E39 BMW head unit

[keen 6]

Could someone give me some advise please my son has brought a BMW 540. He is working in Abu Dahbi and the car needs a band expander or another head unit I think which would you recommend. does someone here have a head unit for sale. Don't know how long he will be working there but maybe a couple of years if that helps with the info required to fix this problem Also which is the best repair manual to get for it? or are there C/D's now that are more detailed ?

[jochen 4]

Could someone give me some advise please my son has brought a BMW 540. He is working in Abu Dahbi and the car needs a band expander or another head unit I think which would you recommend. does someone here have a head unit for sale. Don't know how long he will be working there but maybe a couple of years if that helps with the info required to fix this problem Also which is the best repair manual to get for it? or are there C/D's now that are more detailed ?

Your son has obviously purchased an ex-Japan E39

If the car was manufactured after September 2001, he can re-program the existing BMW head unit from Japan-Mode to Euro-Mode, whereupon it will then work flawlessly in Abu Dhabi

All he needs to reprogram it is his fingers :-) (just press a few buttons)

If the car is built prior to Sep-01, then the best solution is to swap out the Japan radio for the appropriate Euro equivalent.

Tell me - at best with photos of existing head unit - what he has, and I can advise on the correct replacement.

And tell me the last 7 digits of the chassis number in format AA12345 - from this I can look up the manufacture date.

Band Expanders destroy radio performance and are a horrible solution - I recommend NOT to fit the band expander.

[BM WORLD 1283]

i have a std radio tape unit (not the tv one) for sale .

021433600

[email protected]

Edited April 13, 2009 by Brent HARTGE535i

[keen 6]

Your son has obviously purchased an ex-Japan E39

If the car was manufactured after September 2001, he can re-program the existing BMW head unit from Japan-Mode to Euro-Mode, whereupon it will then work flawlessly in Abu Dhabi

All he needs to reprogram it is his fingers :-) (just press a few buttons)

If the car is built prior to Sep-01, then the best solution is to swap out the Japan radio for the appropriate Euro equivalent.

Tell me - at best with photos of existing head unit - what he has, and I can advise on the correct replacement.

And tell me the last 7 digits of the chassis number in format AA12345 - from this I can look up the manufacture date.

Band Expanders destroy radio performance and are a horrible solution - I recommend NOT to fit the band expander.

Sorry I didn't put the year but it is 1997 I will get the chassis no form him and put that up here for coment not sure about a photo but will ask him, thank you,

[jochen 4]

i have a std radio tape unit (not the tv one) for sale .

021433600

[email protected]

Thats not a "std" radio tape, it's the Professional, top-of-the-line twin-tuner model. Sort-after by those in the know.

BMW made 3 levels of radio/tape:

Reverse (bottom of the range)

Business (good)

Professional (top of the range)

[jochen 4]

Sorry I didn't put the year but it is 1997 I will get the chassis no form him and put that up here for coment not sure about a photo but will ask him, thank you,

1997 means the radio has to be swapped with a Euro model to make it work

So now the only questions is: does the car have nav or no nav?

[BM WORLD 1283]

Thats not a "std" radio tape, it's the Professional, top-of-the-line twin-tuner model. Sort-after by those in the know.

BMW made 3 levels of radio/tape:

Reverse (bottom of the range)

Business (good)

Professional (top of the range)

thanks .

what do you mean by twin tuner , why do you need that . listen to 2 radio stations at once??

yes it is good though had nice sound etc . subs , amps , 6 cd etc .

[jochen 4]

what do you mean by twin tuner , why do you need that . listen to 2 radio stations at once??

Exactly.

The radio has 2 x tuners.

So you can listen to AM on one tuner, and the 2nd tuner is tracking an FM RDS station waiting for traffic reports to occur. Or listen to an FM non-Traffic enabled station on one tuner, and still receive traffic reports via the other tuner, which is tracking a traffic-report enabled station

Or you listen to one FM station on one tuner, and the 2nd tuner continuously tracks and updates the FM station list based on the available RDS stations in your area

Etc.

The Traffic Report function works really well, and is a life-saver over here in Europe.

[Yuen 16]

The Traffic Report function works really well, and is a life-saver over here in Europe.

I'll say. Do you get many ghost drivers where you are Jochen?

[jochen 4]

I'll say. Do you get many ghost drivers where you are Jochen?

Never struck one myself (!) but you hear of one every two months or so.

Extremely dangerous situation, and the radio reports it to you immediately they are aware via the RDS Traffic Information. Fantastic system. My kids have now learnt to be quiet when the traffic broadcast comes through.

[Driftit 2078]

Interesting. Do they have the system working in Auckland at all? I was mucking around with my Professional system the other day and switched something on. Then occasionally while driving I would get three short beeps. No messages or anything would display. I turned the RDS off and never heard the beeps again.

[jochen 4]

Interesting. Do they have the system working in Auckland at all? I was mucking around with my Professional system the other day and switched something on. Then occasionally while driving I would get three short beeps. No messages or anything would display. I turned the RDS off and never heard the beeps again.

The system makes different beeps:

If you have the MID, and have turned MEMO on, the system will issue 3 short beeps at about 10 seconds before the hour, to remind you to switch to a radio station and catch the news on the top of the hour.

This sounds like your situation.

If you had TP turned on, and the radio cannot find a TP-station, it will issue about 5 long low-toned beeps, alerting you to the fact that RDS-TP reception is not possible.

When I drove from Akld to Rotorua, the radio would loose RDS-TP on the road between Hamilton and Rotorua.

ZM did have RDS Traffic Reports up and running, and working perfectly, but switched it off when people complained that it was intrusive, and threatened to sue the radio station because "big brother was controlling their radio". Such complainers were apparently unaware that they could easliy switch off the TP function on their radio by pressing the "TP" button, and that the radio user is in full control of his radio always !!

I was an advocate of RDS-TP, tried to convince many stations to use it, but my statements fell on deaf ears.

I don't know what has happened to the RDS-market since I left NZ in December 2007.... I heard extra stations were interested in adding RDS, but I've had no confirmation

Anyone care to list all stations that have RDS available in Auckland for me?

Edited April 16, 2009 by jochen

[Yuen 16]

Never struck one myself (!) but you hear of one every two months or so.

Extremely dangerous situation, and the radio reports it to you immediately they are aware via the RDS Traffic Information. Fantastic system. My kids have now learnt to be quiet when the traffic broadcast comes through.

Yes it's a great system, took me a while to get used to but definitely makes you feel that much safer on the road.

The system makes different beeps:

If you have the MID, and have turned MEMO on, the system will issue 3 short beeps at about 10 seconds before the hour, to remind you to switch to a radio station and catch the news on the top of the hour.

This sounds like your situation.

If you had TP turned on, and the radio cannot find a TP-station, it will issue about 5 long low-toned beeps, alerting you to the fact that RDS-TP reception is not possible.

When I drove from Akld to Rotorua, the radio would loose RDS-TP on the road between Hamilton and Rotorua.

ZM did have RDS Traffic Reports up and running, and working perfectly, but switched it off when people complained that it was intrusive, and threatened to sue the radio station because "big brother was controlling their radio". Such complainers were apparently unaware that they could easliy switch off the TP function on their radio by pressing the "TP" button, and that the radio user is in full control of his radio always !!

I was an advocate of RDS-TP, tried to convince many stations to use it, but my statements fell on deaf ears.

I don't know what has happened to the RDS-market since I left NZ in December 2007.... I heard extra stations were interested in adding RDS, but I've had no confirmation

Anyone care to list all stations that have RDS available in Auckland for me?

As you said ZM is probably the most well known one... I found this but it is a bit outdated, not sure if it's still true. http://www.woodelectronics.co.nz/rds-radio-data-system/

Edited April 16, 2009 by Mpulsive

[keen 6]

Never struck one myself (!) but you hear of one every two months or so.

Extremely dangerous situation, and the radio reports it to you immediately they are aware via the RDS Traffic Information. Fantastic system. My kids have now learnt to be quiet when the traffic broadcast comes through.

Ok Jochen I have some more infor if this will help the chassis no. is bu88618 I have a photo but I don't know how to upload it. The tape panel looking from the left has two buttons Bass and Treble one above the other. moving right one button beside the tape entrance then two buttons side by side then a fader and balance one above the other.Moving down on the left a knob and above that what looks like a three way button assy. then six buttons in a row then one button above the other on the right side, audio and a BC. Would the radio that Brent put up be suitable? and can you give me some instructions as to the removal and fitting and any traps to watch out for thanks Ken.

[jochen 4]

bu88618 = 02/1998 E39 540i Saloon M62 Europe Left hand drive Automatic

540i, mmmmm, that's what I had.

You have the business radio with the MID, old generation, with round pin plug.

Very easy to replace, no dash disassemble required.

You can replace it with tape, CD, or mini disc (but MD is hard to find)

Here's a Business Radio-CD:

Business CD on eBay

Here's another:

Another Business CD radio

DON'T use one with flat pins! Here's a flat pin radio to compare:

New-Gen flat-pin radio on ebay

A flat-pin radio is for cars from Sept 2001, and doesn't fit your car.

So there you go. Replacing the radio is dead easy. Search ebay for "BMW E39 Radio" and you'll find lots.

Radio-Tape is cheapr than Radio-CD

All the Euro model radios are 100% compatible with the Japanese E39 car, can use same CD changer, will integrate in same way with instrument cluster and steering wheel controls

Brent's radio is compatible and can be used, PROVIDED it is the round-pin radio - ask Brent to confirm by looking at the connector, or posting a photo here.

In fact, Brent's radio is the Professional RDS; which is the much better model than the Business RDS.

For a 540i, which always had top-of-the-line equipment, it is better to fit the top-model radio, to be true to the car.

Regards, Jochen

Edited April 17, 2009 by jochen

[keen 6]

i have a std radio tape unit (not the tv one) for sale .

021433600

[email protected]

Brent is this the flat pin radio or the round pin? As per Jochen's article in Jochen's further on in this thread?