[bsd]

I run a 2006 330d with i-drive and Bluetooth.

On occasion my phone would fail to connect to the car. Eventually one day, it stopped working alltogether. I checked fuses, updated my phone software, the connections to the unit itself (located under the boot floor carpet) disconnected the battery for an hour, all to no avail.

Original unit:



A visit to the dealer did nothing to improve my confidence that a cheap fix was on the cards.
They suggested they would need 3 hours to diagnose fit/repair and code the car. The part alone was £470 + VAT. Perfect, i was looking at a £1000 bill for handsfree capability?

To rub salt into my wounds, the radio became intermittent immediately following start up. This tended to clear after 5 mins but was most annoying!
When I selected the CD changer option, a message stating that it was checking the changer content was all I got. So, no CD's either, nice.

The part that my car came with from the factory is now obsolete and has been replaced by a new TCU (Telematics Control Unit). This was the part the nice man at BMW said would cost me £470 + VAT. Apparently they replace 3 per month at my local dealership alone....

Luckily I have a friend who has a similar spec 2008 330d who was kind enough to photograph the unit in his boot. This gave me a third option to consider.




I began hunting on ebay for any of the 3 that I believed would work. Long story short ebay.co.uk turned up nothing suitable under £200. A quick look on ebay.de turned up a unit exactly the same as the one fitted to my friends 2008 car. After a bit of chat thanks to Google translate, the unit was on its way to me after agreeing a purchase proce of 110euros.

It arrived safely and I set to it. First, I disconnected the battery - I had no idea if the unit would need coded, so figured disconnecting the battery was probably the safest option.
Swapping the over is easy. 4 x 8mm screws and in my case 2 plugs and one aerial type connector. Thw swap over took all of 5 minutes.

Anyway, battery re-connected and all is good, no coding required. Phone paired first time, CD works and Radio does not cut out. Delighted. Hope this description helps someone else.
(Worst part was searching for a suitable replacement on ebay....)

Cheers!

[OrlandoBimmer]

Thanks for posting.. Mine arrived today, will try to install it tomorrow... Why did you disconnect the battery??? I don't think that's necessary...