Hey folks,
I replaced a stuck rear seat belt mechanism in my 2002 M5 tonight. BMW part number is 72118198483 (for a black one). Didn't see a DIY on this topic, so here is a summary. Not a bad job, just an hour or two depending on your proficiency, tools, and speed you like to work.
Here are the basic steps. Many of these are covered elsewhere on the board. My car has non-foldable rear seats. The seat procedure will be different if you have the fold-down variety.
Here is a link to a well-made video by Bavsound that shows you many of these steps (but in a car with fold-down seats):
BMW 5 Series Speaker Upgrade 3/4 -BSW Stage I -E39 '99-05 - YouTube
1. Remove rear seat bottom. No tools required, just give a sharp upward tug on each side of seat bottom. The place you pull up is right between the knees of where a person would be if they were sitting in the seat. Then work the seat forward and up and remove it from the car. At this point you probably want to move the front seats all the way forward to maximize the amount of room you have to work.
2. Remove rear seat back. You have to remove two 10mm screws from the sides of the seat back at the bottom edge, near the lower attachment points for the left and right shoulder belts. Remove the center head rest by pulling up hard on it. Raise the left and right head rests to highest position. If possible, move the seat belts out of the way by extending them fully and hanging them out the doors. Then just lift the entire seat back up, wiggling it as you go. It will disengage and you can carefully remove it from the car. Watch the metal brackets that the 10mm screws went through. They are sharp and will cut the interior if they drag on something.
3. Remove left and right rear headrests. Just grab the posts and pull up sharply, wiggling back and forth. If the headrest comes off leaving the post in place, that's ok. Pull the post out by twisting and pulling upwards.
4. Remove center headrest bracket. You will need to remove four bolts with a 4mm hex wrench.
5. Remove C-pillar covers. Take out the rear light by prying on the top edge with a nylon panel tool, and disconnect the wire from the lights. Remove two 8mm bolts inside the resulting hole. The C-pillar cover is attached to the body with two plastic clips, one near the front point of the cover, and one near the top of the hole for the light fixture. Disengage the clips, then carefully remove the C-pillar covers by pulling them forwards. Refer to the video link for great instructions.
6. Remove 17mm lower attachment bolt from the seat belt that you are replacing. To find the bolt, just follow the belt down. The bolt is hidden under some rubberized material. Fold the material back and remove with a socket wrench. I used a 6" extension.
7. Loosen rear deck. First remove four black plastic center clips from bottom edge of rear deck, along the edge that was exposed when you removed the rear seat back. Pull out the centers and then pry the clips out. Next remove the three child seat restraints from the deck surface. Pry off the black plastic covers and unscrew the 13mm bolts with a socket wrench. Be sure to remove the metal-and-felt spacers that the 13mm bolts go through. If you have a rear sun shade, I understand there are some bolts you have to remove from inside the trunk. I don't have the sun shade option on my car, so I can't verify this. Now just carefully work the rear deck loose by pulling and rocking gently out (towards the front of the car) and up. Be patient and work bit by bit. Move the deck forward into the back seat area far enough that you can see the seat belt retractor mechanism. Again, the bavsound video is a great guide.
8. Remove seat belt retractor. The mechanism is held in place by a single 16mm nut. You can see the nut through the rear window glass. The nut is an uncommon size, but a 5/8" socket worked for me, and a 17mm may do the job in a pinch. I used a 3" extension. You will also need to remove the black plastic trim piece that surrounds the belt where it goes through the rear deck. Just pushy he trim piece out from behind. The trim piece has a split in it, which allows you to remove the trim piece from the belt. Study how the piece goes on the belt, and put it back that same way on your new part. Once the trim piece is off, you can remove the retractor mechanism and shoulder belt from the car.
9. Reverse order of operations to install everything.
This is all a bit tedious but nothing is very hard. Definitely something that an intermediate DIY guy or an ambitious beginner could tackle.
Good luck and feel free to ask questions.
I replaced a stuck rear seat belt mechanism in my 2002 M5 tonight. BMW part number is 72118198483 (for a black one). Didn't see a DIY on this topic, so here is a summary. Not a bad job, just an hour or two depending on your proficiency, tools, and speed you like to work.
Here are the basic steps. Many of these are covered elsewhere on the board. My car has non-foldable rear seats. The seat procedure will be different if you have the fold-down variety.
Here is a link to a well-made video by Bavsound that shows you many of these steps (but in a car with fold-down seats):
BMW 5 Series Speaker Upgrade 3/4 -BSW Stage I -E39 '99-05 - YouTube
1. Remove rear seat bottom. No tools required, just give a sharp upward tug on each side of seat bottom. The place you pull up is right between the knees of where a person would be if they were sitting in the seat. Then work the seat forward and up and remove it from the car. At this point you probably want to move the front seats all the way forward to maximize the amount of room you have to work.
2. Remove rear seat back. You have to remove two 10mm screws from the sides of the seat back at the bottom edge, near the lower attachment points for the left and right shoulder belts. Remove the center head rest by pulling up hard on it. Raise the left and right head rests to highest position. If possible, move the seat belts out of the way by extending them fully and hanging them out the doors. Then just lift the entire seat back up, wiggling it as you go. It will disengage and you can carefully remove it from the car. Watch the metal brackets that the 10mm screws went through. They are sharp and will cut the interior if they drag on something.
3. Remove left and right rear headrests. Just grab the posts and pull up sharply, wiggling back and forth. If the headrest comes off leaving the post in place, that's ok. Pull the post out by twisting and pulling upwards.
4. Remove center headrest bracket. You will need to remove four bolts with a 4mm hex wrench.
5. Remove C-pillar covers. Take out the rear light by prying on the top edge with a nylon panel tool, and disconnect the wire from the lights. Remove two 8mm bolts inside the resulting hole. The C-pillar cover is attached to the body with two plastic clips, one near the front point of the cover, and one near the top of the hole for the light fixture. Disengage the clips, then carefully remove the C-pillar covers by pulling them forwards. Refer to the video link for great instructions.
6. Remove 17mm lower attachment bolt from the seat belt that you are replacing. To find the bolt, just follow the belt down. The bolt is hidden under some rubberized material. Fold the material back and remove with a socket wrench. I used a 6" extension.
7. Loosen rear deck. First remove four black plastic center clips from bottom edge of rear deck, along the edge that was exposed when you removed the rear seat back. Pull out the centers and then pry the clips out. Next remove the three child seat restraints from the deck surface. Pry off the black plastic covers and unscrew the 13mm bolts with a socket wrench. Be sure to remove the metal-and-felt spacers that the 13mm bolts go through. If you have a rear sun shade, I understand there are some bolts you have to remove from inside the trunk. I don't have the sun shade option on my car, so I can't verify this. Now just carefully work the rear deck loose by pulling and rocking gently out (towards the front of the car) and up. Be patient and work bit by bit. Move the deck forward into the back seat area far enough that you can see the seat belt retractor mechanism. Again, the bavsound video is a great guide.
8. Remove seat belt retractor. The mechanism is held in place by a single 16mm nut. You can see the nut through the rear window glass. The nut is an uncommon size, but a 5/8" socket worked for me, and a 17mm may do the job in a pinch. I used a 3" extension. You will also need to remove the black plastic trim piece that surrounds the belt where it goes through the rear deck. Just pushy he trim piece out from behind. The trim piece has a split in it, which allows you to remove the trim piece from the belt. Study how the piece goes on the belt, and put it back that same way on your new part. Once the trim piece is off, you can remove the retractor mechanism and shoulder belt from the car.
9. Reverse order of operations to install everything.
This is all a bit tedious but nothing is very hard. Definitely something that an intermediate DIY guy or an ambitious beginner could tackle.
Good luck and feel free to ask questions.
