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Always start with the correct Retrofit instructions for your vehicle BEFORE purchasing anything!! The retrofit instructions list the prerequisites and what parts are required for the car.

Correct And the new gen radio modules made after 2005 have native stereo AUX-IN capabilities (made for E46 but they fit the E39) And can also display MP3 ID-Tags from the MP3 CD changer or CP600BMW

What about packaging the harddrive in whiteplastic, stick a clickwheel on it and call it an iPod? Then you'd be fine with interfaces :-) Otherwise, not that I know of...

Further to Hotwires email: Replacing the radio with an Oceania or Euro model will fix the radio and cure all reception woes. Plug and play, cheap. Your TV will receive all NZ VHF and UHF TV, set to PAL-Europe. You can easily add BMW navigation to your car. You can easily add BMW handsfree telephone bluetooth interface to your car - with full integration to telephone cluster and to TV screen. The failled tapedeck is common, it is worn cogs on the eject mechanism. No cure other than a new tapre deck (if you want to). Note that if you like MP3s then there is an excellent plug and play MP3 SD card reader for the BMW that replaces the CD changer. Google CP600BMW

Straight forward in that you wire the paddles in parallel with the shifter +/- switch

Likely wheel speed sensor fault Without using a diagnostic tool to find out which sensor is faulty, you have to work blind Working blind means: Visually inspect all 4 wheel sensors for damage. Look carefully at the cable and the connectors Then replace the sensors one by one until you find the faulty unit You may not have a faulty speed sensor, the problem may be in the ABS control unit. If so, replace ABS control unit PS: using a BMW Diagnostic Scanner will locate and identify the problem very quickly.

Firstly: have all phone carkit grounds going to the same place as the stereo Even use the ground stud on the stereo for the ground - this helps prevent the ground loop in the first place Then if you still have alternator whine, a check it is a ground loop by just connecting the positive (and not shield) of the audio cable. If you still have whine, add the isolator (d*ck Smith, Jaycar, Radio Shack) And if the whine is still present after adding the isolator, check the passenger seat :-)

That's the manual for the ULF The TCU is different On the TCU, you don't have voice control of the navigation

Antenna amp is in C-pillar Radio and central locking antenna is on the rear window TV antenna - as a retrofit - is behind the rear bumper Instead of fitting behind the bumper, you could fit a couple of small on-glass antennas, or even pieces of wire, for the TV antennas. Won't be as good, but if you don't want to remove the bumper...

The reason we couldn't get VR to work was that his TCU does not support VR TCU with Coding Index 05 and later support VR, but Matts was Coding Index 04 Which is why I had to quickly update NavCoder: I've only seen Coding Index 05 in the past, and the data structure of Coding Index 04 was different....

Are you sure? I thought on the European vehicles you could run both indicators from one side only?

Use the following (Item 1 in pic below): BMW Business RDS (single tuner radio module) http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?mo...hg=65&fg=05 or BMW Professional RDS (dual-tuner radio module) http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?mo...hg=65&fg=05 When comparing the two, note that the Professional RDS is the BEST of the two. Note the manufacture dates: Do not get a radio more than 1 yr older than your car, otherwise you run into firmware version issues. Especially early E38 radios (prior to say Sept 1995) cannot control the E39 CD changer Do not get a radio built newer than 08-2001, because new gen radios from 09-2001 have different connectors and require a different wiring loom adapter and different antenna amplifiers If you have the Jap nav, then the Business RDS radio is plug and play compatible with the Jap nav. The Professional RDS radio won't display text properly with some older versions of the Jap nav The compatibility issue with Jap nav disappears if you remove the Jap nav and fit the Euro nav Here they are on ebay.de: http://shop.ebay.de/?_from=R40&_trksid...-All-Categories NOTE carefully the difference between old gen (round pin connector, prior to 09-2001) and new gen (flat pin connector, from 09-2001) The date is written on the label eg KW 39/96 means Kalendar Week 39 from 1996 The one here would work, and costs 80 Euros (about 160 NZD) + postage (surface mail, 6wk delivery, is only 13 EUR) http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-E39-E38-Radio-Modul...1#ht_2180wt_939

The wiring digram shows all wire colours: tail left grey/blue tail right grey/green reverse blue/white brake left green/yellow brake right green/blue blinker left blue/red blinker right blue/black ground is always brown

USB-RS232 adapters are notoriously unreliable and cause havoc with any specialised software that requires constant fdata flow and dows not use flow control eg like with ODBII interfaces In my years of experience of dealing with ibus data communications, everytime the interface doesn't work and the customer is using a USB-RS232 adapter, it has always been the USB-RS232 adapter that was causing the problem.

Dear Glenn and others, I found out the new address for Charity Motors Ltd. Here it is: Charity Motors Limited - Address and Enquiries

Quote: "If no paired mobile phone is detected inside the vehicle, the message "ACTIVATE PHONE" appears on the display or monitor." You need to pair a phone Have you got a Bluetooth antenna connected to the TCU? No antenna = no Bluetooth signal = no pairing!

Wow - you have nav screen and rear MID? Quite rare, I've only ever seen this on the 750iLs... (Of course: don't confuse the instrument cluster Check Control display with the MID... they are 2 different items - the MID is the Multi-Info-Display with buttons and volume control that sits under the radio in the front console, or in the rear armrest (as a rear MID) on the 750iL) Anyway, pairing method for a TCU is the TCU method. The pairing button does nothing. I have some manuals and diagnostic info for the TCU. Send me your email address

Check the following: 1. Bluetooth is switched on 2. The coded VIN matches your car 3. The external Bluetooth handset is switched off 4. And you may want to switch off the Assist function... To do all the above, you need NavCoder :-) PS: don't forget that your pairing code is 8676

6 965 055 = TCU-GSM, made up to March 2005 So thats good I would be interested to hear how you go - have you got NavCoder to code the unit? As far as the rest of the car goes it is plug and play, the BMW Nav will automatically recognise the TCU and display the TELEPHONE option on the menu Whether Voice Recognition works will be interesting...

What part number? PS I now have TCU-GSM support in NavCoder, so you can code the TCU... enable VR etc

Replace item #2: Part number and USD price here: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?mo...hg=32&fg=30 Plug and play, no new key or reprogramming required.

The Air R/C button is not on all steering wheels Some wheels replace it with a steering wheel heater button

RJ58 is not good coax for use at 2GHz Given that you will be working with GSM1800 signals, you need to look at the spec for coax cables at 2GHz Go for the lowest loss cable you can find. Ideally, a 10mm cable like LMR400 or RG213 would work well, but you may find that hard to run in the car. So go for the lowest loss 5mm coax cable you can find...

And here's a subframe strenthening repair guide with good photos of damage and the work required: E46 subframe reinforcement kit

Here's another: subframe totally separated! E46 separated subframe (left side!)