I have my X5 4.4 Sport but queries too.

[AW8]

Hi all,

At long last I have found a car and very happy.

Black Sapphire 2002 X5 4.4i Sport with 16:9 comms/tv, boards, sunroof, xenons.

Only prob with my UK car is that it was missing the original phone ,bmw motorola V50) also the plug/jack that goes into the actual phone is damaged. I need to get a BMW dual band V50 which is just a case of ebay shopping and I also need to get a replacement phone cable - being sorted hopefully.

I am aware that the BMW phone is essentially a standard Motorola V50 with some firmware installed allowing display of SMS and caller info but importantly not draining car battery when left in car with ignition off if phone battery not in car charged 100%. I have found the post from bruciebonuz re the process for getting firmware added to a non bmw V50 so I have some flexibility.

If anyone on here has a UK compatable BMW V50 for sale feel free to drop me a PM.

[AW8]

I mentioned elsewhere I have had some issues with my phone set up, ( as stated before mangled V50 jack and no V50).

Well so much for me hopefully getting this sorted..........I think I am going to have a nosebleed LOL.

I had seen a listing on ebay for an E39 armrest cover with Motorola V50 clip and the all important cable. I phoned the seller who lives over an hour away and he told me although the part numbers were different the E39 lead he had would be the same configuration as for my E53. I managed to removed the 3 torque screws under the lid to expose the relevant bits, unplugged the phone module (?) & checked the wires. We ascertained (on the telephone) that the wires were in our respective sockets in the same configuration and the wirelooms appeared identical. Today I met with the seller & we dismantled the arm rest and after much fiddling we managed to get the phone clip out using the 2 cards (as in guide on here)...................It was at this point that a major problem became apparent.The cable from the E39 wasn't going to be long enough to reach the respective socket(s)/plug(s) under the rear centre console, (this was visibly apparent despite having not managed to work out how to dismantle it !).

The whole cable thing appears to be an odd design. Looking at it you would imagine a jack/socket under the actual phone clip but in reality the section of loom comes as one whole section consisting of - at the top end a V50 jack leading to the coiled cord and then splitting into strands which trail down the sides of the centre console rods/pistons and into oblivion. Now perhaps stupidly (guy had travelled & I felt guilty the time he gave), I agreed to take the E39 cable/loom for £20 ( plus £10 for upgrading me to V27.1 on my Mk3 Nav). The suggestion was I can get an auto electrician to cut my cable, (with the mangled V50 jack plug), in the area that runs under the phone clip and cause the cables to be properly soldered/sealed/joined/insulated therefore replacing the final staright piece of cable and the coiled cable and making the cable functional again. My wife has pointed ( with good reason) that I may have made a mistake in buying this lead and in fact I should now go and do what I should have done in the first place and buy a proper one ,(this comes with whole phone clip and is of the correct lenth and unique to the E53).

Despite searching I cant see any pics or instructions re how to get under the rear centre console in order to replace the whole section of loom which is what I will need to do to replace the whole thing properly.

Is it easy to remove the rear centre box to access the multi plugs in order to unplug the this lead/loom section and replace it ?

or

Will it be easier to get an car hifi or phone shop to splice the 2 leads together as described earlier. (I am inclined towards getting a whole new lead and getting rid of my recently accquired E39 lead and one of the E53 V50 phone clips after doing this) ?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Still early days of ownership and steep learning curves at moment and wishing I'd driven it to the dealer said fix it and handed over extra funds.
At the end of the day I took the word of a guy,(bmw owner and mechanic who has done his own bluetooth install on E39), who seemed to be acting in good faith when he said he thought it would fit.

Even though I have to sort out the cable I still also need to source a BMW V50 - none recently on ebay, ( including germany), except for one but the seller wasn't accepting paypal and failed to reply to 2 relevant and important queries so it sold to another ebayer. There are bmw firmware equipped V50's on ebay germany but not genuine bmw and I want the car to be as it should have left the factory & that ideally means with a bmw phone.

No rush but keen to get it right ideally in coming weeks not months.

As with my car good things come to those that wait.....

Hopefully my detailed post will serve to help others of pitfalls rather than just appearing as a help me post with nothing in return.

[UCrewX5]

Here are the instructions to remove the center console. You might want to check with Martin Bishop at http://bimmernav.com to see if he can source the cable extensions you are looking for.

http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/i...le-bmw-x5.html

[AW8]

Thankyou on both counts - appreciated. If i do go for a splice/join I will ensure battery disconnected to avoid any shorting out etc. emailed martin for advice and/or cable query.

[AW8]

The email address as the website [email protected] does not seem to work.........................I just got this :

Please note, the email you tried to send with the subject FW: lead advice please was not addressed correctly, and was not delivered. Please check your email address and resend your email.

This email address [email protected] is an unmonitored account.

Regards,
Bimmernav.com

[AW8]

sorry - My point was does anyone have another email address for martinbishop or is my email pop3 playing up.

[AW8]

please ignore this email question I have found a contact link