Adding heated rear comfort seat

[botus]

BMW have done retrofits on most things for year and years... the fact they sell the loom kit must mean you can have the heated seat coding retrofitted - sure dealerships are lazy and incompetent and prefer to tell you to go away rather than help...

Go see the parts department and ask them about ordering the FSC for the heated seats. Option code S0518 SA Seat Heating - I expect it will be circa £120 - if he can order it, the clunky joke of retrofit coding gently turns over - within 24 hrs Germany will have updated records for the bike and then the numpty in the workshop can plug the bike in and it allows the automatic coding of your bike - once done you can check your VIN on a decode site and find post build options sit out of order at the bottom of your VO list

Although they might be funny - I expect this coding can be done without the parts on the bike - it shouldn't care at the time of programming - all they are really doing is adding that Option to the VO which allows the canbus insanity to do things wrong, and tick a box so it shows up in the cluster menus - you'd hope aftermarket kit could turn this on - but Motoscan doesn't do VO tweaks, and GS911 may have an issue on the R1300 - the world has moved on this era of bikes - it gets a "Secure access gateway". This stops people just doing what they want. I fully expect this tweak needs an online handshake with Germany to get it done

 

[pbbanks]

Ai says maybe -- "is often prewired".

I meant to say :--
"If the option for seat heating doesn't appear on the "burger button" menu on the LHS switchgear then it ISN'T activated"

 

[Hatcho]

For earlier versions of the GS, 1200/1250 for example, aftermarket heated seats came in two versions, one for bikes already equipped with heated seats, and one for bikes that never had heated seats. I believe the latter included their own wiring solution for getting power from the bike. If the aftermarket seats for the 1300 follow the same patttern, this would indicate that retrofitting heated seats might not be a simple task. That said, if it's confirmed that the wiring loom is already in place, things might not be too complicated.

 

[Smartbazza]

I meant to say :--
"If the option for seat heating doesn't appear on the "burger button" menu on the LHS switchgear then it ISN'T activated"

rear seat heating is only controlled via the seat switch not the burger / screen and will light the symbol on the main screen only (edited).

Barry

 

[leadfarmer]

rear seat heating is only controlled via the seat switch not the burger / screen thus will not appear on the screen at any point.

Barry

You see the symbol on the screen when the rear seat is heating

 

[Smartbazza]

You see the symbol on the screen when the rear seat is heating

apologies - meant the option to turn on / off rear seat heating is not available on the burger / tft, only with the switch on the seat.

Barry

 

[DaveTbmw]

My burger button shows heating for hand grips and rider seat. The rocker switch only controls grips and rider seat. However, the ystem DOES need reprogramming to activate the manually controlled passenger seat heating. And yes, once reprogrammed, you will see on the TFT screen when the passenger heat is operating. It all depends on whether the cable can be found. AI says it is cheaper for BMW to make only one electrical harness that has cables for all three heaters: rider seat, grips, and passenger seat. It all depends on whether the dealer can find the passenger cable that is said to be hidden somewhere and wrapped up in black cloth. The cdealer agrees and will look for it today. If they can't find it, no big deal. I'll just use the unheated passenger comfort seat. I started this thread to see if someone here knew exactly where the hidden cable is. I will find out today at the dealer service.

 

[pbbanks]

My burger button shows heating for hand grips and rider seat. The rocker switch only controls grips and rider seat. However, the ystem DOES need reprogramming to activate the manually controlled passenger seat heating. And yes, once reprogrammed, you will see on the TFT screen when the passenger heat is operating. It all depends on whether the cable can be found. AI says it is cheaper for BMW to make only one electrical harness that has cables for all three heaters: rider seat, grips, and passenger seat. It all depends on whether the dealer can find the passenger cable that is said to be hidden somewhere and wrapped up in black cloth. The cdealer agrees and will look for it today. If they can't find it, no big deal. I'll just use the unheated passenger comfort seat. I started this thread to see if someone here knew exactly where the hidden cable is. I will find out today at the dealer service.

But does the dealer know how to activate it in the bikes software, even if you find the wire it probably won't be active until the bike is reprogrammed. (And paid for, to BMW)
Like you say just use it as a seat .

 

[DaveTbmw]

Yes, they know how to activate it. Finding the cable is the issue.

 

[botus]

if you click that link there are 4 cable choices dependent upon other toys already on the bike

 

[paulR]

I’m almost certain mine doesn’t have the required wiring. The connector for the rear seat on the bike I looked at in the showroom was quite obvious. However , when I looked at mine the loom didn’t have the same connector coming from it. Some people have said it’s tucked away somewhere but short of lifting out my ecu to see if it’s under there I don’t see where it can be. I’m only interested in the rear heater for my other half so she’s more likely to go on the back, I’m not bothered about the rider’s seat.

 

[DaveTbmw]

I’m almost certain mine doesn’t have the required wiring. The connector for the rear seat on the bike I looked at in the showroom was quite obvious. However , when I looked at mine the loom didn’t have the same connector coming from it. Some people have said it’s tucked away somewhere but short of lifting out my ecu to see if it’s under there I don’t see where it can be. I’m only interested in the rear heater for my other half so she’s more likely to go on the back, I’m not bothered about the rider’s seat.

They found the connecting cable tucked away under the left side panel. Waiting for them to reprogram now.

 

[paulR]

Is that the panel below the tank? That seems a long way from the rear seat, or is that just for the front one?

 

[DaveTbmw]

Is that the panel below the tank? That seems a long way from the rear seat, or is that just for the front one?

No, towards the rear but behind the panel.

 

[paulR]

No, towards the rear but behind the panel.

I’ll have a look at mine tomorrow

 

[DaveTbmw]

Back from the dealer. They found the cable, reprogrammed the software, and everything works. They told me that they found the plug & cable under the left side panel, but it's coming out of the right side. Anyhow, all works and only $75 charge.

 

[TaskMule]

Back from the dealer. They found the cable, reprogrammed the software, and everything works. They told me that they found the plug & cable under the left side panel, but it's coming out of the right side. Anyhow, all works and only $75 charge.

This is why a dealer tech is always a better option than discussion forums for these things. Although forums are a bit more social than service departments

 

[DaveTbmw]

This is why a dealer tech is always a better option than discussion forums for these things. Although forums are a bit more social than service departments

Absolutely

 

[paulR]

Back from the dealer. They found the cable, reprogrammed the software, and everything works. They told me that they found the plug & cable under the left side panel, but it's coming out of the right side. Anyhow, all works and only $75 charge.

That’s good news. When I asked my local dealer (UK) about it they didn’t appear to have confidence they’d be able to do it, and couldn’t confirm if my bike had the required wiring.
Did you get the rear seat done as well or just the front?

 

[DaveTbmw]

That’s good news. When I asked my local dealer (UK) about it they didn’t appear to have confidence they’d be able to do it, and couldn’t confirm if my bike had the required wiring.
Did you get the rear seat done as well or just the front?

As said in the initial post, the bike came with a heated front seat, and I added an OEM passenger seat.