birjup

I just purchased a beautiful 04 545I with nav smg premium audio, sport pkg, etc. Production date is

I have done many searches and still dont understand...Production date is 03/04

My car says it has BMW assist via bluetooth. I have read that you could do a few things like software upgrade then retrofit bluetooth, etc.

Im not sure what I have to do, how could I find out what needs to be done?

Rudy

Pretty much everything you need to know is contained in this forum -- just do some searching. The quick answer is that a 3/04 production car should be able to get Bluetooth functionality with just a software upgrade (no new TCU) needed.

Actually, the car may already have the software if it was updated by the previous owner, etc. It might be a simple software activation (not upgrade) to get you going...

billeul

From my experience, though limited, and the experience of others as documented in the forum, nothing about early E60 software should be assumed simple. Seems like backward compatability of BMW software leaves much to be desired.

VTec

Agree that pretty much all the info you need is here in the forum. Couple of quick points -

I didn't do the search, but I remember that 3/04 production is pretty close to the cutoff of the car needing a TCU upgrade vs. just software. Your dealer can read your key and tell you for sure.

Also, just to set your expectations, even if it is a simple software activation, it doesn't mean the dealer won't charge as though it wasn't that easy.

My car is an 07/04 production and simply needed a software upgrade - my dealer wanted to charge $300, but did it for $150 along with some other warranty work.

Rudy

Getting the software upgrade done as part of a warranty claim is pretty much how to do it. It's usually not too hard to find a bug that's been fixed to complain about. Once the need for new software is established, you give them the old "oh, by the way, while you're doing the software upgrade, please enable bluetooth..."

You might be charged a small amount, you might not...