tracking down a hidden gps gsm vhf device

[omodos]

Well, had a few mins to kill at lunchtime and thought I’d root around see if I could find anything that resembles a gps tracker that’s installed in a concealed location, and I want to remove from X5.


TurboBimmer said check the rear, when I opened the cover that gives you access to the fusebox compartment I found 2 thin wires red/black wrapped in black insulating tape(see pics) …didn’t have time to rip everything out and see where they lead to, but could it be possible these black and red are power to the gps or to the gps backup battery? Just struck me that the insulating tape was not wrapped in way the bmw factory would have wrapped it.....don’t ask why I want GPS tracker out….

[LVP]

Looks fishy, I agree. And since you said not to, why?

[StephenVA]

Rephrase the question to:

Business issues (job) or pleasure issues (little head)?

[omodos]

Originally Posted by LVP

Looks fishy, I agree. And since you said not to, why?

QUOTE=LVP;1016855]Looks fishy, I agree. And since you said not to, why? [/QUOTE]

Hahahah LVP now seriously does the black tape look like a 3rd party tape job? No no, no paranoid spouse tracking me either , I want to disconnect tracker cos :

a.dont need trakcer (car theft is very very rare out here, I leave the car unlocked at night and not afraid to post this info here)

b.the backup battery for this device (NON rechargeable-and has to be replaced by the tracking companies own engineers for security reasons only by them! and they can only know where tracker is-joke) must have long gone bad as tracker was installed in jan 2006!

c.install was done in the UK, car is now permanently in cyprus, so unless I pay for a plane ticket and man hours for an engineer getting over here I am not gonna get this removed unless I find it.

d. turbobimmers post on his battery power drain caused by a boomerang tracker gps battery shorting that was hidden under his rear seats is making me want to find this and tear out my tracker even more......

Previous owner has no idea where it may have been installed....complaints I have read on pistonheads site say they arent really that well hidden...so will take a good look over the weekend in full light ....anyone know where engineers would have bothered to tap into a steady 12v sourcefor this darn device?

[LVP]

Awesome. No sense having a parasite on the battery. Keep us posted - would be neat to see where they stashed it. The one under the seat wasn't too stealth seeing as it takes little effort to lift the seat.

[omodos]

yup will keep ya posted....not tried lifting the seat afraid will break something...but may have to resort to this, mad thing is I checked the fuse area of a 4.4 e53 and that seemed to be more of a mess than mine as had woofer etc installed ...then again didnt see the wires that I showed in the pics attached....

[powers1]

Hi Omodos.
Just got your PM.I took these photos now (night time)but mine has the subwoofer!Any use you?Remember that mine is 2003 pre-facelift,so may be different but all the wiring on mine is neat

[Blackjetvette97]

Hi all,
omodos, I have pretty much the exact same vehicle as you(mine is the I, not d version). My production month is exact same and color version is grey on grey too. I took this pic of my fusebox compartment for ya. I saw NO strange wires, wrapped in elect tape like yours. All my wires have a fabric-type wrap on them.

[diyanich]

I am wondering,what would make you think you have one.

Update : I just read it. Disregard

[SMOKEY53]

Why don't you just cut the wires?

Unless it's banging around over bumps, or you feel it weighs anymore than a few hundred grams and is affecting your power to weight ratio, just cut the wires and know for sure that it's dead.