jochen

1996 = E39 Standard DIN-sized stereo with a custom BMW face plate. > don't think it would work would it. Why assume it won't? Google "E39 icelink" and you find 15,600 pages. Look at Denisons website and within seconds you find the correct model IceLink for your car.

The input is a balanced twisted-pair, not RCA. But you could connect RCA connectors to the lead. However, if the CD changer doesn't say hello every 30 seconds, the headunit determines the CD changer is dead or not fitted. So one of the things you can do is fit a CD-changer emulator that provides Aux-In, these are easy to find. Google for "BMW Aux-In" Depending on your model of BMW (you don't say what it is), its age and the model of radio fitted, you may be able to get an iPod interface that shows song titles and controls the iPod. PS: removing the headunit is very easy when you know how, very little to no disassembly required (depends on model of car)

Yes, fully possible to make it work. I did this on my 1997 540i E39. Exactly what is required varies a bit depending on the year and version of the system you have fitted. It is more than just the disc though. The nav computer needs changing to the Euro model, and some minor rewiring required. But rest assured that you can have the radio, navigation, TV and telephone fully working 100% in New Zealand. I can give you more detail but I need to know your chassis number (last 7 digits, in format AA12345) If you are handy at working on cars, you can do the work yourself to make the nav go. Otherwise, Hotwire in Te Awamutu can do the full job for you.

Not true, I had a Jap import BMW E39 and the nav system worked perfectly in the Jap car with the original NZ disc. Of course, you have to do a few small mods to make it work first....

Personnaly, I wouldn't recommend Rapid Radio. They like to sell and install new radios. They don't repair the CD changers, they send them straight to the guy who used to work across the road from them but now works from home in Mt Eden. His name and business is.... Max Electronic Services 42 St Leonards Rd Mt Eden Auckland 0-9-638 5252 He's a one-man band, does nothing but fix car radios and CD players, does a lot of OEM stuff and does all Sony repairs. He knows the Pioneer systems well. Best thing to do is drive around, see hime, show him the fault in the car, and then give him the CD changer to repair.

This comes from the CD changer. If it is not hot then your CD changer is faulty, or the temp sensor inside the changer is crook. Either way, you have to get a car radio repair shop to look at the CD changer. Does the light come on in the climate control? Can you hear the relay go 'click' when you turn it on and off? Here's some info: Rear window heating (defogger) Thawing phase After terminal 15 new start and after being switched on for the first time, the time interval for the rear window defogger is determined in order to achieve an optimum thawing effect. Thawing time at outside temperature > 15 o C = 10 minutes Thawing time at outside temperature < 15 o C = 17 minutes Undervoltage cutout does not take place during the thawing phaseAfter-heating phase In order to maintain the battery charge level, once the initial thawing period has elapsed, the rear window defogger can only be activated for 5 minutes every time the button is pressed. Undervoltage cutout At low engine speeds (up to 1500 rpm), the charge status can be turned negative as the result of high loads. For this reason, the rear window defogger relay is switched off when terminal 30 drops below 11.4 V. The rear window relay switches on again when a voltage above 12.2 V is detected.

Hi, You have ex-Japan E39 with TV/nav if I recall correctly. Radio module is the lump behind the rear passenger seat trim in the boot. Left hand lump = radio module (radio tuner), right hand lump = video module (TV tuner) Remove boot trim to access: trim comes out as left+middle+right in one piece, can be angled under nav. You can wire in parallel to CD and fit a relay with a remote switch that then switches the audio between CD and iexternal audio source. Then either leave a CD fitted to the changer and hit 'play', the CD input will be activated, and then you just switch the audio to external. Or get a CD emulator, and have that included in the switch, so that you don't have to have a CD running all the time (ie: stops the laser running permenently)

Been pretty bad for the Italians 4-1, ouch.

Antenna connector is standard DIN type For stereo AV in you have following choices: FM modulator CD emulator Tape deck wiring For mono AV in you can use TV AV input.

Yup. Don't get the tiny litle 520. Best is 530, 528 or 525 is OK, 540 is nice :-) I had the 540, and I cannot recall ever having insufficient power.....

what happen to the good old internet purists who follow the ideal that you never know the display screen size and therefore all webpages should be coded to render properly on any size screen. Afterall, I too have a wide screen monitor and on this website it only uses 50% of my available screen real estate. Dear ol' Bimmersport would be soooooo much nicer to view if it properly rendered correctly at 100% screen width.

Pitfalls: 1. Cost 2. You will always loose something (money + increased noise level = both negatives in my opinion) 3. New exhaust noise level laws - check them carefully.

The BMW system is highly integrated, no after market system can offer the same radio reception performance (ability to control 3 x antennas on FM for example), the same integration with instrument cluster, etc. And the majority of the BMW system is made by Alpine. The higher-quality tuner is made by Becker Does that change your perceptions?

That makes no difference at all. If you want the ETM, give me your chassis numbers and I'll send you a copy.

Do you have the ETM documentation for both cars? ETM = original full BMW wiring information, as interactive PDF files. Would make life easier for you...

Try resoldering the control unit first I've heard a common fault is solder joints cracking and that a lot of the repair centres just sit down and resolder everything. So easy to do its worth trying.

It'll be just the one speaker. The USD price is $41.57 fior the woofer on the hi-fi system (part 65138352687) Be careful: There are 3 x speaker systems: Normal (no amplifier, 6-speakers). Woofer = 65138369265 Hi-Fi (with amplifier, 10-speakers) Woofer = 65138352687 Top-Hi-Fi (with DSP-amplifer, 12-speakers) Woofer = 65138369069 Check the part number of your speaker when you pull it out. As yours is a NZ-new, you might only have the low 6-speaker system (I've seen a few NZ-New E39s where they scrimped on the sound system) The OEM woofer speakers are glued air-tight to a sealed tuned enclosure, which is sperate to the door enclosure. I am not sure if the enclosure is included with the speaker - if not it will be fun unsticking the glue! Of course, the replacement speaker will need to be glued and sealled air tight as well.

Make sure you start your jounery by ensuring you have the BMW Electrical Troubleshooting Manual (ETM) for both your car and also for the donor vehicle. That shows everything for you.

The E39 amplifier delivers 20 watts per speaker Multiply by number of speakers (5 or 6 per side, depending on what amplifier and sound system is fitted) and you find that the amplifier is a 100W per channel, or a 120 watt per channel amplifier And that's the standard BMW system To upgrade the sound, replace speakers only. No need to replace the high quality sophisticated BMW amplifier.

Have you actually looked at the speaker? My E39 had 2 x speakers in the front doors not working when I got it: driver's bass, and passender tweeter. I took the door panels off to inspect, and found that the passenger tweeter was unplugged, and that a bolt was missing from the passenger bass speaker housing (had fallen into door), and the other bolt was loose - a source of rattles. With the bass spekaer on the other door I found that it the virbation damping foam from the electric window switch jammed against the speaker cone, preventing any cone movement. Relocate the foam to its correct position and it was fixed. And of course checked that all bolts were tight. I blammed the import inspection people for both problems. So I'd suggest you take the door panels off, check all speakers are clear, and all bolts are tight. Listen to the speakers with the panels off. A speaker with a distorted voice coil is easy to distinguish due to the scratching distortion it makes, but you must make sure that the voice coil has nothing else interferring with it first.

Antenna tuner is fitted to top of rear window, on right hand side of third brake light To remove and replace antenna tuner: Remove rear right head restraint by pressing in button and pulling straight up Remove panel for roof pillar at rear left (C-pillar). Two pieces. Screw under airbag label. Lift rear part up and out. Front part unclips. Caution! Airbag! Observe airbag precautions! Remove auxiliary brake light cover - 2 x plastic rivets, unclips If fitted, remove rear right handle Drop down roof liner slightly (do not bend). Use clean gloves! Unclip antenna amplifier catches Unplug cables from antenna amplifier

That's the way BMW designed it. Unfortunately there is no ability to change it unless you want to redesign the software inside your instrument cluster :-) The instrument cluster generates the time and date, the radio or nav just displays it.

DIY colour changes: my friend here has changed ALL illunination in his BMW E46 to blue by physically changing every LED in EVERY switch and display and also in the entire instrument cluster I told him he was crazy, he agreed :-)

Changing language from Japanese to English is easy and can be done yourself under the options / preferences menu. You can do it yourself - but if you cannot read Japanese then you need to either a) find a japanese person who can read the menus and then find the setup menu and change the language put the car side by side with a Jamaican car and go through it step by step - the structure of the menus is the same. c) get the English manual and look at the pictures of how to change settings, and then follow the sequence in your system I've done this many times but I cannot rememder the sequence. You know you're in the right menu location when you see an "English" or "USA" option appear :-) As for radio, nav, TV, phone etc: these items are different for the Japanese market compared to the rest of the world. I know it well, as I have converted many cars from Jap spec to Euro spec to make the radios and nav systems work. BUT I worked on older cars, the newer cars like yours are very software dependent. The radio hardware is the same for the entire world, but the software settings determine what mode it should operate in. So you have to fudge the software, or change the car from Japan to Jamaica car and then reprogram the car. Fudging the software is for experts only, if you have any qualms, don't do it. Another solution is to remove your radio tuner, temporarily fit it to a Jamaicain car, and the recode the tuner. This will load the tuner with the right settings for US-mode. Then refit the radio to your car. This method is by far the easiest. However the change will revert back to standard Japan mode if your car is ever reprogrammed, as the US-mode programming in the radio tuner will appear as 'incorrect' for a Japanese car. But if you never take the car to a dealer afterwards, the radio will stay in US-mode. As for relevant questions to determine if someone has experience, you must ask the person "do they have, and are they experienced in, using the BMW expert programming tool called INPA or EDIBAS?" It requires good knowledge of the systems and architechture of a BMW and knowledge and experience of reprogramming cars.

Sounds like your only solution to your problem is new headlights. Time to start trolling around the wreckers.... or watching trade me...