Heated seat switch plugs

[RobTFC]

Hi,

Whilst I've been working on a few things, I've been looking for the plugs for the heated seat switches. I acquired some heated seats and the plugs were present to connect those up, and I have the switches and relay ready to go. It doesn't look like the plugs are directly behind the console, I've just got my existing switch wiring, some other unrelated connector and an airbag module. I've heard some members mention finding the plugs "under the carpet" within the passenger or drivers footwell. What exactly does this mean? - is it a carpet-out job to look properly or are the connectors generally just loosely tucked into the end of the carpet and I should be able to spot them and free them up fairly easily? I've only checked the passenger side so far (as the glove box and trim was already out), but to no avail.

thanks

[BladeRunner919]

Although Z3's have a common wiring loom, BMW tended to hide the unused plugs very well indeed. They almost certainly won't be floating around and easy to find, but you'll need to look at the nearby harnesses and look for the plugs being bound to one of them.

[Robert T]

Some connectors are free-floating - we found a few behind the heater panel on one car when fitting a HRW switch, which turned out to be very well hidden. Your best bet is probably to remove the screws on the driver's (right-hand) side footwell panel to gain access to the area behind the heater panel - this is what it looked like on my car:



There will likely be connectors for aircon, telephone, electric roof, as well as the heated seats.

As for the seat-end of the wiring, this is a seat-out job, but the loom all comes through the carpet in the same place under. If the connector is not immediately visible, then you might need to peel the carpet back a bit. IIRC we did this by removing the trim along the door sill, which let us lift the carpet enough to look under - we were actually looking for water, but it let us have a good look at the wiring.

Cheers R.

[RobTFC]

Thanks for the help, I'll look further just want to avoid removing the carpet if possible!

Here's a pic of behind my console albeit from the passenger side. I'll try the drivers side at the weekend. It looks very similar to yours but no heated seat wiring visible yet.