henny

I installed sirius on my 2004 530. When I opened up the most loop, the audio quit (radio was on at the time). I can't remember if an error message came up on i-drive though. Anyway, the fault cleared once the loop was closed.

As for the sat and terr inputs, the newer sirius antennas combine both signals into one output. Simply use a sirius splitter (or an xm splitter- its the same) and it will feed the required signals into the sirius tuner. Since you have an 06, your sirius tuner may be a newer part # which only has the one input for the antenna. (i-drive is picky over tuner part#s during retrofitting) Make sure you have the correct part# as shown on realoem

Another quick note,

I originally installed the sirius tuner in the glovebox. When I went to get it programmed, it unfortunately did not work since I tried using a newer part#.(06-08 tuner) The computer at bmw would not retrofit sirius and said I needed the old part #. The tech dug into the connections a bit and found the tuner in the glovebox. He told me the tuner was extremely warm and would most likely fail as there wasn't much air circulation. I ended up buying the correct part #, and installed the tuner in the oem trunk location. I purchased the fiber optic cable and other required parts and tied into the most junction in the trunk. I also put the antenna below the rear window shelf as others have done. When I returned to the dealer and had the sirius retrofitted, there were no issues. Fortunately, I still have the cd changer prep connections in the glovebox for an ipod kit as well.

cinergi

Thanks Henny! I'm also in Canada, by the way. My car was built in January '06, so according to RealOEM, the correct part number is 65126948064. However, all my local dealers said that this part is discontinued. I called Circle BMW in New Jersey to confirm, and they told me the same thing (discontinued), and that the newer part number 65129192274 would work as a replacement although according to RealOEM, this newer part is only for vehicles built starting in March 2006.

I did some more research, and apparently the only difference between the old and new parts is that the new part has the single antenna connector rather than the dual connectors, which is actually a good thing because it means I don't need the splitter! On the Sonnen BMW website http://www.sonnenbmw.com/pages/page.cfm?pa...mp;featureid=-1 the newer part number is indicated as being compatible with cars built in January '06, with the addition of a "Sirius Antenna Connector Kit". I'm sure this connector kit is intended to allow connecting the old-style dual-connector antenna in the January '06 cars with the newer single-input Sirius receiver intended for the March '06 and newer cars.

Finally, I did some more research on RealOEM to check for part updates of any parts that connect to the Sirius radio, including the M-ASK computer and sharkfin antenna. The purpose of this was to identify any parts with updates that coincide with the Sirius tuner update date (March '06). The only other part I found with the same update date is the sharkfin antenna, which makes sense since the connector changed from dual to single.

So, all this to say that I'm hopeful that the updated tuner part number will work with my car :-). As far as I can tell, the only difference between the old and new tuners is the antenna connector. I will install it tomorrow, followed by coding on Tuesday. Fingers crossed!

Thanks,
cinergi

henny

I couldn't get a clear answer from my local dealer to determine whether a newer sirius tuner would work with my car. My thought was the same as yours such that the only difference was the antenna input. Like I said before, the software retrofit would not continue as it did not see the correct part#. Hopefully since your car is newer, it will accept the newer tuner as well. If not, I was able to find a brand new tuner with the correct part# on ebay. I've seen them listed quite often. It takes a bit of work to find one. Ususally a search for bmw sirius or bmw satellite will show all available tuners. If you search under bmw e60, the majority of the time you will not find one. Since mine was new and never registered with sirius, I was able to convince them to give me the one year sirius complimentary service as well.

Good luck

cinergi

Success! My car was coded successfully by the dealer yesterday with the newer tuner part number. Officially, only 03/06 and later cars can use the new part number, but my 01/06 worked just fine. The dealer charged me 2 hours of labor.

I put the antenna inside the car in the middle of the dashboard where it meets the bottom of the windshield. Works fine, even inside my garage during a snowstorm! I also got the 1-year free subscription.

The dealer's only comment was that there was a stored error code for "open circuit" on the Sirius antenna, probably because I connected the tuner's power with the antenna unplugged while I was installing it. The dealer cleared the code, and all was well!

-cinergi

ZeldHeesskata

Nice. What components are you using for the retrofit?

I just finished up retrofitting TSX projectors with E46 ballasts into the JDMs on my 02 wagon and the light output is amazing. Now Im thinking of doing a retro on my 05 too...

GoldstarQC

cinergi: Do you speak french ?? I just bought a 325xi 2006 today and I asked for a quote for the SIRIUS retrofit. The dealer here in Sherbrooke want 1388.63$+tx just for the module 65 126 948 064 ! I just saw that you did some search and found that their is a new part number that replace the old one.

I want to do it too, but i don't know if i'll be able ! I dont have the Sat-Prep (i think, the dealer told me that...) but I saw a post on e90forum about Sirius Retrofits without Sat-Preps.

Also, where did you bought the new part # and how much you paid for it ?

My dealer gave me a list of parts needed. Most of them are bracket and bolt.

I would be really interested to discuss with you about your Sirius retrofit experience ! I can even drive to Montreal to meet you if you want. I'm not really good with stuff like that, I can even pay the beer if you can help me with my retrofit ! hehe

You can contact me on this forum or goldstarqc AT gmail.com

GoldstarQC

Update to my previous post. I confirm I do not have the SA-963 prep in my E90. I'll process soon to do the E90 Sirius Retrofit in non-SA693 DIY.

Luckily, in the E90, the CD Changer Wires are already going in the trunk, so i'll use that.