Multicountour Seat and Rear Sunshade Swap Update
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Joined: Oct 2016
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From: Maryland, USA
2002 E 320, 2001 E 430
Multicountour Seat and Rear Sunshade Swap Update
Hey guys! I just wanted to update you all on my progress thus far on the seat swap and the rear sun shade. I know many before me have tackled this project, but I couldn't really find a step by step how-to so I kinda just went for it. It took all Saturday and Sunday and I still have some left to do. I learned a lot in the process though, so If you guys would be interested in more of a step by step I'd be happy to write one up.
All in all, I managed to pull my heated/ventilated orthopedic seats from my 2001 E430 and have them installed in my 2002 E320. The heat and multicontour function are working, but I haven't plugged in the ventilation yet to test it. No SDS was used.
Many things to note:
1. My E320 that I put the seats in already had heated seats so that was plug and play.
2. To get the multicontour function working I had to trace the grey vacuum line from both the driver and passenger seats back to the PSE pump. I also had to pull the PSE pump from the donor 430 to put in the E320 for the multicontour to work.
3. PSE caused me a lot of heart ache yesterday. After tearing up the 430 to get everything I need out of it, taking apart the 320 was easy as pie and I was able to take up the carpet and side trim without any issues. I decided to replace the PSE first and test it to make sure everything worked properly and that I hadn't messed up and vacuum lines. After plugging it all in however, nothing worked. I couldn't lock the car or open the trunk and the unlock button just made my lights flash. I swapped in the old PSE that was originally in the E320 and everything still didn't work. I looked through various forums for awhile to no avail and just decided to put the seats in and figure out the vacuum problems later. I installed the orthopedic seats and tested the heat and seat adjustment and it all worked fine, locks still didn't work so I went ahead and installed the PSE from the donor E430 once again and all the sudden everything worked again including the air bladders in the seat! No SDS required.
4. I traced the wire for the ventilated seat function and plugged it in to fuse number 3. I routed the wires to the seats in the E320 and the plugs for the trim LEDs but I haven't brought over the switches from the donor car yet.
Notes on rear sunshade: (still in progress)
1. The rear head rests were a bit of a pain to figure out how to remove. I ended up taking off the rear seat and pulling the little black levers next to each bar for each head rest. Make sure to pull these down and not push them up to release the head rests. These levers were relatively easy to access from the cut outs behind the rear seat. You could push up the little plastic moldings from the cutout behind the rear seat as well.
2. C pillars were probably the hardest thing in this whole project to remove. after getting them both off and seeing how they are attached, I still cant think of an easy way to get them off in the future. (I just pulled really hard after a lot of frustration, surprisingly not breaking them in the proces)
3. I removed the rear deck and exposed the foam and speakers underneath. The rear sunshade and bit of board around it is still in the E430, couldn't find a way to get it out and at that point it was getting dark. I'll give it another go this weekend. I have a feeling I'll need to go at it from the trunk which may be a problem seeing as how the donor car is now without a PSE.
Things still left to do:
1. I need to file down the edges of the button cut outs in the trim to make them perfect. Trying to figure out the parts number on the birdseye maple trim for around the climate control. Might have found a good price on one to replace my cracked one.
2. Still need to get the rear sunshade out and trace the switch down the left side of the E430.
3. I will have to remove the freshly installed seat and carpet again next weekend to retrofit the sunshade.
4. Somehow my left headlight decided to go out after all this work. I have some Depos all ready to go for replacement though.
All in all, I managed to pull my heated/ventilated orthopedic seats from my 2001 E430 and have them installed in my 2002 E320. The heat and multicontour function are working, but I haven't plugged in the ventilation yet to test it. No SDS was used.
Many things to note:
1. My E320 that I put the seats in already had heated seats so that was plug and play.
2. To get the multicontour function working I had to trace the grey vacuum line from both the driver and passenger seats back to the PSE pump. I also had to pull the PSE pump from the donor 430 to put in the E320 for the multicontour to work.
3. PSE caused me a lot of heart ache yesterday. After tearing up the 430 to get everything I need out of it, taking apart the 320 was easy as pie and I was able to take up the carpet and side trim without any issues. I decided to replace the PSE first and test it to make sure everything worked properly and that I hadn't messed up and vacuum lines. After plugging it all in however, nothing worked. I couldn't lock the car or open the trunk and the unlock button just made my lights flash. I swapped in the old PSE that was originally in the E320 and everything still didn't work. I looked through various forums for awhile to no avail and just decided to put the seats in and figure out the vacuum problems later. I installed the orthopedic seats and tested the heat and seat adjustment and it all worked fine, locks still didn't work so I went ahead and installed the PSE from the donor E430 once again and all the sudden everything worked again including the air bladders in the seat! No SDS required.
4. I traced the wire for the ventilated seat function and plugged it in to fuse number 3. I routed the wires to the seats in the E320 and the plugs for the trim LEDs but I haven't brought over the switches from the donor car yet.
Notes on rear sunshade: (still in progress)
1. The rear head rests were a bit of a pain to figure out how to remove. I ended up taking off the rear seat and pulling the little black levers next to each bar for each head rest. Make sure to pull these down and not push them up to release the head rests. These levers were relatively easy to access from the cut outs behind the rear seat. You could push up the little plastic moldings from the cutout behind the rear seat as well.
2. C pillars were probably the hardest thing in this whole project to remove. after getting them both off and seeing how they are attached, I still cant think of an easy way to get them off in the future. (I just pulled really hard after a lot of frustration, surprisingly not breaking them in the proces)
3. I removed the rear deck and exposed the foam and speakers underneath. The rear sunshade and bit of board around it is still in the E430, couldn't find a way to get it out and at that point it was getting dark. I'll give it another go this weekend. I have a feeling I'll need to go at it from the trunk which may be a problem seeing as how the donor car is now without a PSE.
Things still left to do:
1. I need to file down the edges of the button cut outs in the trim to make them perfect. Trying to figure out the parts number on the birdseye maple trim for around the climate control. Might have found a good price on one to replace my cracked one.
2. Still need to get the rear sunshade out and trace the switch down the left side of the E430.
3. I will have to remove the freshly installed seat and carpet again next weekend to retrofit the sunshade.
4. Somehow my left headlight decided to go out after all this work. I have some Depos all ready to go for replacement though.
Last edited by rees8448; Oct 24, 2016 at 11:17 AM.
