Don't assume that'd work! There may be software "clashes" or the TCU might need to be "married" to the car...

 

The demo should still run with the wrong TCU. He could take his car to another dealer for a program.

 

I spoke with ademitt's Service Manager at his dealership in Calgary, Canada. His TCU was replaced with Part no: 84116955688. This was a few months ago, so I?m not surprised that there is a ?956? version of the TCU available now. At any rate, I confirmed with the Service Manager that the new TCU is needed as well as the software update CIP 13.3 or higher, enabling the Bluetooth option when programming. Nav or non-Nav, it doesn?t make a difference. NO NEW WIRING IS REQUIRED, regardless of the build date (someone PM?d me and told me that I would need new wiring to receive Bluetooth, someone **unofficially** claiming to be a BMW affiliate of some sort). This is great news! So, the information posted on this board is now CONFIRMED. Done.

Also, if your current TCU is faulty, it would automatically be replaced with the latest version, not an older, obsolete version. I confirmed this as well with the Service Manager up there. I have this ?static? in my stereo system (all inputs) that was initially diagnosed as a faulty TCU. Then they replaced my MASK unit instead and the static is still there. I?m thinking, hoping I need that TCU replaced. I?m crossing my fingers.

 

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Also, if your current TCU is faulty, it would automatically be replaced with the latest version, not an older, obsolete version. I confirmed this as well with the Service Manager up there. I have this ?static? in my stereo system (all inputs) that was initially diagnosed as a faulty TCU. Then they replaced my MASK unit instead and the static is still there. I?m thinking, hoping I need that TCU replaced. I?m crossing my fingers.
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Yes indeed, I can confirm this. The reason I have a new TCU was on one of the recalls where they were updating my softrware (to V13) my TCU would not take the upgrade. They tried multiple times, let the car sit in sleep mode overnight, etc. The only way to get it to work was to replace the TCU under warranty....gosh it was really a shame....

 

Does this also apply for European models ?

That would be interesting since my car is in today for v15 upgrade (to fix RFT issues and headlight sensitivity). They just called me to let me know that they need to keep it overnight to resolve a "problem" with one of the modules, he could not be more specific. I suspect that the SW is not taking.

Complete hassle - but if I get a new TCU out of it I won't be unhappy.

 

I recently had my TCU replaced because my BMW Assist was not working properly, and have scheduled an appointment to have bluetooth enabled as my SA says that all I need now is a programming to make it work... Im going in on 2/22. Il keep you posted but my dealer seems confident there is no need for new wiring...

btw.. My build is 02/04...

 

Welcome aboard, jeff_s !

 

I have a Jan 2004 production E60 with Navigation and as a favor, my service advisor tried to get a bluetooth retrofit to work for me. They went and took the Telematics Control Unit (TCU) with integrated Bluetooth out of one of their new 2005 E60's from the dealership lot and installed it into my car. They then tried to code the new TCU to work with my Navigation computer (CCC) and it failed. They also tried back-dating the CCC software and had no luck. I currently have version 15.

JohnMac said he has Navigation with a 2/04 build and had the TCU replaced and said that it worked for him....so not sure what the deal is. My dealer probably didn't do the coding correctly or something may be different on my car. I ordered my car in November 2003 and just had the order in pending status until they started producing E60s with Nav in Jan '04...so I know mine was one of the first few off the line with NAV.

I also checked my TCU and it had 4 connections and 3 were only plugged in (same as Lomag's setup).

Hopefully one of us can get this resolved because BMW NA isn't going to try....

 

Hrm... this all doesn't sound to good. I think i'm going to let go of the issue again and maybe get a 2 year old 550 or M5 in 2007

 

I just wanted to add something I learned for those still curious about this whole thing.

Apparently there's acctually 3 different TCU's. There's:

84-11-6-942-592 -- in cars produced from 09/03 - 02/04 (MY 2004)
84-11-6-948-921 -- in cars produced from 03/04 - 08/04 (MY 2004)
84-11-6-955-688 -- in cars produced from 09/04 and on (MY 2005)

I don't know the differences between the last two however there was talk here about needing new wiring to get BT to work. I assume new wiring would be needed for the TCU in MY2005's, perhaps BMW changed things then but I doubt for 04. The middle TCU is the one the MY2004 folks have produced after 03/04 and they got the BT upgrade with only a software update. So I would imagine that middle one is the one we pre-03/04 need assuming no wiring changes were made that affect the TCU.

Now, if you look in the parts system you do see the main wiring harness changed in 03/04 and has a new part number. The main wiring harness goes all over the car so there's no way to know what was acctually changed though.

So I dont know ... just something to throw in the mix here.