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Subject: Heated Steering wheel retrofit pre 3/99 single stage Author: 04sshd : member since March, 2007 : 5611 posts Posted on: 2008-12-20 05:12:35

This guide is a supplement to DavidC's steering wheel installation guide found on www.e38.org

Well the past few days I am leaving for work and I see a nice thin layer of ice on the car.

Driving to work my mitts have been pretty cold grabbing the wheel so I figured it was about time to get the heated steering wheel project I have been working on up and going.



Start off first by disconnecting the battery before you mess with any airbags in the car.

Take a T30 torx driver and remove the two bolts on the back of the steering wheel to loosen the airbag.


Once the two bolts are loose you can pull the airbag up and disconnect the connectors.


Remove the orange plug to the airbag, the blue wire to the horn, and the harness going to the steering wheel buttons


With the airbag off you expose the 16mm nut.


I used a 16mm socket with a pipe extension to form a breaker bar. The nut is on pretty tight so it might be necessary to use a breaker bar.


remove the nut


before you pull the wheel off loosen the lower plastic steering column clam shell by removing the plastic expansion screw.


Once it's unscrewed you can pull the cover down


Pulling the cover down will expose these two slipring connectors


unplug the two slipring connectors


Pull the wheel off




To get the heated steering wheel working you need the following items.

Heated steering wheel
heated steering wheel slip ring
heated steering wheel steering column power spring
10A fuse able link

This is the heated steering wheel slip ring, notice the contacts on the back of the slip ring? This is how it gets powered.


This is the hole on the steering column for the power spring to set into.


this is the springed contact that supplies power to the heated wheel, part number is on the packaging


This is how it makes contact


Feed the pigtail through the hole


pop it into the hole, it only fits one way


This is the factory connector that would plug into the harness if your car was factory equipped with a heated wheel


Since my car wasn't factory equipped this plug doesn't match any wiring on my car so it gets cut off.


Here are your 4 wires, according to WDS the two green wires are power, and the brown are ground.


This is the 10A inline fuse I picked up at the auto parts store.


Splice the fuse into the two green wires


Solder the connection and shrink tube the wires




I took off the lower dash for easy access, it's not necessary but sure makes working on the wires alot easier


using my test light I was able to isolate a wire that's hot with ignition. This thick green wire on the steering column power harness is the one that is powered when the key is in position 2


I ran an inline tap into this wire and tapped my fused connector that powers the wheel heat element




I found a ground wire and tapped it as well.


For the initial test, I reinstalled the steering wheel and airbag and hooked up the steering wheel heater element and put the key in position 2 and...Success!



Before I reinstalled everything I took a picture to show you how the spring connector makes contact with the slip ring.


And here it is all back together and with a nice and toasty steering wheel




Keywords: heated steering wheel, hot steering wheel, steering wheel slip ring retrofit, airbag, CWP (cold weather package), winter

Hover over an image to enlarge thumbnail...

Colin@HID Solutions Moorpark, CA
99 E38 740iL Silver on Grey leather, 18" Style 94 wheels, lighted handles, self leveling xenons, Nav Retro fit, MK3 16:9 Widescreen. DP03998 12/1998 production
95 E38 740iL Oxford Metallic Green on Black leather, Fresh Paint, 01 Face lift, M-Sport Steering wheel, M-sport seats, Alpina front spoiler air damn, Alpina Softline 20" rims 20x9 front 20x10 rear, 6000k HID's, 8000k HID Fogs, smoked tails, quad brake light mod, 20% tint all around, PIAA Yellow Hi-beams, 01 Headlights, 750 grills, HR Drop Springs, Monroe Struts, Strong Strut, CCFL Angel eyes, 4 pos euro foglight switch, euro front plate base, euro Germany front and rear license plate and brackets, 16:9 Widescreen Navigation, MK4, BM43, PIE Audio and Video iPod integration, PIE Aux Nav interface, Backup camera, gauge rings, CF cluster bezel, steel sunroof to glass retrofit 750iL Door panels, 750iL B-Pillar panels, 750il Wood interior lights, 750iL wood trim full leather front seats backs, BMWNA goodwill cluster, SES Voice Control Module retrofit, trunk spoiler. DH33278 5/1995 production
07 Dodge Ram 3500HD, 6.7L Cummins Turbo Diesel, 6 speed manual, Hypertech Max Energy programmer on stage 3 (129hp gain), Diesel emissions waiting to fall off, straight pipe comming soon, 5000k HID headlights and fog lights, V1 hardwired.
02 Harley Davidson custom build chopper, S&S Super 100ci, rev-tec 6 speed trans, Corbin seat, billet wheels, streached tank and frame
87 Pontiac TransAm, Tuned Port Injected 305, Auto, B&M Shifter, 99 TransAm Leather seats.
03 Honda CBR 600RR, Yoshi pipe, fender eliminator kit, 6000k HID kit, 3800 miles (SOLD)
03 Honda XR50, Yamaha plastics and sticker kit, big bore 88cc kit
00 Kawasaki KX500 2 stroke, WER steering dampener, FMF pipe, acerbis lever gards, protaper bars, desert tank
99 Yamaha R1, full show bike(SOLD)
91 E32 735iL (SOLD)
00 Cadillac DeVille (SOLD)
99 Ford Ranger XLT (SOLD)
96 Ford F-250 Power Stroke Turbo Diesel (SOLD)
97 Camaro Z-28, LT1 V8, T56 6 Speed manual (SOLD)
95 Cadillac DeVille Concorus (SOLD)
69 Chevelle 300 Deluxe (SOLD)
69 Lincoln Continental Mark III (SOLD)
97 Lincoln Mark VIII (SOLD)
96 Chevrollet Impala SS (SOLD)

• Heated Steering wheel retrofit pre 3/99 single stage (pic) (url) - 04sshd 2008-12-20 05:12:35 (6882 views)
  • Fantastic write up Colin!!! I can almost feel the heat from here (nt) - Kirt 2008-12-22 14:14:04 (94 views)
  • nice job as always.......... (nt) - alpinablau 2008-12-22 05:31:21 (76 views)
  • Nice job Colin!! A guy just did the same to his car on bmw7 (nt) - Edwin™ 2008-12-22 02:41:56 (91 views)
  • Dude, you rock! You're one brave mofo! (nt) - IBHenry® 2008-12-22 01:53:21 (77 views)
  • Great Job come out here to try her out - BJames38 2008-12-20 12:13:51 (90 views)
    • Ouch no CWP. I'm glad I have the heated seats and wheel. I don't use the wheel (nt) - heater. I just wear gloves-Ed 2008-12-20 12:18:37 (105 views)
      • '...don't even.....' (nt) - Ed 2008-12-20 12:19:32 (97 views)
    • I bought the sterring wheel from someone on the other board - 04sshd 2008-12-20 12:16:45 (116 views)
  • So, are these the right part numbers for the project? - DavidC 2008-12-20 11:11:44 (132 views)
    • Yes, those are the part numbers (nt) - 04sshd 2008-12-20 12:15:56 (92 views)
  • You're da man! I've been waiting on this info every since I replaced my steering - DavidC 2008-12-20 10:46:04 (81 views)
  • Nice step by step doc! Thanks for sharing. (nt) - Shled 2008-12-20 10:16:13 (74 views)
  • Nice mod ... my green light comes on for one second and then it shuts off - aaron00740il 2008-12-20 10:01:34 (112 views)
  • It has been getting cold ! Nice mod ! (nt) - Krazy D 2008-12-20 07:47:46 (77 views)
  • pretty Awesome work there C...gj!!!!!!!!!! (nt) - snitch740i 2008-12-20 05:19:36 (76 views)