jochen

The box that fell down looks like an amplifier that someone has added. it has a Front, L&R and rear L&R audio connections. It is not original BMW equipment. The lights are likely to be the illumination for the heater controls or clock or OBC or dash - have a look and see what is not illuminating at night.

It's a bad contact problem from the LCD to the actual contact strip. Can happen if you spill drinks down the screen - or too much dash cleaner etc. Very hard to successfully dismantle, clean and reassemble, as the screen is pressed / clipped to the metal frame holding it - difficult to reassemble and achieve the same contact pressure. I wouldn't try myself. You may want to use this as an incentive to replace the display with a 16:9 widescreen.

1. BMW dealer 2. Independent BMW specialist with BMW software 3. Using my NavCoder software.

I'd say you have a short to ground on that speaker. Remember, the modern amplifiers are high-level balanced-transformerless-outputs (BTL), meaning there is 6VDC on each speaker wire. Never let a speaker wire connect to the chassis of the vehicle. On the older cars, soem of the speaker wires are however connected directly to chassis/ground, as in those days, 15 to 20 years ago, high-power amps with BTL outputs were less common. This means you cannot use the existing speaker wiring, you must run new wires from the stereo to each speaker. And when running the new wires, you must make sure that they can never chaf or connect to the chassis of the car. Measure all speaker wires with an ohmmeter - from each wire to vehicle chassis you should measure open-circuit.

How much what? Time? 2 minutes Effort? Very little Money? DIY = free Hassle? Bugger all But a lot depends on your circumstances - where you are comfortable doing it yourself, etc...

The light bulb monitoring is designed to monitor normal light bulbs 8tungsten filament bulbs) Changing to LEDs changes the bulb resistance, the monitoring circuit decides the old light bulb is no longer there or dead, and shows the error message Proper solution = change the coding of the car so that LED taillights are fitted. This switches off the light bulb monitoring message. You can do this at BMW, or using my NavCoder software, available here: NavCoder zip file As for borken LED taillights, they are normally repaired by replacing the entire light assembly.

Yes.

Depending on your X5, this may be cabled to the AV socket on the rear of the centre console, visible from the back seat. The AV socket wiring was optional on some models, standard on others. Or it may not be cabled at all, in which case you must run the cables to whereever you want and fit them to the connector on the video module (in the spare wheel well on an X5)

Well in Europe the TP (traffic announcement) function is there as standard. But in Oceania I 'think' they disable TP, and let you do a PTY search instead. Correct me if I am wrong :-) As more and more stations add RDS, it's only a matter of time before someone starts using TP properly. And then it's cool to have. I have RDS and TP in my car, I use it all the time, Traffic Announcements are really good. Save my bacon a few times, and lets me know what's up ahead. There are lots of RDS services that can be used if the radio station decides to use them - they vary from station to station. Such as broadcasting the accurate time, changing PTY when the radio programme changes, using EON mode to link TP from another station to theirs, and broadcast of TMC data, etc. However, what features of RDS are available in your car vary too according to what the car manufacturer decided what he thought would be best for you. Hence the most common RDS features are seen: station name, TP data, auto-tune (AF) and TMC data for nav systems. NZ doesn't have TMC (yet), that's another wonderful feature that just works sooooo well over here in Europe.

Optionally you can leave out 825 RADIO CONTROL OCEANIA as the European control mode works much better in New Zealand (better RDS functions)

Yes, every BMW since 2001 has the "world radio". But reprogramming the newer iDrive cars requires BMW software, cannot be done by hand anymore. BM Workshop in Auckland offer the reprogramming service, they have all the tools. Talk to Guido.

LH61757 = P E53 SAV X5 4.4i M62 ECE 20001100 R N Production Code: FB32, batch ID: 47741 Your car is a passenger vehicle, model E53, SAV (Sport Action Vehicle), labelled "X5", has the 4.4L M62 V8 motor, is the ECE (not USA) model, left the factory floor in 2000, Month 11 (November), is RHD, and I forget what the "N" means. It left the factory floor in Germany in November 2000, and it takes time to ship it by sea from Germany to Japan. It probably arrived in Japan at the port in the last week of December or early 2001. Then add time for cleaning and pre-delivery checks. So no surprise that it was first registered in 2001. Anyway: ex factory, the car would have had a Mk3 nav unit. And to change the radio it is a physical swap of the radio module, in the boot, inside the spare wheel well. Very easy.

The photos confirm, without a doubt, that you car is ex-Japan. Otherwise they don't say much, but I'd guess the age of the car to be pre 2001. Am I right?

Mk4 navs were fitted from about November 2002 If your car has a build date of Nov 2002 or later, then it would have come ex factory with a Mk4 (if it was a Euro or NZ-spec car). You're hugely better off with the Mk4, its heaps better than a Mk3. New price for a Mk4 is $6,000, excluding fitting, plugs, and map disc. Compare with hotwire's price....

Easy peasy, I've done loads: 1. Change nav DVD unit (the actual nav computer in the boot) from Jap version to Euro version 2. Modify wiring to match 3. Insert NZ map PS: you can also change the radio: pre 2001-909 = replace radio tuner post 2001-09 = reprogram radio tuner, with fingers, no tools required. All work occurs in the boot.

It's easy for the inspector to measure. Imagine exhaust sound is p1 Engine sound p2 Blow-off valve p3 Diff whine p4 Stereo p5 Girlfriend p6 etc All the inspector has to do is use the formula: and there you have it. Of course, make sure he is A-weighting the SPL, to match the characteristics of the human ear.

What model radio? What manufacturer? I have a code generator for some models....

Camera will be either NTSC or PAL, not both. Unless it has a switch. Tip: use a digital photo camera and connect it to the rev cam input. Most photo cameras allow you to select PAL or NTSC output, this way you can quickly see what your video module is expecting. NavCoder reprograms the video module settings. NavCoder and the ibus interface are all you need. And a laptop of course :-). change settings with the click of a mouse. PS: some early video modules are known not to work on rev cam input. Dunno why. Maybe you have one of these duds...?

Use the LKM Reverse signal (RFSI) output White/yellow wire, on pin 38 of X10177 (black 54-pin connector) on the LKM (light control module) PDC is activated by the reverse lights (I think) and thus is off when a trailer is connected. Nope. Use the LKM. Even though its only 6V, it will likely be fine, as the head unit is just looking for a logical switching signal

If you ask that question, it proves you're not the right person to own an M3 :-) BMW is about power and performance - if you want fuel economy, buy a Toyota Prius.

that's the reverse lights: 12V when reverse lights on, 0V otherwise. Take wire from LKM (drivers side kick panel) or from back of car (reverse lights) ? What for? Take the reverse light wire from the LKM. Easy, and in front of car. As to what your headunit needs: don't guess, look at the instructions. I'd expect it to require the reverse light signal (12V from reverse lights) Bear in mind that if you have a towbar AND the standard BMW trailer light module, then the reverse lights are automatically off when a trailer is connected. To make sure the camera still works in this situation, use the reverse signal trigger from the LKM that normally feeds the nav. This is ~6V when in reverse, 0V when in any other gear, regardless of trailler connection.

Parrot cannot integrate with the BMW controls Only the BMW bluetooth interface can be controlled by the BMW buttons and can show al the phone info on the BMW nav system (TV screen) or BMW radio. Bluetooth units can be obtained from www.bimmernav.com

Yep, I did an E39. I did in in the bumper black strip, right in the middle, which was dead easy for the wiring - body holes and grommets exist. But: there's a big disadvantage of the bumper mount: you have no visible reference of where the car is in relation to what is behind you. Yes, you see things. But you cannot gauge how close they are. I'd go for the above the numberplate mounting position, and have the camera sufficiently angled with a wide-angle lens that you see the bumper. Then you can see exactly what is behind. As for running wires, take of the boot lid lining, and you'll have to fish the wires through the rubber cable grommet. Not an easy task! Dishwashing liquid as lubricant helps... Connect the camera to the CAM-IN input of the existing video module, which is the right-hand lump behind the rear seat on a Jap-import BMW, or behind the CD changer on a Singapore or NZ-new BMW. If your reverse camera is NTSC, then it will plug straight in. If it is PAL, then you need to reprogram the video module to accept PAL reverse camera. Use my NavCoder software to do this. BMW cannot - they don't have the ability !! Then you just need a relay on the reverse lights to switch on when in reverse, and activate the rev cam input control signal. Wiring is easy, ask if you have Qs

Interior dome light is fused by F21, 7.5A fuse F21 also feeds: Active check control Chime module Instrument cluster Radio Boot light Glove box light Flashlight socket The fuseholder is in the power distribution box in the engine bay. Based on your symptoms, I'd recheck fuse F21, and fit another fuse in its place. As for oil light, unplug the oil pressure switch on the engine It's the sensor with the brown/green wire If the light goes out, you know the oil pressure switch is faulty. Replace it. As for the rest of the mechanical issues - talk to other forum members. That is the fader control (balance = left-right, fader = front-rear). These were fitted because 25 years ago 8a quarter of a centruy!) when these cars first came on the market, the BMW radios only had a left and right output. So the fader control was added in the speaker wiring. If you want to change the speaker wiring note the following existing wiring: Yellow = left speaker output from radio, positive (to fader control) Yellow/red = left front speaker, positive. Yellow/black = left rear speaker, positive Yellow/brown = left speaker negative (front and rear are joined at splice S313, in the main harnes in the floor beside the drivers seat) Blue = right speaker output from radio, positive (to fader control) Blue/red = right front speaker, positive. Blue/black = right rear speaker, positive Blue/brown = right speaker negative (front and rear are joined at splice S312, in the main harnes in the floor beside the drivers seat) If fitting a modern radio with 4 channels and an amplifier per channel, then you have no choice but to run new speaker cables.

cool, but you need a steady cam or a tripod...