Auxillary Input Installed

This DIY should answer a lot of questions regarding the E60 and having iPod or any other mp3 player play through the car's speakers without the use of an FM transmitter.

Of course, the part number. Good for a teaser pic. I hate teaser pics. Don't be a tease, just get straight to the meat!.


The project car, front angle. Ain't siver grey pretty?

Rear angle's not to shabby either. Notice the rear red reflectors. Big improvement over the stock black inserts.

Interior. Let's get crackin!.

I think it was user Stream who popped this panel off to route the audio cable back to the arm rest for a hardwire mod. This panel comes off much like the E46 side turn signals. It does not come straight out. If you pull in that direction you will most likely break something. Give it a gentle lift with a butter knife and slide towards the trunk. All of the posts will come out.

Again, the install process is very much like an E46. Start with the wood trim that goes across the dash on the passenger side. This wood trim scratches very easy so be gentle. I suggest starting on this side because if you do scratch it, the trim will be hidden by the door handle when the door is closed. Once you wiggle the trim up enough to get a good grasp on it, start wiggling towards the driver side.

Once you get the wood trim off, the lock/hazard switch pushes out by depressing two pressure springs. Once you have it like the picture, disconnect the wire and switch and then place the trim in the back seat.


Trim removed, driver side. The screw (not bolt) is one of the mounts holding the climate controls in.


Trim removed, passenger side. The big black claw is primarily what is holding the trim on.


Here is an overhead shot of the climate controls. So far, so good. At the top left and right of the climate controls are two screws not pictured. Unscrew these and the climate controls will now have some wiggle room. Do not remove anything yet.


The wood trim below the cd bays. Using a butter knife, gently pry up at the four points indicated. If you don't use even pressure, i.e. pry too much on one side before the next, you will break the bottom tab mounts that hold the heated seat/dsc controls in.

Final stage. Unscrew the four screws indicated and the "brain" can then slide out. You will need to move the shift lever back to drive (or 2nd, 4th, or 6th gear) to give the brain enough room to slide out.


Behind the unit is the "mega connector" on the right side. Squeeze the tab and lift the lever to slide the connector out. Take a look at the connector on the end of your Auxillary input and you will see it looks exactly like the white and black connectors.


But there are two of them. So which one does it replace? Well since the aux wire has a black connector, I merged those two together. Push the squeeze tab together on the black connector and pull it out. Once out you will see a little slide tab to pull out the internal wire harness that holds the push pins inside. Using a narrow, pointed object, slide the pins out and put them in the corresponding spot on the auxillary input harness. Reassemble the harness and plug it back into the mega connector. Then route the aux wire down behind the passenger foot well for a mounting place of your choice and push the brain back into the docking bay. Reverse the process to reassemble the radio, climate, door locks and dashboard trim and you are done.


After reconencting the mega connector, AUX was not listed on the entertainment options when I had it in the black port, so I tested it in the white connector - still no Aux, so I put it back with the black box to keep with color matching.

You will still need to have the input activated by your dealer, which can be done during a scheduled maintence or software CIP update for free.

Other notes:
If you are uncomfortable doing this, get a quote from your dealer and pay to have it done.
If you follow this DIY and royally screw up your E60, don't blame me, you used this DIY at your own risk.
I personally did not disconnect my battery and my I-drive screen was actively showing something when I pulled out the mega connector and did not suffer any ill effects. Then again I'm a registered lunatic (see under my username) and I could just have a fluke car that could care less when I pull its plug. Your car may differ so if you want to be on the safe side, disconnect the battery.
This DIY was done using only a butter knife and a leatherman for tools.

If you do follow this guide and complete it successfully, congrats. I just helped you save you $200+


Note to mods: I posted all the images locally on Bimmerfest instead of using a service like imageshack so that the DIY would always be intact. I noticed on a few (really) old threads of some people showing their car's new shoes, etc no longer had the associated picture. I figured if I upload to bimmerfest, the files will be here for years to come.

I have a couple of questions for your, maybe dumb but i dont want to miss anything or mess anything up for that matter.

When you disconnect the mega connector, are you replacing and of the cable pins or are you just adding them to the appropriate slot and then reconnecting the "mega harness"?

The reason i ask is becuase in the instruction it says - WS/BL cable to PIN 7
WS/RT cable to PIN 2
WS/BR cable to PIN 8

then connect the plug back to the unit?

You instructions for taking the dash apart were very helpful and made it extremely easy to remove, THANKS!!!

Originally Posted by jasman29

When you disconnect the mega connector, are you replacing any? of the cable pins or are you just adding them to the appropriate slot and then reconnecting the "mega harness"?

The reason i ask is becuase in the instruction it says - WS/BL cable to PIN 7
WS/RT cable to PIN 2
WS/BR cable to PIN 8
then connect the plug back to the unit?
You instructions for taking the dash apart were very helpful and made it extremely easy to remove, THANKS!!!

Praise the admins for thread subscription otherwise I would have never seen your post

It's been a while so here goes. When I first did the write up, I goofed and simply transferred the corresponding pins from the car connector into the harness of the aux input. Incorrect.
What I should have done (as stated in the PDF write-up somewhere on this forum) is transfer the AUX wires INTO the car's original harness. Sort of A into B not B into A as I did originally.
My screw-up resulted in the aux-input not working after my dealer activated it. They did their end right but I had my plugs wrong. There was no damage to anything, but there was no sound either.

So to answer your question, You should be adding pins to the existing harness by removing them from The Auxillary Input harness. The harness that was already in there was to my Sat radio. The aux input metal tabs fit in the corresponding slots within the Sat radio connector and all that plugs back into the "mega harness"

Hope this helps, if not post again and I'll try to clarify it some more. Glad my picture write-up made dismattling your $50K car a little less nerve racking.

Thanks and yes that explains it tremendously!!!

You pics and description were so good it took me all of about 15 minutes to dismantle the whole dash. I am pretty handy so these instructions were dead on, i will add the pins to the already installed "mega harness" and then have teh dealer activate the aux input.

thanks again!!

Hi mate, nice write up.

Have you got photos on where you lead the cable to and how?

The instructions I've got here says to connect it to the glove box which I find every inconvenient in the case I want to change tracks from the player.

Originally Posted by tonee

Hi mate, nice write up.

Have you got photos on where you lead the cable to and how?

The instructions I've got here says to connect it to the glove box which I find every inconvenient in the case I want to change tracks from the player.

Holy thread revival batman! I don't have the E60 any more, but because of the short length of the factory Aux harness, I ran a simple 3.5MM extension cord (Male/Male) from radio shack from the arm-rest area, down under the trim and out to the input plug coming out of the glove box area. The carpet along the passenger footwell, directly under the shifter trim slides (forward or back, I can't remember) and then should pop out.

There is also an alternative to paying the dealer to program the idrive for the new source; http://forums.5series.net/topic/7185...t-programming/

Originally Posted by E60orBust

Praise the admins for thread subscription otherwise I would have never seen your post

It's been a while so here goes. When I first did the write up, I goofed and simply transferred the corresponding pins from the car connector into the harness of the aux input. Incorrect.
What I should have done (as stated in the PDF write-up somewhere on this forum) is transfer the AUX wires INTO the car's original harness. Sort of A into B not B into A as I did originally.
My screw-up resulted in the aux-input not working after my dealer activated it. They did their end right but I had my plugs wrong. There was no damage to anything, but there was no sound either.

So to answer your question, You should be adding pins to the existing harness by removing them from The Auxillary Input harness. The harness that was already in there was to my Sat radio. The aux input metal tabs fit in the corresponding slots within the Sat radio connector and all that plugs back into the "mega harness"

Hope this helps, if not post again and I'll try to clarify it some more. Glad my picture write-up made dismattling your $50K car a little less nerve racking.

Thank you much for this info; I installed and programmed my aux input over a month ago with no good results until now.

Hi

Thanks for the info, however I'm having trouble getting sound.
I did the same as you did except I transplanted factory pins to AUX adapter but I doesn't make sense if that makes a difference. I've also recoded using NCSExpert and have AUX IN on the screen.

have you got any suggestions?

Originally Posted by tonee

Hi

Thanks for the info, however I'm having trouble getting sound.
I did the same as you did except I transplanted factory pins to AUX adapter but I doesn't make sense if that makes a difference. I've also recoded using NCSExpert and have AUX IN on the screen.

have you got any suggestions?

Hi,

I am in the same boat, Aux installed, Enabled via ncsexpert (shows on the idrive) but no sound, I can get a left channel by using pin 6 on the "D" Quadlock side but thats it.

did you solve your problem, could need a software update...

thanks

Originally Posted by itolson

Hi,

I am in the same boat, Aux installed, Enabled via ncsexpert (shows on the idrive) but no sound, I can get a left channel by using pin 6 on the "D" Quadlock side but thats it.

did you solve your problem, could need a software update...

thanks

I don't know what ncsexpert is, but when I put factory in to aux harness, the aux harness pins are actually in the wrong location to go back in to the radio harness. Putting Aux in to Factory harness ensures they are in the right locations.

Originally Posted by E60orBust

I don't know what ncsexpert is, but when I put factory in to aux harness, the aux harness pins are actually in the wrong location to go back in to the radio harness. Putting Aux in to Factory harness ensures they are in the right locations.

I dont have a cd changer or nav so the bottom of the quad lock is empty on the 2 c and d 12 pin connector blocks.

I enabled the Aux in using some software called ncs expert and re programmed the MASK Ecu.

it now displays the aux in, i have now managed to get it partly working, pins 6 an 7 on D block of the 12 pins seems to work but only one channel.

I still think it needs a cip update via a stealer... but they want £180.00...

Sorted...

used ncs expert to update the mask control unit and set auxin to aktive, programmed it in expert mode (back up your old config) and viola the aux-in option appears on your idrive , I also set mp3 to aktive but that does not seem to work although reading up on it if a add +kmp3 to the cars FA i.e tell the ecu what control units it has and then try again it may work.

For Those who want a cheaper alternative to the bmw aux in lead at £60.00 then call a company called nemesis on 0870 7775530 and ask for a VW/Seat/BMW/MB Auxilary input harness £14.04 delivered.

it comes with a black and white quadlock 12 pin adaptor so you can either use the cdc input block C left had side 12 pins on the back of the radio or the right hand side 12 pin block D.


As for the pin outs, they are completely wrong in all the documentation i read, but for
I tried just about every combination from their own document, block c 8,9 and ground 2 did not work.

Then I tried various combinations from the internet that also did not work, but by working through it logically I managed to get it to work perfectly in my car (2005 E60 545i) no nav, no cdc, just standard cd.

I used block D right hand side of the 12 pin block in the quad lock.

Pins used where 7 left white, 6 red right, and black ground on 12. (note the ground needs to be connected to get the left and right channels to come through otherwise you dont get any sound at all and you think its not working).

Dont ask me why these work as all of the documentation I found did not identify these but it works.

I now have my parrot mki9200 installed via the aux in using the stereo as the amp so you get the best of all worlds, blue tooth streaming, usb, sd card, ipod, aux in hands free etc etc.

I have also upgraded the speakers to alpine 4" units and placed a sub in the boot, now it sounds way way better then the logic 7 setup that my mate has and it cost me a total of around about £400.00 for everything.

so if you have managed to find this post and have no or little audio coming from your aux in when enabled then try the pins above.

Originally Posted by itolson

Sorted...

used ncs expert to update the mask control unit and set auxin to aktive, programmed it in expert mode (back up your old config) and viola the aux-in option appears on your idrive , I also set mp3 to aktive but that does not seem to work although reading up on it if a add +kmp3 to the cars FA i.e tell the ecu what control units it has and then try again it may work.

For Those who want a cheaper alternative to the bmw aux in lead at £60.00 then call a company called nemesis on 0870 7775530 and ask for a VW/Seat/BMW/MB Auxilary input harness £14.04 delivered.

it comes with a black and white quadlock 12 pin adaptor so you can either use the cdc input block C left had side 12 pins on the back of the radio or the right hand side 12 pin block D.


As for the pin outs, they are completely wrong in all the documentation i read, but for
I tried just about every combination from their own document, block c 8,9 and ground 2 did not work.

Then I tried various combinations from the internet that also did not work, but by working through it logically I managed to get it to work perfectly in my car (2005 E60 545i) no nav, no cdc, just standard cd.

I used block D right hand side of the 12 pin block in the quad lock.

Pins used where 7 left white, 6 red right, and black ground on 12. (note the ground needs to be connected to get the left and right channels to come through otherwise you dont get any sound at all and you think its not working).

Dont ask me why these work as all of the documentation I found did not identify these but it works.

I now have my parrot mki9200 installed via the aux in using the stereo as the amp so you get the best of all worlds, blue tooth streaming, usb, sd card, ipod, aux in hands free etc etc.

I have also upgraded the speakers to alpine 4" units and placed a sub in the boot, now it sounds way way better then the logic 7 setup that my mate has and it cost me a total of around about £400.00 for everything.

so if you have managed to find this post and have no or little audio coming from your aux in when enabled then try the pins above.

OMGG!!!! You're a legend, good work and thanks!

Could the euro specs have different wiring to US spec?

Originally Posted by tonee

OMGG!!!! You're a legend, good work and thanks!

Could the euro specs have different wiring to US spec?

sure looks like it but the bmw ipod kit replaces the cdc so you cannot have both.

This way you should be able to have the cdc and aux-in...

I'm Glad the info helped... good old internet...