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Just added Aux input to pre 04 business cd without any adapters

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35K views 21 replies 14 participants last post by  SchwarzeEwigkt  
J
#1 · (Edited)








So I searched High and low for a simple aux input for the pre 2002 business radio. I couldn't find one. So i decided to do my own. I pulled the radio out took it apart and soldered leads to the R and L and G on the bottom of the bread board. I hot glued them in place and ran them out of a heat vent hole. Then I re assembled everything. You have to put the stereo in CD mode and have a disc in. When you plug in you device it will over ride the the CD and you will hear your mp3 player/phone. Where there is a will there is a way!:bigpimp: sorry after posting i noticed the title says "pre 04" I meant for it to say "pre 02"
 
J
#3 ·
Updated DIY for pre 2002 AUX IN

So I have searched everywhere for a way to add AUX IN on pre 2002 CD53 radios. Everything I read said it was impossible to do without a 80 dollar adapter. I don't like spending money on things I know I can do my self and I really don't like the word "impossible". So here it goes how to add an AUX in to a pre 2002 business radios

Tools you will need
1)Wide flat head screw driver for trim removal or putty knife
2)Phillips head for removing head unit
3)Set of jewelers screw driver
3) soldering iron
4)Solder
5) Most importantly very steady hands
6) 10MM socket and wrench or driver
7)hot glue gun
8)electrical tape
9) Male or female 3.5mm jack ( this was a Beta run for me so I used what I had a male 3.5)
10) Sand paper
11)Hot glue gun



1) Remove head unit from car there are several guides for this. It takes 5 minutes.

2) After removing the head unit find a clean flat work area.

3) Start by removing the three bronze screws on top use your jewelers screw driver

4) Pop off top cover

5) Remove the 2 screws holding on the face plate

6) Remove the 4 screws holding in the cd tray

7) Remove cd tray gently it should just pop out

8) Pop off face plate be very careful there are clips on the bottom also

9) Remove the 4 long screws in the heat sink on the side it should pop right off

10) Remove the screw on the support bracket pull it out

11) Remove the 10mm bolt on back of radio

12) Remove the screws that mount the board in and all remaining screws on the bottom

13) Carefully wiggle board out

14) Now that you have the board out flip ,it over and look at the pins where your cd player plugs into the breadboard it should be a black or grey connector .



15) You need to find the pins for L in R in And a G mine were the first 3 on the right.

16) I had blue protection adhesive over my connection lightly sand the pins you will be using

17) Prep you lead wire for your 3.5 jack by stripping 1/8 inch of insulation off the end of the red and green

18) Take you electrical tape and insulate your ground wire all but 1/8th inch on the tip

19) Tin your wires

20) Very carefully and I mean very carefully solder your green wire to the L channel pin then the red wire to the R channel pin and the Ground G DO NOT let solder flow to the other pins you will render your stereo useless.



21) Now that you're done with the hard part lat a piece of electrical tape over pins in front of where you soldered to help prevent shorts

22) Run your lead wire out through the closest vent hole and reassemble stereo



23) Now decide you much wire you will need and solder on your 3.5mm jack

24) Reinstall your stereo and put your aux in where ever you desire

25) Pop a cd in and put the stereo in cd mode now plug in your device and it will over ride the cd an there you have it AUX IN the hard way



Just remember to be extremely careful while doing this you could destroy your head unit. But with great risk comes great reward. Sorry i didn't take pics of taking apart the head unit apart.
 
#6 ·
Cool idea! I don't like modding my head unit quite that much, so I bought one of these. Works great except for that I needed a ground loop isolator and still need to fix a digital ground click issue common to the trunk mounted AUX units for E46's.
 
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B
#7 ·
I opened up my radio today to no avail. The board was completly different and not even the same brand. I have a 2001 330Ci and it came with an 00' unit with no labels on the chips. No +, _, L, R nothing.. just a blank board with all the circuits.. the circuits were all in different places too.. :(

I ordered a Kenwood Refurb unit off of ebay and an amp integration harness so I can just use bluetooth :D
 
J
#10 ·
I went ahead and did this mod to my stereo, the longest probably took opening up the stereo. But it was straight forward and very simple. Sounds scarier then it actually is.

Anyways, the end result it sounds amazing. No hisses nothing. A1 on this guide.

This was sweet because I thought my stereo couldn't do AUX and I gave up on that idea.. but this is sweet now! Thanks again.
 
Y
#11 ·
Just did the same to my 2002 330i. Sounds great, but sometimes to select AUX instead of CD I have to turn the head unit off, start playing on my phone, then turn on the head unit again. Probably has to do with my phone too.
 
#15 ·
Depending on when your stereo head unit was made, generally around '9/'02 with some caveats regarding the software version, your stereo is either aux capable from the factory or not. Generally if your stereo is newer than this, you can install a number of simple cables including BMW part # 82110149389.

The older stereos require some sort of hacking - either you can do the circuit board mod as described by the OP, or by an adapter that connects to the CD changer lines. We offer a simple aux input kit(see below) that uses the CD changer connections and sounds great.

I'm not sure what you are referring to regarding the ground, but in any case, your audio ground will be on the 10 pin input connections behind your stereo.
 
E
#16 ·
Never mind I went ahead and tried it on my 325i 2002 and it works great couldn't be more happy. Gotta admit getting the alpine apart was a pain in the ass. Also thank you so much ive been looking everywhere for something like this.
 
M
#19 · (Edited)
Hi,

Just wanted to thank you so much! It was not an easy task (especially for an unexperienced solder) but it worked like a charm.

The sound is clear and loud. Now I should make a blank disk with empty tracks, just to be sure I get uninteruptered experience (sometimes, if there is a long period of pause on the smartphone, the connection gets lost and I have to quickly, 2s, turn off and on the HU for it to get back, but I think the problem is more on the smartphone side not the radio/connection itself).

Here is a link with some photos of my experience.

http://imgur.com/a/YExiG

Cheers and good luck to everyone _sl_
 
M
#21 ·
Horrible DIY

I don't understand what u did with the wiring. 2 people have posted pictures of the wiring but both pictures show no details about the wiring. I have an aux cord which when I cut has a white wire, a grey wire and some wire for ground. Which wire goes where? How many wires to I need? Please give more details for the wiring method. I already know how to open the radio need to know the wiring.
 
#22 ·
Mudassiryousuf said:
I don't understand what u did with the wiring. 2 people have posted pictures of the wiring but both pictures show no details about the wiring. I have an aux cord which when I cut has a white wire, a grey wire and some wire for ground. Which wire goes where? How many wires to I need? Please give more details for the wiring method. I already know how to open the radio need to know the wiring.
Click to expand...
Your cable, if it's a standard aux cable, has a wire for signal left, signal right, and ground. Typically they're black, red, and bare or the shield, respectively. You'll have to google what ring on the plug is which, though I think it's L, R, GND from the tip down. Use a multimeter with a continuity tester to figure out which is which.
 
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