Should have been posted in Idrive forum, could MODS please move. Thanks
Before I begin to describe the full OEM Idrive retrofit with dash removal, I would like to thank all the people who has posted some incredible valuable info on e90post and in particular thanks to Booster for his fantastic walk- trough guide of this retrofit.
Find the excellent guide here: (I used that a lot)
http://home.comcast.net/~Booster/idr...e_retrofit.pdf
My previous experience with Auto Electrics/Repair is NON- existing. I change my tires twice a year but that’s it… No oil change, changing filters or any thing else.
So my suggestion to you if you are thinking of doing this, but afraid it’s too complicated, I can say this: It requires a lot of preparation, but as for removing the dash and retrofitting the Idrive it is NOT rocket science. I was actually surprised it was not more difficult.
Secondly a thanks to Patryk from Bimmertech from who I bought most of the Hardware - Idrive unit, trims etc. I can highly recommend this Company.
Quick response to questions(thanks for your patience Patryk), Hardware nicely packaged and all in fine conditions.
Also thanks to MEN who did the coding(over the internet), all went smooth.
First some pictures from the dash removal.
Removal of the AC unit.
center console removed
I was very thorough with marking all connectors with small signs(as you can see from the pictures) also Instead of putting all screws, nuts and bolts in a box, I taped them to a piece of paper and wrote location on them. I know it takes a lot of time, but at the end I ended up with zero bolt/screws missing or leftover.
Steering wheel and airbag removed.
Everything removed. Only a handful bolts and screws securing the dash.
Dash removed. Took about 8-10 hours to get there.
New dash installed. Took a little fiddle, but once correctly seated it will fit 100%
Next was the wiring. There are 2 ways to do this. The easy way and the OEM‘ish way.
The easy way is to tap the wires from the CID(screen) and Idrive Controller onto the Quadra lock connector on the back of the CIC unit
I wired the CID to the Junction Box Electronic as described in the BMW WDS.
As you can see from the pictures. There is a blue and black connector on the bottom on the Junction BOX. Every picture and thread I had previously seen, had the X14272 on the left and the X14271 on the right, well guess what BMW changed it around. Don’t know when(if it‘s with LCI), but mine is a MY2010, and the X14272 is the Black to the right!!!
I could not find any info on this apart for some older pictures and threads on various forums, so it bought access to WebISTA, (30$ for 24 hours) and checked all wirings on the blue connector and afterward on the black connector and verified each wire color, and finally concluded . X14271(BLUE) on left, and X14272(BLACK) on the right.
x14272 taken apart.
In case someone else needs the pin numbers, they are provided below. (use at own risk)
The Pin assignments WILL depend on what model year your car is.
The following Pin assignments I have from the Bentley Manual(and verified via WebIsta)
Up to 03/2007:
CID X14272
Pin 1 <------------------------> Pin 37
The remaining 3 wires (ground, K_Can_L and K_Can-H) have the same Pin assignments as later models.
From 03/2007 (also verified in WebIsta)
CID X14272
Pin 1 <--------------------------> Pin 1 (Power)
Pin 3 <--------------------------> Pin 27 (Ground)
Pin 5 <--------------------------> Pin 11 (K_Can_H)
Pin 6 <--------------------------> Pin 30 (K_Can_L)
The controller:
The wiring for the Controller took a little longer, because I again wanted to connect at least the Power for the controller, to the JBE as described in BMW WDS.
The Power for the controller is found on the back of the Junction Box On a connector called X11003. This was really the most difficult part of the retrofit.
It only takes 4 Torx 20 screws to loosen the Junction Box. I did not take any pictures a this point, because I was really struggling to reach the 4 screws( and it was very Hot at that time). Once the 4 screws are removed the junction box is held back only by the wires connected to it.
The only wire to connect to the X11003 is the power from the controller.
The wire color from the x11003 is suppose to be RED/VIOLET( BMW WDS), but the connectors I bought from BMW already has a Blue wire soldered to it so I used that instead.
The pin numbers for the controller (use at own risk)
Again this depends on your model year
According to the Bentley Manual:
Up to 03/2007
Controller X11003
Pin 1 < -------------------------------> Pin 3
From 03/2007 again verified by WebIsta( via BMW TIS EPA)
Controller X11003
Pin 1 < ----------------------------------> Pin 7
As you can see the blue wire comes from the back of the Junction Box (X11003) and is spliced with the wire(yellow/black) coming from the Controller Pin 1.(and of course covered with shrinking flex)
Afterwards it wrapped it in cloth tape and used a couple of strips to secure it the the OEM harnes.
The rest of the wires from the Controller are tapped on the back of the CIC(with tap-in connectors ).
Controller Quadralock connector on CIC
Pin 2 ---------------------------------- Pin 12(ground)
Pin 3------------------------------------ Pin 11 (K-can High)
Pin 4 ----------------------------------- Pin 9 (K-can Low)
You can of course tap in on the Quadralock connector with all 8 wires (both from the CID and Idrive Controller)like I did with 3 remaining wires on the Controller, but according to Boosters retrofit guide it will throw some minor fault codes when a diagnostics- tester is applied. I haven’t tried though.
Bimmertech provided tap in connectors for all the wires, so connecting all the wires, could really have been under an hour job, if I had not gone through with all the hassle of connecting to the junction box. (But quite rewarding when the battery is reconnected and everything works without any faults!!)
Next I scheduled a coding session with MEN from Bimmertech. The session took about 45 min and the Idrive has worked flawlessly since,
Here are the final result
Best Regards
Rune