My 2005 X5 Aftermarket Radio Install Thread

[Crowz]

I need to put pics in this spot so adding this as a place holder :

Next I had to "fix" a problem my install had. The system would not power on the amplifier. There was no power coming from the seicane head unit on the wire that should turn on the amp. So I ran a wire from the seican head unit to the hatch area and spliced it into the plug they provided. This powered the white wire in the factory harness to turn the amp on when the radio came on. I will post pics of this tomorrow. Its raining right now and I don't want to get soaked taking pics tonight.

[Crowz]

Ok this next part isn't part of the proper install but in my opinion your a fool if you don't do this.....

Run the long cable provided thru the middle of the interior to the seicane head unit. Yep right up the middle over the seats and all.

Should look like this

[pearlpower]

Now if someone wanted to bypass the factory components altogether, the connection to the factory radio is not required, correct? New headunit, new amp, existing speakers, nothing more? Thanks.

[Crowz]

The reason for doing this is to make sure everything is going to work. No sense in running the cable under the carpet and such only to have a dead radio. This way you can put the old system back to working almost instantly if something isn't working right.

[Crowz]

Originally Posted by pearlpower

Now if someone wanted to bypass the factory components altogether, the connection to the factory radio is not required, correct? New headunit, new amp, existing speakers, nothing more? Thanks.

Nothing of the stock system is required other than an ibus connection spot so the steering wheel controls work.

This install will cover using everything factory wise as much as possible.

Once its done then I will add to it showing how to install the ibus module to reset mpg and such.

Then I will be doing aftermarket speakers and amps so I will show how to remove the factory amp from the equation.

[pearlpower]

Originally Posted by Crowz

Nothing of the stock system is required other than an ibus connection spot so the steering wheel controls work.

This install will cover using everything factory wise as much as possible.

Once its done then I will add to it showing how to install the ibus module to reset mpg and such.

Then I will be doing aftermarket speakers and amps so I will show how to remove the factory amp from the equation.

Great, thanks for clarifying. I'm still checking Amazon on amps, want to get my install done this weekend. My head unit shipped from HK on Monday (yesterday) and get delivered in CA. , tomorrow.

[Crowz]

Ok now we have verified its alive !

So we know we have a working radio. If you don't have a working new radio at this stage you need to figure out why and not go any further.

But if your good to go and its playing music then its time to add more toys.

Next we need to get the backup camera wires, the tv module wires and the antenna wire into the dash so they come out behind the hole for the radio.

Find the very loooong antenna included with the radio.

Squeeze the antenna connector on the back of the factory radio module we unplugged that huge plug from earlier and pull it out. Now plug the factory antenna wire into the extension wire that came with the radio and run it up front. This for testing too since we will be undoing all of these wires from the rear hatch area when we run the wires correctly to hide them.

Ok now we have the extension antenna wire, the back up camera wires and the tv module wires all up front for now along with the main radio cable wires.

To get these thru the dash and out the hole the radio mounts in we need to tape the ends together but you need to stagger them some. If you just put all the ends at the end and tape them all together it will be so fat you won't be able to thread it thru.

It should look something like this.

[Crowz]

Originally Posted by pearlpower

Great, thanks for clarifying. I'm still checking Amazon on amps, want to get my install done this weekend. My head unit shipped from HK on Monday (yesterday) and get delivered in CA. , tomorrow.

You've got to love how fast stuff ships now.

I had to wait 30 days on most of my eonon units back in the day.

[Crowz]

Now lets get that mess into the dash.

Look up under the dash on the passenger floorboard side and notice that there are two flat tabs sticking down. One on each side of the plastic cover under the dash.

Turn each 1/2 turn and that will release the plastic cover. Pry it down on the side towards the door and you will have access to what we are after.

[Crowz]

Now I used the gps antenna cable to snake these wires up because that brass fitting on the end of it had a nice weight to it to help it drop downward thru the mess in the dash and because it had a long cable.

If you do this remember to not pull to hard on it when snaking the cables up thru the dash. Feed the wires in under the dash while pulling on the gps antenna wire. Its all I had but worked great. Again its not a strong cable so be careful with it.

Here is where I fed the gps cable into. This pic actually shows the big cable already pulled thru (its hard taking pics constantly when your by yourself doing this stuff )