Connectors cut off power seats?
 

I bought a set of 300E seats out of a '91 300E from LKQ which arrived Friday.

The first thing I noticed was the connectors were cut off the cables.

I thought I would poll you guys to find out if this is common practice before I go off the deep end.

I have not removed the old seats from my 300E, but on the BMW, disconnecting the seats takes about as much manual dexterity as unplugging a desk light.

How should I react to this situation?

I don't recall, as I do very little disassembly, but which end of the harness did they cut. Junkyards very seldom care about the harnesses left on the car. Check and see if what you have doesn't unplug from the seat. If they ruined the harness it doesn't matter to you. If the cut section can't be disconnected from the seat they were pretty stupid, but yes that is pretty common for junk yards (to be stupid).

Of course the best deals come from the dumbest yards. The ones that really know their stuff charge more for it.

If the seats are good and they were stupid, just splice the wires and see if they will give you something for your trouble, it really isn't a big deal.

Thanks, Steve

The cable does plug into the inside of the seat, but it looks like some involved disassembly will be required to get enough clearance to remove it.

Splicing the cable looks much more straightforward.

With 10 wires in the remaining 8 inches of cable, will there be any clearance problems after 10 splices?
I guess crimp connectors are out.

zhandax

No crimpers! I would use heat shrink tubing.

-Slide a section of HS tubing over one of the wires you want to connect

-Solder the two wires

-Slide the HS tubing over the soldered junction. Use a match, lighter or some source of flame (not too hot!) and have the flame shrink the tubing all around. Works great!

If in doubt about the distance of the cable, find a similiar car and measure it. If in doubt go a bit longer.

I would react but in a measured fashion ( "catch more flies with honey ...." ) and see if the yard with do something for you.

Steve is right. Often yards hire people who just take the parts off the cars. I bet if you bought the seats from a place that carefully removed the connectors you'd pay an additional 10-20%.

Nothing better than good seats in a Mercedes. They are the critical and final part of the "sum of the parts" that makes these cars great.

Haasman

Haasman,

Soldering sound like the way to go, and I will use the leftover HS tubing from the BMW O2 sensor project.

And it looks like measured reaction is in order whether I like it or not. When I took a good look at the bottom of the other seat, I found the mounting rail bent. This could be shipping damage, and I will, at minimum, need a dialogue with the seller to establish if this is the case.