RustyItalian

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For sale; Mobridge A2010 iPod interface unit for BMW. This allows you to plug in your iphone or ipod and control from the idrive. Also has a 3.5mm jack for anything with a headphone output. Unit is one year old and was bought new by myself. Selling as car is going too. This is very easy to install and replaces the CD changer in the glovebox. If you currently have a CD changer no coding of the car is needed. Has the older apple iphone plug. Compatibilty: See here. 2005-2009 5 Series 2006-2008 3 Series 2004-2009 6 Series Supports iPod Mini, 4th Gen, 4th Gen Photo, Nano, 2nd Gen Nano, iPod Video, 3rd Gen Nano, Classic, and Touch. Firmware upgradeable via memory card for future features. 24 bit ADC stereo for a more complete experience. 500uA Sleep Current. Lower sleep current draw than OEM specifications. Paging to gain access to lists greater than the CD limitation of 99 giving full access to the iPod. Also possible on radio's without text support. Last disc, last folder, last track memory retention for fast startup. Access to Playlists/Artists/Albums/Genre/All Songs Random, Repeat, Scan Auxiliary input for external audio source. Exit iPod lockout mode for manual control with the ability to continue track up/down from the steering wheel controls. iPod USB charging Bypass switch to remove interface from the MOST ring for vehicle service. Price $350

Take a few minutes to pull off the rear spoiler and check the condition of the circuit board inside. That is where the receiver is for the remote. In infinite BMW wisdom it is in a poorly sealed box that lets in water, causing corrosion. It's called the diversity antenna. Easy to get to, undo four screws from under glass hatch then slide spoiler rearwards. Also the wiring to the diversity antenna through the boot hinges breaks, limiting range of the remote. All E61's suffer broken wires eventually. This aspect of E61 design is total crap.

europart.co.nz had a couple of E60 models last time I was there (never saw them sorry) and euro1.co.nz states they have one too.

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I have a pair of lower front wishbones for the E60 models for sale. I bought them and they turned out to be the wrong part number for my E61. Couldn't figure out the difference between different arms so won't risk it. The part numbers are: 31126760181 31126760182 They are Taiwanese made by Lii-Chau and are very well finished. I'd happily fit them despite being non-OEM. OEM ones are US$271 each on Pelican Parts. Hmmm... RealOem lists it for these models: E60 520d Saloon, Europe E60 520i Saloon, Europe E60 523i Saloon, Europe E60 525d Saloon, Europe E60 525i Saloon, Europe E60 530d Saloon, Europe E60 530i Saloon, Europe E60 535d Saloon, Europe E60 540i Saloon, Europe E60 545i Saloon, Europe E60 550i Saloon, Europe This means pre LCI E60 models (but not E61). I'll sell the pair for $150 including NZ postage. I urge anyone keen to check the part numbers against their car on RealOEM. Can send pics if you PM me.

Check under the spare wheel for water. Check under the battery also. A couple of months after getting mine it leaked from a partially detached outer drivers side taillight lens that allowed water into the lower region. BMW in their infinite wisdom put numerous electrics low in the bodywork. This happened when parked on a slight slope while out and the starting system (push button start) was kaput. Wife kept trying and battery died soon after, taking out steering lock and pretty much everything else... Putting battery pack on it did nothing at that point, it was dead dead dead. Once dried out thoroughly and sorted by BM Workshop it was fine, including the cig lighters which had never worked for me up till then.

I pulled the wires through to hang from the speaker hole. I trimmed them close to the rubber boot, about three inches from the breaks. This was just enough length to hang down for soldering. I staggered the joints as much as I could. It is tight working in this area and I have the cuts on my hands to prove it. I then wrapped the wires and passed them through. I then spices just beside the connectors under the spoiler. More room to work there!

Well pulled finger today and spliced 8 new wires into the glass hatch RH hinge. Most had broken insulation and one was broken. The damaged insulation exposed the copper wire allowing contact, hence the flashing brake light (and burnt out brake light/radio filter). Took around three hours all up as I soldered all wires. Also had to pull the rear hatch trim off again to open the glass hatch manually. The hatch button does not work when the wires through the RH hinge are cut dammit. Now I have a 3rd brake light, FM/AM again and the remote range is dramatically better again. I also have an increasing hatred for BMW design skills. Still have RH fog, reversing light and number plate light faults showing. Will check light module error codes next as I'm concerned the idiots cooked it. Don't want to have to dig into that wiring loom.

I wish I'd spent $92 instead of on the monkeys... Get this... In their infinite Aryan wisdom there are no connectors between the taillights and the light control module above the drivers feet. If you want to remove the rear hatch you need to extract all the wiring from it. In the factory they must have installed the rear hatch, fed the wires into it and then applied all the plastic covering trim. The Japanese (who design this type of stuff soooo much better) would have just bolted the preassembled hatch on and plugged the wiring connectors into place. It would of course never have failed either... I've got plenty of wire thanks it's just the time to do it myself I'm lacking.

Well I've owned this touring about a year and I've been slowly losing systems associated with the rear hatch. The demister wires wouldn't work, the glass hatch opening became intermittent and then I lost radio reception. Some research showed this is a common 5 series Touring issue that BMW have never fixed, it affects E34, E39 and E61. Basically the wires through the hatch break due to flexing due to crap design. Due to time constraints I had a auto electrician near the airport splice the wires. Big mistake. They did two of the four looms. They managed to fix the glass switch (only) and relieved me of $300. A couple of days later lighting error messages started to pop up for the RH lights on the hatch (number plate, fog and reversing light). Also the 3rd brake light was kaput. Hmmm.... I've just checked and the hatch light wires have continuity from the light control module to the lights (in one case 94 ohms mind) so those wires are not broken. I found the 3rd brake light noise suppressor module in the roof lining had a burnt track and I repaired that. However the 3rd brake light flickered on while I opened the glass window, so there is a short in there. It stopped working soon after. Any recommendations for someone to repair this properly that understands the BMW lighting system? I'm not going near the hillbillies that had the first attempt. First step will be fixing the short and confirming the wiring is correct. Then I'm hoping that the hillbillies haven't damaged the light control module.

How difficult is it to actually perform coding on these cars? I have the cable, software and laptop set up but I've not yet had a chance to get into. The various write ups are all a bit daunting. I want to get rid of the AM option for a start.

Is this a blue 525i from a dealer at Ardmore about a year ago? The reason I asked is that I looked at one there when buying mine and the wiring appeared to have been butchered in a similar manner.

I actually paid attention today and it's actually around 600 rpm.

Mine is around 800 rpm from memory.

Just had a dig around the Bendix website and determined I used Bendix General CT pads. This car is 100% street driven so I have no need for high performance pads. I'll pop in to BNT tomorrow and bully them to source these instead of pushing their in-house brand.

Hey The last brake pads I bought were for my E39 from BNT. Can't remember what they were but they were around $150 and from one of the well known brands (bendix, mintex, not sure) Unfortunately the dealer put shitty disks and pads on my E61 before I bought it. 8000km later they are warped, they squeal and the pads are very dusty. All I can make out is that the pads are red and have 'racer' written on the back. May as well have 'Chinese crap' written on them. OEM disks and pads are out of my budget right now so I'm planning a skim and new pads. I am well aware they will warp again, this is just an interim measure. BNT quoted me around $60 the other days for their own branded pads which they state are ceramic technology. This sounds very cheap to me, does anyone have any experience with these our are they junk? Seems a lot of places nowadays are selling their own branded items, which screams out to me they are junk?! Richard

I believe that the supermarket has a lube that meets those requirements ;-)

The easiest place to swap the two wires on an E39 is at the transmission computer in the engine bay. Doing it at the gearstick is far too fiddly with too much bloodletting. You simply take the lid off the ECU stowage, pull out the trans ecu and remove the bosch connector. Identify the two wires per the wiring diagram, release the connector and swap them. Completely reversible.

Well speaking from the UK now I haven't seen so many rusty cars as I have here for a long time. Lots of 10 year old cars riddled with rust, even saw a 5 year old commercial van rotten through on the bottom of the back doors. There will always be some that escape the rot of course, but personally I would be wary about UK imports.

A good reminder to have stuff backed up. My work laptop got hit by Cryptolocker a couple of weeks back. First thing I knew was the thing on screen telling me that my drive was now encrypted and they would unencrypt for a bitcoin or US$300. First time in 20 years of computing I've ever seen a 'real' destructive virus. I lost the whole lot. 99% of files were encrypted and locked. I don't remember opening an attachment but must have, some of those spams are damn good (and very similar to genuine emails I get sent). You have to wonder, due to buy out by large US corporate they were transitioning servers. No spam filter (ie. 40+ spam a day), no anti-virus software on laptop (WTF?) and no backup system in place. Asking for it. Thankfully nothing completely irreplaceable, just a hassle. Richard

Where did you source the ATE ceramic pads? My E61 came with new disks and pads, but they are horrible squealy dusty things.

Bump.

I remember some years back in NZ they sold a bunch of "new" Rover 200's (or similar). The cars had actually rolled off the production line about 5 years before hand and had been sitting in an asian warehouse. A good buy?

I'm still convinced the Z3 was designed by three different design teams (front, middle and rear), none of whom talked to the other teams until the three sections were bought together...