[danpen]

I believe that is exactly what I am messing with, only on mine the interior circular part is white and either plastic or plastic coated. Theres also an awful lot of foam rubber or something around.

They don't seem too difficult to move. In fact I think I may have knocked one off its spring tensioner. I'm just sticking a flathead screwdriver up into the center hole and pulling back, which doesn't seem to be doing much.

[canucklion]

screw that, I'm gonna make you so angry, that you'll do this to me:

"canucklion, : damnit"

Originally Posted by txusa03

bookmarks and favorites is your friends...

[danpen]

Ok, I finally got it to release.

On my car the circular parts on the picture posted by Tx were actually bright stainless. Behind those, there was a white plastic part with another circular hole in it that feels like it is spring tensioned, but actually just flexible and snaps into place.

Anyway, the way to unlatch is ti take a strong flat headed screwdriver and place in along the little "L" shaped piece that sticks out. You can't tell from looking at it, but the metal circular part in the center is a wheel that spins around. Use the "L" piece to apply leverage and push it away from the "L" piece, towards the side of the car.

That was a pain in the but, but I guess with those anchors and two t-50 bolts in place, I'm pretty sure that the rear seat isn't going anywhere.

[txusa03]

Originally Posted by danpen

Ok, I finally got it to release.

On my car the circular parts on the picture posted by Tx were actually bright stainless. Behind those, there was a white plastic part with another circular hole in it that feels like it is spring tensioned, but actually just flexible and snaps into place.

Anyway, the way to unlatch is ti take a strong flat headed screwdriver and place in along the little "L" shaped piece that sticks out. You can't tell from looking at it, but the metal circular part in the center is a wheel that spins around. Use the "L" piece to apply leverage and push it away from the "L" piece, towards the side of the car.

That was a pain in the but, but I guess with those anchors and two t-50 bolts in place, I'm pretty sure that the rear seat isn't going anywhere.

Kool, the circular wheel (yellow circle) spin/swivel. So for clarification, is the L-shaped piece that sticks out is the item that I am pointing with green arrow? That is the only thing that stick out in that photo. I knew when I unbolted those 2 screws, I was screwed and knew there was a more efficient way to unlatch the top part of the back seat (oh well, no harm done). pls verify...thanks.

I figure you wuld need a pretty hefty screw driver to spin the latch free.

[danpen]

You identified all of the parts exactly right.

Here are photos of mine (wow your camera is much better than mine, or you are a much better photographer). The first is a close up showing the same picture you did, only with the latch opened so you can see the notch. The second is from farther away so you can see how it lines up with the D ring on the seat back.

[txusa03]

I wish the photos were a little better (probably due to the location and the lighting which makes it hard to get clear photos. As I did not removed my rear seatback using your method, I am wondering when you get ready to put the rear seat back into place, you will need to unlatch the hooks again.

Looking at my mock up photo, number 1 is when the seat is locked in place, hook is in red, and D-ring on seat is the blue rectangular. Number 2 is when you are able to unlatch the hook and slide the D-ring out (hence releasing the seatback). Number 3 is my assumption that that hook will snap back into the lock position because I do not see anything on it to keep it open due to the fact that it has a spring tension on it.

I suspect that you have to unlatch the hook and have another person on the inside cabin push the seatback toward the trunk when you get ready to put everything back together. Why? coz someone need to get int the trunk and push/hold the the latch for the hook open while another person from the other side of the cabin push the seat toward the trunk.

Taking the seat out only requires one person coz you can unlatch the hook from the trunk and at the same time push the seatback toward the front of the car.

[danpen]

The latches aren't spring loaded, so they stay open (the springy stuff I was referring to in earlier posts really turned out to be plastic retaining clips for the foam behind it). I haven't put the seatbacks back in yet, but I'm pretty sure that I just put them in, crawl back into the trunk, and turn the latches in the opposite direction to close them. This is assuming I don't decided to just trust that the enormous bolts holding them in are sufficient.

Sorry the pictures suck. It was outside, so there are some very strange lighting conditions with the dark trunk and bright light streaming in. Plus my digital camera is somewhat old. I'll probably have to get a new one soon.

[txusa03]

Hum, I had the pleasure of taking that whole latch/hook assemply out from under the upper parcel shelf (which I regretted). You can see here that there is a spring that attaches to the hook. Yes, at the time when I had it in my hand, I did not think about taking pic of the other side which shows you the whole assembly of that latch/hook. But the one in my car came with a spring that keeps the hook lock at all time. let us know how it goes when putting the thing back in.

[txusa03]

a little better photo (not much better)...

[danpen]

To answer your question about getting the seat back in:

You were right and the things are spring loaded. However, it is fairly easy to get them back in by yourself. The way they are built, the D rings on the seatback push the latches out of the way when you are inserting them (you just need to push in kind of hard.. I punched the seat to get it in all the way).

Think like a door latch when you close the door, the curvature of the the latch bolt pushes it out of the way so you don't have to turn the handle.

[txusa03]

Originally Posted by danpen

To answer your question about getting the seat back in:

You were right and the things are spring loaded. However, it is fairly easy to get them back in by yourself. The way they are built, the D rings on the seatback push the latches out of the way when you are inserting them (you just need to push in kind of hard.. I punched the seat to get it in all the way).

Think like a door latch when you close the door, the curvature of the the latch bolt pushes it out of the way so you don't have to turn the handle.

That is what I thought about them being spring loaded (coz I was holding the latch in my hand ). I do agreed with you when it is time to put the seat back in, you have to really push the top part of the seat hard for it to snap into place.

I did not punch it but I get into an NFL linemen position and just ramp the upper part of the seat with my shoulder and I hear a snap .

[jdmass]

I'm trying to install Sirius in my 07 335i and I've tried to follow the seatback removal instructions, but have been unsuccessful thus far.

I can't get the seat release lever in the trunk to budge and am worried about bending or breaking the tabs. Can somebody tell me if the direction marked by the arrow in the picture below is correct? If not, please identify the correct direction. Thanks.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jdmass/E...34618596629554

(BTW, I couldn't find a way to attach/insert the picture, so I included a URL)

[debers]

Can the back seat be removed without going into the trunk? That´s where the girlfriend left the keys.

[jhcunniff]

Thanks Tierfreund. I'm a Ham radio operator and needed to route two wires from the trunk to the front compartment. Don't have rear fold down seats (I could just kick myself for not ordering those!) Anyway, your instructions were a breeze to follow and you saved me alot of time and money. The local BMW dealer wanted too much for this simple job.

Thanks, cheers and happy Beeming.

-John (W4JHC)

[e90drvr]

Originally Posted by debers

Can the back seat be removed without going into the trunk? That´s where the girlfriend left the keys.

as in, the trunk is locked with the switch in the glove box and the glove box is also locked, and now the keys are in the trunk?

[ZFF]

I needed to take the back seat out, did a search and found this thread, just wanted to say "thanks" for taking the time to put up this excellent info! Would have been very difficult to figure out how to get the back part out on my own!

[T7R_Sky]

Hey. I hate to revive such an old thread, but the little white latches broke while I was tryin to do this. How did you guys remove the whole lock assembly?

[andy_06xi]

So I need access to the MOST Bus connections under the rear seat. My rear seats fold using a handle in the trunk. Does this mean that if I take out the two bolts at the seatback base, that the rear seat back will just come out after using the handle to release it?

- andy

[andy_06xi]

Originally Posted by andy_06xi

So I need access to the MOST Bus connections under the rear seat. My rear seats fold using a handle in the trunk. Does this mean that if I take out the two bolts at the seatback base, that the rear seat back will just come out after using the handle to release it?

- andy

For those with folding seats -- well you just need to fold the left side and then pull out the remaining left portion of the seat back. It clips at the top. I removed the rear seat bottom -- but I don't think that was necessary. You certainly don't need to remove the folding portion of the seat backs.

Now if I could only figure out how to get the MOST connection covers off.

- andy

[HokieBimmer]

This thread has been a life saver for me also...my situation is that I was bringing my cat back from the vet and forgot to line his cage with a towel and he "went" and some of his urine proceeded to get on the rear seats where his cage was. I got most all it off the back seat surface, but could still smell some of his urine and I knew that some of it also got underneath the seats so I was desperate to get to it to clean it - thanks to this thread, I was able to do so!

I just remove the seat and scrubbed the liner and I also sprayed some Febreeze on the liner (cat urine is really, really, really hard to clean!). I'll go back in a moment and use some paper towels to dry the liner and have my fingers crossed that this will do the trick. Otherwise, I'll have to do it all over again - I'm hoping that that I don't have to do anymore removal of the seat to get to other areas.

MAN! My only advice to all pet owners is that after going through all this trouble is to make sure you line the back seat with all manners of towels, plastic liners, sheets, (basically anything that will provide a sufficient buffer to the seats). Better yet, you may want to consider taking another family members car (or renting a car for this task).

Anyway, thanks everyone!

[Pablo Pistolas]

Great tips, but I can't get into my trunk. Is it possible to remove the rear seat without access to the trunk?

Essentially, my problem is I need access to the trunk. I disconnected the battery cable and closed the trunk. Now, without power, the key to the trunk won't even work. I tried jumping the car from the posts in the engine, but without a connected battery, no juice flows.

Any off the wall ideas appreciated.

[UncleWede]

^been there, done that

Use the key in your FOB to unlock the trunk from under the lid where you normally use your hand when all the doors are unlocked