I have an e60 (2005) lease that is going back in a few weeks. It has the Sirius radio module that was purchased/installed separately from the lease. In other words, I own it. If possible, I would like to remove the sat radio and maybe sell it.

I understand that with an installation, the iDrive must be reprogrammed. However, what about removing the sat radio module? Will that cause any problems (without a de-program)? How difficult is the install/removal process? Are there any posts that detail the installation process (can't find any recent ones).

Thanks in advance for any help,

--Joe

 

It's very easy to pull the sirius radio module from the car (I considered doing it to my 2004 car before turning it in but decided to be a nice guy and leave it for the next owner to use.) The unit is located in the left-rear area of the trunk. It's very easy to gain access to that area -- when you remove it, just be sure to take the radio's bracket (and screws) as well.

It's easy to identify the tuner -- it says Sirius on the sticker. Just in case, take a look at the first picture in the following .pdf:
Sirius_location.pdf
(the Sirius unit is indicated by the number '2' in the photo)

Someone who's done this could probably provide more details but I imagine that there may be some minor issues with iDrive after the Sirius unit is yanked. It's possible that the 'SAT' menu will be greyed out or maybe it'll be there but just won't work when selected. Worst case, there will be some sort of fatal error message which might make you rethink what you're planning to do.

Hope that helps...

 

Rudy,

Thanks for the PDF. If the radio didn't cost me >$500 and BMW wasn't milking me on the sat radio in my new car (sat isn't available in any stock cars, so they have to install it, which for some unknown reason costs much more) - I might consider being a nice guy and leaving it in. Still, I look at it this way - if I leave it in, they will probably add $500 (or more) to the resell price of the car when they turn it. The person buying that car could by the same radio from me for less and be ahead of the game by a few hundred.

I figured the sat radio in the iDrive would return an error message/be greyed out/ etc. if the unit was removed. I was just hoping that I wouldn't cause any other problems with the iDrive because of the missing hardware. Guess I could always put it back in if I had to.

--Joe

 

That's what I figured too -- please report back what happens after you yank it! It'll be nice to know for the future as I'm sure this question will be asked many more times...

 

The optic fiber bus that connects the audio devices is a loop, if you just remove the sat receiver, you lose the radio, blue tooth etc. It is a five minute job to reestablish the loop for someone who knows how to do it, connector behind rear seat.

 

Reporting back, but I don't have much to report.

Two weeks prior to the return date of my car, my son was in an accident. Got t-boned on the passenger side. Amazing how well the car held up. Anyway, the car was in a body shop right up until the return date of 8/31.

I was out of town on 8/31, so my wife had to return the old one and get the new one. The body shop guys, with the help of the PDF from here, were able to remove the Sirius unit for me. It was a quick job - took only a few minutes.

On the drive from the body shop to the dealer, the radio worked fine. No apparent problems with the iDrive. Then again, it was a 5-minute drive and my wife wasn't really going to put the iDrive through it's paces to see what did/didn't work.

Sorry I don't have more detail. If everything wasn't so pressed for time, I would have been able to find out more.

--Joe

 

Thanks for the update -- the fact that your son's okay is way more important!

 

+1

 

Do you know where the connect is behind the rear seat...