What is this plug?

[wilky]

While doing my latest mod, (backup camera), I came upon this in the picture. Any one out there know what it's for? You can see the OBDII port right in front of it.

[Qsilver7]

Off the top of my head...it looks like the "screen/cover" for the vehicles gong/chime (see #2 in the diagram below).

I've never looked for it on my X5 (yet)...but it has a similar design as the OBC's gong/chime" that has been on every BMW I've owned since 1985.

You can do a quick test by inserting your key into the ignition, then kneel down (with the door open) and see if the warning sound is coming from it.

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by Qsilver7

Off the top of my head...it looks like the "screen/cover" for the vehicles gong/chime (see #2 in the diagram below).

I've never looked for it on my X5 (yet)...but it has a similar design as the OBC's gong/chime" that has been on every BMW I've owned since 1985.

You can do a quick test by inserting your key into the ignition, then kneel down (with the door open) and see if the warning sound is coming from it.

Quicksilver is correct.

[wilky]

Nope, that isn't it. I had the panel off and there is a bunch of wires going to it. If needed I can pull the panel again and get a picture for you. This is a more head on pic.

[TerminatorX5]

this is gong, and it has multiple wires going there, as this one generates gongs for different systems using separate lines for each sound frequency... very old technology in today's world, when you can modulate needed sounds over two simple wires... maybe it is done so for some kind of backup redundancy???

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by wilky

Nope, that isn't it. I had the panel off and there is a bunch of wires going to it. If needed I can pull the panel again and get a picture for you. This is a more head on pic.

I have the same part in the same place. I checked my X to be sure what it is. With key in and door open it was chiming. I took a cloth and covered the part you have circled and the chime was muffled. I would say that is conclusive.

The wires are are from all the different conditions that initiate the chime, the door open with the key on only being one of them..

[wilky]

Thanks everyone. I guess that's it. Seems really old school for an advanced, for its time, vehicle. I assumed that the gong sounds were through the stereo speakers like most other vehicles.
Thanks again.

[Qsilver7]

...Seems really old school for an advanced, for its time, vehicle. I assumed that the gong sounds were through the stereo speakers like most other vehicles.

Umm...the 2006 e53 with onBoard Nav...still has a cassette tape player. Even though the last few model years of the e53 moved into the 21st century with Bluetooth and xDrive etc...it was the last generation BMW that was akin to the e38/e39/e46 models...thus it has a bit of the old & a bit of the new. In fact, the old style mechanical gear shift lever is one reason I did consider the e53...its the last BMW model that takes you from things that were developed in the early 1990s up to the next generation of BMW technology. The instrument cluster layout, gear shift lever, IHKA, accessory panel, and many of the buttons & icons harken back to the late 1980s - 1990s.

The e70 X5 is the start of all new technology...from the iDrive...to the MOST communication bus...to the "chime through the speakers" as you mentioned.

[electricalserv x5]

a speaker.................wow ,who knew.