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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > AUDIO/VIDEO + BLUETOOTH + Electronics/Alarm/Software > Sirius in pre-LCI E9x - tips



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      07-31-2018, 02:23 PM   #1
GoDores
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Sirius in pre-LCI E9x - tips

I finally got around to installing Sirius last night in my '08 E91 Idrive. There are some great threads on the process here, but also some info I wasn't able to find anywhere and had to figure out for myself.

First read this thread, and the PDF linked in the first post: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1915

The below only applies to non-LCI cars. LCI had Sirius built into the head unit (all Idrive versions; optional on non Idrive before 2011) and needs activation and coding, and a new head unit if you have a non Idrive head unit without the option. If you don't have the 693 Satellite Tuner Preparation option, there are a number of additional steps detailed here: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10536

You need a Sirius tuner, bracket, fan, two M4 screws to hold the fan to the bracket, and three M5 screws to hold the head unit to the bracket. The bracket slips into tabs on one side and is held on by existing fasteners on the other so no extra hardware is needed to install the bracket. The part numbers are on RealOEM at https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=65_1579.

There are a lot of part numbers for the tuner. From newest to oldest:
65129278266
65129192274
65129192273
65129162994
65209162993
65209142852
65209142850
65129119346
65120418347
65120406920

I wasn't able to find a -266, but I got a used -274 on eBay that works fine. I don't know if there's a difference in capability between the different updates.

At least on wagons, the bay where the tuner installs is right behind the rear seats and is covered by a carpeted piece. To remove it, pull out the trunk pad, remove the liner for the storage bay (four plastic rivets at the corners), then pull up the rear seat bottom with a firm tug up on each side at the front and move it forward. The three plastic rivets holding the front edge of the bay cover are behind the back of the seat bottom. With the rear seat backs unlocked, there's enough room to remove the rivets and pull the front edge of the pad up from behind the seats. Underneath is the TCU on the right and the empty bay for the tuner on the left. There should be three cables wrapped up in the front of the bay - a large black MOST connector, a pink antenna connector, and a small black fan power connector.

You need to physically install the tuner, or at least connect the cables to it, before you rewire the MOST cables behind the left rear seat bolster. Otherwise you'll get an SOS failure error and may have other audio components stop working. It doesn't matter if you do the coding before or after the physical installation.

The bracket is oriented such that the tuner is above it and the fan is to the rear of the car. In that orientation, two tabs slip into metal brackets on the left side, and you can remove the two 10mm bolts holding the left side of the TCU in, and reinstall them through both the TCU and Sirius brackets to secure the right side.

The biggest issue I had was that my MOST connectors were not at all organized the way the BMW documentation said they would be (and I'm virtually certain they came like that from the factory). In mine, the "active" block, X14255 was on top of the "not in use" X14280 block, and the order of the fiber cables wasn't the same either.

The connectors are under the rear driver side seat bolster, which just pulls out towards the front of the car. You need a tiny (~1/16") flat blade screwdriver to move the cables around. Pry the cap (the part with the numbers printed on it) off either side of both blocks. To remove a fiber cable, very gently pry up on the tab with the screwdriver from the side (perpendicular to the cable) until the cable pulls out. They lock into place automatically when reinserted. It'd be very easy to break the tabs with too much force and then the cables wouldn't be held in the blocks.

The easy way to figure out what goes where is to remove each fiber cable from the top of each block (the blocks are installed facing down; "top" means "the side closer to the roof of the car) and shine a flashlight into the end. Look at the large black connector that connects to the tuner. When you see the light at the end of the tuner, note which number in the block that is. On the other block, shift any fiber cables in positions 2-4 on the top of the block up one number (so in the 3-5 positions). Then install the cable that goes to the tuner in position 2. Move any cables on the bottom of that same block up one number so that position 1 on the bottom of the block is open. Remove the cable in the number you noted in the bottom of the first block, then install it in the empty position 1 on the second block.

Go by the tiny numbers embossed on the blocks. It's easy to get turned upside down and move the fiber cables down a number instead of up. If you end up with any cable in the top of either block without a cable opposite it in the bottom, or vice versa, something's wrong. At this point you should plug the large connector into the tuner and start the ignition. If you don't have any errors, the wiring should be correct.

For coding, all I had to do was add option 655 and remove option 693 in my CAS, NFRM, and KOMBI modules, and set SDARS to "aktiv" in CAPPL. "SAT" then shows up as a top-level menu option under Entertainment in Idrive, between AM and CD. If it's not there, the issue is coding. If it's there but greyed out, the issue is with the install/wiring, and you probably have other errors and things not working.

Hope this helps someone. Sorry for no pictures. I thought I'd be following a pretty straightforward guide and didn't think I'd have anything to add. Everything is pretty accessible so if there's something someone wants to see, I can probably take a picture.
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