around to fixing it)

You will need to remove the seat to access the lower cable connection, and the upper cushion is not held on with screws, but a lip attached to the leather that tucks back into a groove or lip on the back

There are some close up pics in this thread with the leather off that may help

http://318ti.org/forum/showthread.ph...ght=vader+swap

You can also see the cable connection as well. Keep us posted on your progress...

I found the thread where I swapped the same handle, but no photos where there. Maybe the pics got deleted from the server.

Look at this thread, it shows the rear of the seat exposed. Pry the trim off the back of the seat. The trim is stitched to the leather. After removing the strim the backshell is exposed, as in my picture.

http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthrea...t=VADER&page=2