e65 sat nav conversion jap to nz

[eibbed 0]

I'm looking at a 1yr old e65 (750il) jap import BMW and thinking of buying it, the radio and dvd in the car has been converted already to nz standards However the sat nav hasn't and BMW NZ won't do it for fear of stuffing the computer system on the car (it's brains I guess). My question is can this be done has anyone done it and does it work ? I'd appreciate any help you can give.

[RvT 9]

I asked Jochen the same question about my E60 M5 and this was his reply. Hope it helps. Ron....

The E60 and all other i-Drive cars are very very very very different when it comes to the stereo and nav systems Example: RADIO The radio hardware is identical world-wide, but the car's software settings tell the radio whether it should operate in Japan-mode, US-mode, or European-mode (we use European mode in NZ) So to fix the radio requires either: a) change the country code of the car to singapore, NZ (anything but Japan or US), and re-code the car (theory, never tried!) temporarily fit the radio to a Singapore or NZ car, and recode the radio, then fit back to the Japan car (has been done a few times, works) Approach a is the best, but it is a theory. BMW never authorise changing of a cars country code - so it is a try-and-see approach, and you need the right workshop software to do it. NAV The maps for NZ are available, so maps are not an issue. But the Jap nav unit must be swapped out for the Euro nav unit to make it work in NZ. That's because the Japs use a special Japan-only map format, not used by anyone else in the world.The nav hardware is possibly plug-and-play, but I have never tested it yet. Happy to try, and the risk is low - if you buy a nav for the car, and it doesn't work, you can re-sell the nav (buy and sell on ebay) Not so many around at the mo, I expect them to sell for around 500 Euros (NZD $1,000) In the E38/E39 the BMW architechture allowed for a swap of a Jap nav to a Euro nav. I've done loads of E38 and E39 navs. The only way to know on an E60/E65 is to try the first one.... Physically exchanging them should be straight forward - the issues are if the software is compatible - I have the resources of a BMW diagnostic computer if required to assist. May cost a few beers to the workshop... If you are willing to have a punt, I'm willing to help...... PS: I now drive an E39 540i with fully converted radio and nav. Everything works.... and the nav is very very cool. Jochen

[hybrid 1039]

the e6x will have the newer computer system but here is what myself and my flatmate did to my e46

http://www.bimmersport.co.nz/forums/index....c=13797&hl=