[Scoff123]

Thanks! Interesting - that is a different version of the PDF to the one that I have - your file is newer, produced 09/2012.
My instructions were procuded 07/2007 and I couldn't find anything newer. Here is my document
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qj6h8gfsj3...ation.pdf?dl=0

I'll have a read through your instructions and see if there is much different after 2007 - it's been a bit tricky adapting a 2005 loom and modules to my 2011 car's wiring making sure i'm connecting to the right fusebox locations. Wish i had just bought the physical crash bar and hitch on it's own and bought the wiring kit new from BMW and got the latest loom to match my cars wiring - oh well, live and learn. Hopefully it will all work out though and then we can get the coding sorted!

If the connector i've ordered from BMW isn't the right size for the green 15 pin fusebox plug, i'll give you a shout as you might have the right one in the remains of your kit.

[jamesfawcett]

Let me know! My trim still isn't all back in place and my dash still needs putting back together, but I decided to try the button to see if it pops down and thankfully it did! i was a bit worried after seeing so many of these malfunction. Mines still not coded in:


image upload

I haven't been to my unit yet but will be doing later today.

[Scoff123]

Good work! Must be a relief to see it activate and release after all that work - i know i'm looking forward to testing my hitch once i get the last connection made! It shoudl all work without coding form what i've read - the coding will just deactivate rear PDC, rear cluster fogs, and car reverse lights when a trailer/bike rack etc is plugged into the 13 pin connector. The reverse and fog lights will be used on the trailer instead.

Thanks again for posting up your document - it helped clarify which fuses i should be using as they are different fuses to the ones listed in my document due to my document only covering up to 2007.

[jamesfawcett]

That's great news!!! One thing I'm still not confident with is the twist in the wires that go to the pin adapter, the ones that you cable tie to the tow ball. They seem to be under too much tension so I'd be interested to see how yours feel, do you preload them (twist in opposite direction) before tie wrapping them? thanks for the info on what the modules do, I had no idea.

[Dann]

If you need any photos of anything let me know.
My 335i has the towbar option.

[Scoff123]

Thanks for the offer Dann

As for the wirees, with my loom being used I guess the wires were probably settled into the correct shape already, so I never noticed any undue tension on them and just went ahead and cable tied them in the 3 locations to the tow hitch.Hopefully it will be ok and not twist incorrectly when i go to use it but i'll have to check once it's functional. Here's a picture of my wiring

[jamesfawcett]

Hi Scoff123 I can't see your images when you post them, can you see mine?

I decided to have a go at coding this evening, it accepted the $3AC in the VO, but I've a few errors to debug:



post image url for forum

What did you need from the modules was it the TRC file for the AHK?

This is what mine came back with, although I wouldn't trust it just yet until it's fully working

[Scoff123]

Thanks for the update James. That's strange about my pics, I'm inserting Google photo links in my posts and they display ok for me, will have a look at the settings!

It looks like the first error message you are getting could be that your eaten files are older than the modules you have fitted - what version are your daten files? Not sure about the coapi error, need to Google that one and translate to see what that one is about.

Thanks for the trace file, I know the ece setting looks correct in the first line, not sure what the others need to be so will Google those. After adding the 3AC to your VO, did you code the pdc, frm and any other modules to default settings so they picked up any extra coding options available?

[jamesfawcett]

I did try to connect to the wrong yellow/black cable on the 51 pin connector on the FRM at first, as the instructions seemed to indicate it was the lower of the 2 black 51 pin connectors! Ended up snapping off one of the metal connectors as i withdrew it from the grey cover as it wouldnt come out, and it is well and truly stuck in there, so i've had to remove all of the other wires from it and order a replacement cover from BWW!

I was just reading back to see which files you needed I missed this above, I also nearly did the same. I think that the UK footwell module is mounted flipped to the one in the instructions. I worked out which wire it was by taking the plastic case off the module and comparing it to the images on this site: https://www.bmwgm5.com/Footwell_Module_Connections.htm

I also noticed the correct one was a thinner guage wire so I did think it was the top one, but like you said the instructions were very missleading!

[jamesfawcett]

Originally Posted by Scoff123

Thanks for the trace file, I know the ece setting looks correct in the first line, not sure what the others need to be so will Google those. After adding the 3AC to your VO, did you code the pdc, frm and any other modules to default settings so they picked up any extra coding options available?

I wrote a blank .MAN file to most of the modules yeah. I think I have quite new daten files, I read on another forum about changing the e90.eng to match the modules I have, although I might just open the correct file in tool32 next time I get another half hour to go escape and play with the car We will get there eventually!

[Scoff123]

Originally Posted by jamesfawcett

I wrote a blank .MAN file to most of the modules yeah. I think I have quite new daten files, I read on another forum about changing the e90.eng to match the modules I have, although I might just open the correct file in tool32 next time I get another half hour to go escape and play with the car We will get there eventually!

Hopefully your daten files will be new enough then. Let me know how you get on with Tool32 - when you get some alone time with the car again

Sad news - i've just finished the last connection to the fusebox, checked all modules were plugged in, and connected the battery again. Good start - green light on the release button, but when i pressed it, i heard the motor working but the tow ball did NOT release It started flashing red quickly and remains flashing red even after disconnecting the battery and connecting again.
Therefore there is a problem with the release mechanism it seems. Absolutely gutted after all that work. I'm hoping it is going to be down to low battery state, as the car did turn over very slowly when i started it up after reconnecting the battery for the first time. It has been sat there for a few weeks now so could be that there just wasn't enough juice to get the tow ball to release. I think it draws quite a few amps? Got the charger on the car currently so will try again later once it's back up to full charge. Fingers crossed.......

[jamesfawcett]

Have you seen this post, he seems to have the same issue always a red flashing light but he fixes it, I think it means its not fully engaged so I bet it could be the battery you could be right!

http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/83205-...owbar-problem/

[jamesfawcett]

...I carried on reading on that thread. I think all these electric towbars get that common problem with the wheel inside breaking, but this guy sells uprated gears that look easy to replace. I might do it on mine in advance! http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/profile/5084...%C2%B5ivistik/

[Scoff123]

Good find! Although reading through that those threads, it looks like they are talking about the fully electric towbar for the E60/E61 which rotates out electrically and back in again, as opposed to the one we have which just releases and then swings into place. Some useful info here which shows how our hitch is activated and how the motor works

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...module/XOb6BxN

Wondering if my motor went back onto the hitch in the correct orientation after i cleaned it all up and put it back together. I guess looking at the motor pic, if it was on 'wrong' i.e half way through the movement cycle when the hitch was in the parked position, it would just sort itself out after being activated a couple of times and would then pick up the correct position again.

[Scoff123]

After being on charge for several hours still no joy - the hitch release button is still flashing red constantly. Tried unplugging the module, taking the fuse out, disconnecting the battery, but as soon as i plug things back in the light is still flashing red stragiht away, before i even try pressing the button again.
Tried holding the button in for 5 seconds which is supposed to initialise the module or something, it goes solid red for a second and the motor clicks briefly but then it just starts flashing red again.

I might crack on and get the coding done in the meantime. I do know someone that has this option fitted from factory, so if they are willing, i might ask is i can try their hitch release module briefly just to see if i have a faulty module perhaps. The fact the light on the button was green initially after i connected the car battery for the very first time after finishing fitting it all - then when the module was used for the first time to activate the hitch release it failed and wont come out of that state no matter what i do.

[jamesfawcett]

Oh no! It would would be interesting to plug it in too and see if you get any fault codes?

Mine is green when fully in, it flashes red when its in the released position but then when you pull it fully upwards and click it into position it goes green again. I wonder if your's is not making contact? I wonder if you can do the same as me test access to the modules in Inpa to check?

I changed the AHM_E65 to AHM_70 in my e90 config file and it's communicating now. I think it's accepted the VO, but not sure how to tell. Dann do you have any extra options in your iDrive or anything to do with the towbar, or do you not find out until you plug in a trailor?

[david in germany]

Gentlemen, I am following your chatter closely as I am contemplating the swing hitch or the detachable on mine. All the issues that I have seen push me more and more towards the simplicity of the detachable.
Thank you for keeping this going.

[jamesfawcett]

Originally Posted by david in germany

Gentlemen, I am following your chatter closely as I am contemplating the swing hitch or the detachable on mine. All the issues that I have seen push me more and more towards the simplicity of the detachable.
Thank you for keeping this going.

You are probably in suspense as much as we are Let's hope we get two working towbars by the end of this help future people! To me I love tech on my car and I love the optional extras, I'll only be using mine occasionally for the tip runs and to pull our vintage caravan. I have a Westfalia removable towbar on my E30 but it's always loose in the boot and greasy too. It will be nice to have clean hands after deploying the towbar!

[Scoff123]

Nice E30 there James I know what you mean about keeping clean hands - i didn't want to have to crawl around fitting a removable bar, even though they don't look much work, i suffer with my knees plus I love a retrofit keeping things OEM as well, or I used to before this project!!

I understand the simplicity of the detachable option and it would certainly be a LOT less work and much more plug and play.

I've managed to get my car coded tonight though, which went well and more straightforward than I thought it would be. I added the $3AC option to my VO then wrote the new VO to my CAS and NFRM. After this, i default coded the NFRM, CAS, JBBF2, PDC and KOMBI modules. The coding has certinaly made a few changes such as on the PDC module, it changed the Anghangerkupplung setting from nicht aktiv to aktiv, so this should disable the rear PDC when a triler is plugged in.

I can now see the AHM module listed when connecting with INPA or ISTA, and have read out some info from it and it seems to be responding ok. I'm not sure if it's possible to communicate with the AHK module which controls the hitch activation or not though - James - were you able to see this module on yours?

P.S Edited earlier posts that had pictures, so hopefully they display now?

[Scoff123]

OK so car is now fully charged but still no dice and the red hitch release button is constantly flashing at me. I've tested with a meter and can see that I am getting the full 12 volts present at the hitch activation module pin 2 (red/black wire) which comes straight from the fusebox fuse 24 (15a). So the module is getting power. There is currently no voltage present on pin 1 of the module which is the output to the release motor. When i press and hold the flashing red button in for 5 seconds, there is a sudden spike up to around 10 volts for a second then back to zero, so assume the button and module are trying to re-initialise the hitch at this point and there is a faint click/clunk from teh hitch/motor area behind the bumper. It seems like the module is working, as if any of the required signals to the module were not present to allow the motor to work, such as the boot open signal, then the voltage would NOT be coming out of pin 1 and going to the motor.

Can't think of anything else to check on the release module side, as it seems ok, especially as the light was green originally after first connection of everything. At the weekend I will swap it out with a known working one from my mates E91 and try my module in his car just to confirm.

So that leaves either the motor at fault, or the atcual hitch mechanism.
I know the motor does work to some degree, as when it was off the bar during cleanup, i applied 12v to the motor pins and i worked for a few seconds then stopped, then i switched the wires the other way and again it worked for a few seconds then stopped, so seemed like it was completing it's cycle one way, then the other. I'm still trying to figure out from the diagrams on TIS if that is actually how the motor works, or if it just spins one way and just repeats the cycle at each activation.

Anyone have any ideas on how it actually releases the hitch? Here's a pic of my hitch which shows the spindle in the middle with a bar running arcoss the end. I assume its this bar that is either pulled down or pushed up as the motor spins and the lobe inside rotates? And this pulls/pushes the metal 'balls' away from their locating dimples so the hitch can swing round 180 degrees and then sinks back into the opposite dimples? If that makes any sense???

[jamesfawcett]

Can you get to this screen on your INPA? I'm finding it difficult on mine all being in German but it seems to give readouts of the status of it? This is where it is on the menus F6 then F4:




upload image

Also what module do you have? I had to change my inpa configs to use AHM_70 but I'm wondering if BMW have given me the correct module, I am also one module short and a few other bits like the button surround but I probably left it too long now. Was your module the AHM_E65? I might try the other one from the scrap car.

[jamesfawcett]

Not sure if your error or mine is the worst
This is persistent on mine even after clearing. Going to check my power connections tomorrow and fuses.

F EH LE R S PE I C HE R E SE N
---------------------------------------
Date: 10.11.2017 20:08:56
JobStatus: OK
Variant: AHM_70.PRG
Version: 2,000
-------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------
RESULT: 1 error in the fault memory!
-------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------
0x9DFB AHM terminal 30f_a: power supply missing / interrupted
Mileage 49448 km
Error rate: 1
Logistics counter: -1
implausible signal or value
Test conditions met
Error currently available and already saved
Error would not cause a warning lamp to light up
Error code: 9D FB 68 01 18 25
================================================== =============================
################################################## #####################################
This content is temporarily stored in the following text file .. \ inpa \ bin \ fs_lesen.tmp
################################################## #####################################

Found some useful info here on the terminal30 power connections from here: https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...odule/4aYQbWfX

Load circuit Voltage supply Explanation
Version 1

(European version)

Version 2

( not European version)

1 Terminal30F_b Side light or rear light, left Side light or rear light
2 Terminal30F_b Rear fog light Side light or rear light
3 Terminal30F_b Turn indicator, left Brake light and turn indicator, left
4 Terminal30F_a Turn indicator, right Brake light and turn indicator, right
5 Terminal30F_a Brake light Inoperative
6 Terminal30F_b Reversing lights Inoperative
7 Terminal30F_a Side light or rear light, right Reversing lights