jazzysbm

HAVE ANY OF YOU FELLOW E60 LOVERS RETROFITTED PROFESSIONAL SAT NAV ?

MY 2004 525D SE CAME WITH NO SATNAV AND I HAVE NOW PURCHASED THE FULL KIT,
CAN ANY ONE TELL ME IF THEY HAVE SUCCESFULLY DONE THE RETROFIT OR IS IT A JOB FOR THE "ROBBING DEALERS" ONLY?

I HAVE SPOKEN TO A BMW SPECIALIST WHO RECOMMENDED I TAKE IT TO AN AUTO SPARKY THEN BRING IT BACK TO HIM TO HAVE THE CAR PROGRAMMED, THE PROBLEM IS I AM GETTING ALOT OF NEGATIVITY FROM BOTH OF THE LEADING LOCAL AUTO ELECTRICIANS EVEN THOUGH I HAVE DOWN LOADED BMWS OWN RETROFIT INSTALLATION GUIDE FROM THIS SITE (CHEERS) AND LET THEM SEE IT......ITS LIKE THEY ARE SCARED.......BUT IT LOOKS FAIRLY "PLUG AND PLAY" TO ME.


IM GOING NUTSSS......PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

skeeter

I was told by my bmw dealership that if your car is not pre wired with sat radio, you can not upgrade to it with out the whole wiring harness being replaced....I've been talking to a shop out here that is just about done with a kit that will allow you to use sat radio w/nav in your car...It will replace the 6 disc changer...They said it will probably be released in feb...They have not told me the price of the unit yet...I've called several dealerships about the sat radio and they all have told me the same thing...You might be able to do it, but you will have to hack up your wiring in the car, which I wouldn't do...Bmw's seem pretty senitive to anything electronical....G/l with your project...I may be wrong....

iCharles

SOme cars are pre-wired for sat radio. Mine was and the dealer said I just need the module, a bracket and random hardware - then of course programming. This car is going on Autotrader soon, haha.

545felix

several people have retrofit both the nav and the satellite radio without "hacking" any wiring. search the forums. I did the nav retrofit using information retrieved solely from this forum.

theXman

I believe jazzysbm is trying to retrofit the OEM Navi and not Sat Radio to his car. Thats a very costly and complicated process. Even some dealers would avoid it, just because of the cost and benefit issue. You're better off saving that money for some other mods. Just buy a portable navi from Garmin or TomTom.

Dr Dave

its one of the easyist jobs you can do (retro fitting) dont let anybody tell you otherwise i have personally done 4 to date, search the forum please as advised, all info on fitting and whats needed also how you get it coded is all there.

the search function will reveal all.

Dav530d

Doctor,

I know you insist that you don't need to wire in the CAS cable but on the NAV retrofit guide it says cars before 10/2004 need this cable. Do you know where to plug this in under the steering column?

545felix

you mean other than the picture shown in the install guide? it's the only box under the steering column that has a connector that holds more than 16 or so. wires. since you're plugging it into pin 31, it makes sense the connector needs to have at least that many wires going into it.

jazzysbm

finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! some one who has done it ....i have to day managed to convince an auto sparky to do the retrofit....pity you werent local i could have paid you to do it for me.
im struggling finding any info on this apart from the installation guide, may be im not searching properley.
how do i find out if my car has the correct wiring in place?

cheers

jazzy

Dr Dave

all the wiring is there jazzy, you can even use your LVDS cable (thats the long thick one that goes from your old mas-k cd to the monitor) all you might have to do is shave/cut off a little bobble from the alloy sleave, to fit properly, then for ?8 just buy the fan wiring harness and the voice wiring harness, go to any good car radio shop and buy a aftermarket gps antenna, saves pulling your headlining down etc to fit a new sharks fin ariel, and put up by the rear view mirror workes perfectly, its all plug and play. not all need coding but most do.
i-drive is a pain to change but there are cheats...

its an easy job mate have courage.