[sparkyblue]

I'm a bit perplexed here, as I have recently purchased a 2010 E82 135i equipped with CIC. Unfortunately, the original owner did not opt for 6FL (USB/AUX) or Bluetooth Calling; thus I am missing ANY MULF/TCU modules in the trunk.

I am familiar with retrofitting Combox, as I did a CCC->CIC+Combox upgrade on my 2007 E90 335xi and it was fairly straightforward.

However, as my 2010 135i does not have any MULF/TCU modules in the trunk at all, there is NO wiring for the MOST loop or any other connections.

Does anyone know if it's feasible to retrofit either a 6FL OR Combox in my car?

I have seen some info where people mention it would be much easier to install just a 6FL by tapping into the CIC wiring up by the glovebox (instead of installing a MULF/TCF in the trunk).

I am aware that doing a Combox retrofit will likely require installing the entire harness (with everything in the bundle) to the trunk... thus I would be content with JUST a 6FL (and using my Tune2Air).

Note: I have a 2008 135i which I've totaled, so I have a entire parts car I can rip the harness from... my 2008 135i has both the wiring in the trunk + MULF/TCU.

Does anyone know where all the wiring in the trunk for the MULF/TCU leads to? And if it's feasible to retrofit the harness into my 2010?

VIN: VK81096

PACKAGES:
Editions And Packages
P337A M Sports Package
S710A M Leather Steering Wheel
S704A M Sports Suspension

Comfort And Interior Equipment
S403A Glass Roof Electrical
S423A Floor Mats Velours
S428A Warning Triangle And First Aid Kit
S442A Cup Holder
S459A Seat Adjuster Electric With Memory
S481A Sports Seat
S4MGA Int Mouldings Aluminium Glaciersilver
S473A Armrest Front

Multimedia
S609A Navigation System Professional
S620A Voice Control
S655A Satellite Tuner
S677A HiFi System Professional DSP
S697A AreaCode 1 For DVD
S6UHA Traffic Information
S645A BMW US Radio

Driver Assistance And Lightning
S502A Headlight Cleaning System
S507A Park Distance Control PDC Rear
S521A Rain Sensor
S522A Xenon Light
S524A Adaptive Headlights
S534A Automatic Air Conditioning
S540A Cruise Control
S570A Reinforced Power Supply

Wheels And Drive
S249A Multifunction F Steering Wheel
S2MRA BMW LA Wheel Dual Spoke 261
S2VBA Tire Pressure Display

Environment And Safety
S840A High Speed Synchronisation
S863A Retailer Directory Europe
S880A Onboard Vehicle Literature English
S8SCA Telematics Access Requestcountryspec
S8SPA Control Unit COP
S321A Exterior Parts In Vehicle Color
S823A Hotclimate Version
S845A Acoustic Belt Warning
S850A ZUSAETZL TANKFUELLUNG EXPORT
S853A Language Version English
S876A Radio Frequency 315 MHz

Individual Equipment
S760A High Gloss Shadow Line
S775A Headlining Anthracite

Other Equipment
S1CAA Selection Of COP Relevant Vehicles

[smass]

Does your car have the most hub in the rear seat area? That would get fiber most of the way to the trunk. You can get what you need from the donor car easily.

Regarding the rest of the wiring, it goes all over the place. The good news is you don't need most of it for either MULF or Combox. The only required wires are the bluetooth antenna, the 3 microphone wires and power/ground. Your tune2air can live in the trunk with an ebay aux. Just remove the pins from the white connetor and put them in the combox or mulf.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Car-AUX-USB...oAAOSw6qReOHTv

The link below will show where the factory setup gets power/ground and so on. ``

http://www.zen104526.zen.co.uk/320d/...trofit%201.pdf

But if you are OCD and want to do it the factory way, start taking apart the parts car wiring from the back forward. Use a razor blade to carefully remove the needed wires from the bundles. At a minimum, you will need to do this for the bluetooth antenna wire.

[sparkyblue]

Originally Posted by smass

Does your car have the most hub in the rear seat area? That would get fiber most of the way to the trunk. You can get what you need from the donor car easily.

Regarding the rest of the wiring, it goes all over the place. The good news is you don't need most of it for either MULF or Combox. The only required wires are the bluetooth antenna, the 3 microphone wires and power/ground. Your tune2air can live in the trunk with an ebay aux. Just remove the pins from the white connetor and put them in the combox or mulf.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Car-AUX-USB...oAAOSw6qReOHTv

The link below will show where the factory setup gets power/ground and so on. ``

http://www.zen104526.zen.co.uk/320d/...trofit%201.pdf

But if you are OCD and want to do it the factory way, start taking apart the parts car wiring from the back forward. Use a razor blade to carefully remove the needed wires from the bundles. At a minimum, you will need to do this for the bluetooth antenna wire.

I should have a MOST hub somewhere in the mid-rear of the car, as my 2010 135i has a Top-HIFI Amp somewhere back there.

Damn, I really wish BMW would stop being cheap with these cost-cutting measures (removing trunk key, alarm pre-wiring, telephone pre-wiring, etc).

Where would I find the Bluetooth antenna? My vehicle did not come with Bluetooth telephone or anything Bluetooth related from the factory.

Similarly, where do I find the microphone wires? While my car did come with S620A (Voice Control) package from the factory; unfortunately BMW moved the voice control logic from the MULF unit to the CIC head unit in 2010, so my car does not have MULF or wiring for it in the trunk. Despite what the document you linked says (thank you!! very helpful still), which mentioned if I had S620A package, it would have MULF in the trunk (applied only 2008 models).

I am not OCD, and I honestly just want to be able to use my Tune2Air to be able to control songs via steering wheel controls. I can forego Combox (Bluetooth A2DP), and just live with Tune2Air... I honestly want the simplest install possible, so I'm trying to grasp your method of getting the eBay AUX/USB parts and connecting it to the Combox/MULF.

So you're saying I can retrofit the Combox/MULF with just: MOST loop, Bluetooth Antenna (for what? and where do I connect this to?), 3 mic pins (again, where do I find these?), and power/ground?

[smass]

Sorry but I don't know component locations for the E82. I only know E90 and E70. Taking the wrecked car apart will answer most of your questions but it is not required.

So let's make this as simple as possible for MULF with tune2 air only (no handsfree calling over Bluetooth). Take the new car apart and find the most loop. Then steal what fiber you need from the old car. Go on eBay and order the aux wiring. The 3 pins in the white eBay connector can be removed from the housing and put in the MULF housing to make the connection for aux audio in. Look at combox retrofits DIYs to see what the pins are. Mulf pin locations are shown in combix diys. One is attached below.

Run generic power and ground wire to the fuse block and use a fues tap. Steal the wiring/pins from your wrecked car to splice to.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Pack-12V-...e/233449717749


Option 1
If you want combox without handsfree calling, do above but get an eBay generic BMW Bluetooth antenna. The BT antenna can also live in the trunk.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Carplay-App...temCondition=3

Option 2
If you want to add hands free voice calls to either of the above you will need a mic. Something like this will work. I am not sure if 4m is long enough so you may need to extend them. Once again, remove the pins from the green connector and insert them into the appropriate holes of the MULF or Combox connector.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-Car-Blu...W/331825406233

[btslo]

Originally Posted by smass

Sorry but I don't know component locations for the E82. I only know E90 and E70. Taking the wrecked car apart will answer most of your questions but it is not required.

So let's make this as simple as possible for MULF with tune2 air only (no handsfree calling over Bluetooth). Take the new car apart and find the most loop. Then steal what fiber you need from the old car. Go on eBay and order the aux wiring. The 3 pins in the white eBay connector can be removed from the housing and put in the MULF housing to make the connection for aux audio in. Look at combox retrofits DIYs to see what the pins are. Mulf pin locations are shown in combix diys. One is attached below.

Run generic power and ground wire to the fuse block and use a fues tap. Steal the wiring/pins from your wrecked car to splice to.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Pack-12V-...e/233449717749


Option 1
If you want combox without handsfree calling, do above but get an eBay generic BMW Bluetooth antenna. The BT antenna can also live in the trunk.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Carplay-App...temCondition=3

Option 2
If you want to add hands free voice calls to either of the above you will need a mic. Something like this will work. I am not sure if 4m is long enough so you may need to extend them. Once again, remove the pins from the green connector and insert them into the appropriate holes of the MULF or Combox connector.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-Car-Blu...W/331825406233

Thank you for this. I'm in a similar situation with a 05 E91. Will replace the CCC with CIC and combox. But just recently realized I probaby don't have a TCU or MULF in the back (EU model, no BT/USB specced) and would have issues with wiring in the combox. Then found out some people mounted them behind the glovebox.

Now I don't need anything more than BT audio streaming and calls and a functioning AUX port. (I have the telematics combox but that's useless to me)

I've searched a bit and came to the conclusion that most if not all communication between CIC and combox goes through the MOST interface (orange/green optical cable) Could I just buy a cable and plug one end in the quadlock connector that goes into CIC and the other one to combox? (situated in dash so no long wiring to trunk) I have a CD changer in the trunk though, that might be connected with the optical cable with the CCC currently, but I don't need it at all so I could break that loop? (connect CIC-combox only with new optical cable)

Then I can take the power and ground from the fuse box to power the combox?

For aux, pin the 4 wires into the combox connector, armrest usb uses a fakra connector.

Plug bluetooth antenna into combox with fakra connector.

Mount microphone into dome slot, pin the 3 wires into combox connector (mic+, mic-, shield)

Code the options.

Is there anything else needed? Do I need to splice or remove any wires from the quadlock CIC connector? Since looking at the pinout there are mic and aux connections: https://pinoutguide.com/Car-Stereo-A...n_pinout.shtml

Will I get any errors if I don't connect the telematics wires to the combox?

[smass]

Originally Posted by btslo

Thank you for this. I'm in a similar situation with a 05 E91. Will replace the CCC with CIC and combox. But just recently realized I probaby don't have a TCU or MULF in the back (EU model, no BT/USB specced) and would have issues with wiring in the combox. Then found out some people mounted them behind the glovebox.

Now I don't need anything more than BT audio streaming and calls and a functioning AUX port. (I have the telematics combox but that's useless to me)

I've searched a bit and came to the conclusion that most if not all communication between CIC and combox goes through the MOST interface (orange/green optical cable) Could I just buy a cable and plug one end in the quadlock connector that goes into CIC and the other one to combox? (situated in dash so no long wiring to trunk) I have a CD changer in the trunk though, that might be connected with the optical cable with the CCC currently, but I don't need it at all so I could break that loop? (connect CIC-combox only with new optical cable)

Then I can take the power and ground from the fuse box to power the combox?

For aux, pin the 4 wires into the combox connector, armrest usb uses a fakra connector.

Plug bluetooth antenna into combox with fakra connector.

Mount microphone into dome slot, pin the 3 wires into combox connector (mic+, mic-, shield)

Code the options.

Is there anything else needed? Do I need to splice or remove any wires from the quadlock CIC connector? Since looking at the pinout there are mic and aux connections: https://pinoutguide.com/Car-Stereo-A...n_pinout.shtml

Will I get any errors if I don't connect the telematics wires to the combox?

Since you have a CD changer in the trunk, I think you have a Most junction block behind the rear seat. That fiber can be re-patched to allow you to add additional fiber for the combox. See attached pdf for how to re-patch/add. The process is the same for any MOST module.

You won't need to splice into the quadlock. As far as power/ground, you should be able to get that from the CD changer.

Telematic wires are not needed. Errors go away once you code to remove those unused options.

[btslo]

Originally Posted by smass

Since you have a CD changer in the trunk, I think you have a Most junction block behind the rear seat. That fiber can be re-patched to allow you to add additional fiber for the combox. See attached pdf for how to re-patch/add. The process is the same for any MOST module.

You won't need to splice into the quadlock. As far as power/ground, you should be able to get that from the CD changer.

Telematic wires are not needed. Errors go away once you code to remove those unused options.

Could I just throw out the CD changer and use its fiber connection and power to connect the combox? Just hope the USB/aux armrest cable will be long enough.

[smass]

Originally Posted by btslo

Could I just throw out the CD changer and use its fiber connection and power to connect the combox? Just hope the USB/aux armrest cable will be long enough.

That should work in theory. There is not a lot of info on using that wire so there my be surprises.

[Nickco43]

Originally Posted by sparkyblue

I'm a bit perplexed here, as I have recently purchased a 2010 E82 135i equipped with CIC. Unfortunately, the original owner did not opt for 6FL (USB/AUX) or Bluetooth Calling; thus I am missing ANY MULF/TCU modules in the trunk.

I am familiar with retrofitting Combox, as I did a CCC->CIC+Combox upgrade on my 2007 E90 335xi and it was fairly straightforward.

However, as my 2010 135i does not have any MULF/TCU modules in the trunk at all, there is NO wiring for the MOST loop or any other connections.

Does anyone know if it's feasible to retrofit either a 6FL OR Combox in my car?

I have seen some info where people mention it would be much easier to install just a 6FL by tapping into the CIC wiring up by the glovebox (instead of installing a MULF/TCF in the trunk).

I am aware that doing a Combox retrofit will likely require installing the entire harness (with everything in the bundle) to the trunk... thus I would be content with JUST a 6FL (and using my Tune2Air).

Note: I have a 2008 135i which I've totaled, so I have a entire parts car I can rip the harness from... my 2008 135i has both the wiring in the trunk + MULF/TCU.

Does anyone know where all the wiring in the trunk for the MULF/TCU leads to? And if it's feasible to retrofit the harness into my 2010?

VIN: VK81096

Here is what I would do.

Parts:

Used Combox
Used Combox Bracket
Used USB port
Used Mic (Buying a full E90 front dome light is cheaper than buying just the mic. I would spend about $25)
Aftermarket Most Cable
1x OEM USB HSD Cable- 61119129360
1x 3 Pin Connector- 61138377072
6x Contact bushings- 61130005197
Combox Connector- 61136954568
Combox Connector Sleeve- 61139130832
Microphone Cable (I think this will be long enough
18 gauge power wire
In line fuse
Wire loop conenctors


The Combox needs power, ground, Mic +, Mic -, Mic shield; Thats it. Everything else is for BMW Assist which is dead. Hook up the aftermarket most lines to the most block and run them to the trunk.



To make the mic harness solder three contact bushings to each end of the mic wire. Run this to the dome light. The mic uses that three pin connector. Ground can come from one of the two 10mm nuts that hold down the Combox bracket. Solder on a loop to a 18 gauge black wire and solder on the thicker contact bushing. Power can be had using a loop and bolt it to the internal nut in the IBS block on top of the battery. Make sure to solder in an internal 10 amp fuse and once again a thicker contact bushing. Pin the five wires to the combox connector, run the USB, code and there you go. It is not too hard.

[btslo]

Originally Posted by smass

That should work in theory. There is not a lot of info on using that wire so there my be surprises.

Think I will do it similar to this, just use combox instead of dension unit:

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showt...&highlight=6fl

And throw out the cd changer instead of keeping it in the MOST loop (weight reducto cuz).

I see that combox has two power pins, I guess I should connect both to +?

2 30 Power+ 5A
1 30 Power+ 10A

(https://www.e90post.com/forums/showp...72&postcount=4)

[smass]

Originally Posted by btslo

Think I will do it similar to this, just use combox instead of dension unit:

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showt...&highlight=6fl

And throw out the cd changer instead of keeping it in the MOST loop (weight reducto cuz).

I see that combox has two power pins, I guess I should connect both to +?

2 30 Power+ 5A
1 30 Power+ 10A

(https://www.e90post.com/forums/showp...72&postcount=4)

No need to power both pins. Start with 2, if that does not work, switch to 1.

[btslo]

Originally Posted by smass

No need to power both pins. Start with 2, if that does not work, switch to 1.

Just an update, the combox holes line up with the CD changer one, no adapter needed: (well two are enough to secure it)



Managed to repin everything from the CD changer harness to combox since it uses the same pins, only used + and GND and the optic connections.

Coded the options, connected and working streaming:



Still waiting on the antenna though, I get skipping unless the phone is next to combox. And also the mic for BT calls, will use same pins to plug them into the combox harness.