Homelink/compass retrofit

[momox5]

Hi everyone, I did a ton of searching on this and unfortunately can't find anything specific to the e70 that could help. My 2011 X5 has a ton of options that make daily use of the car very convenient but one that I don't have and has been bothering me for all these years is the homelink mirror. I got one from a 2013 e70 on eBay and from what I read the wiring is all there. It turns out that is not the case in mine (68k msrp and not even autodimm mirror!). There are retrofit kits for the e90s and X1's even e30's but nothing that I can find for ours. Anyone know how to do it or even where to find wiring diagrams for the mirror? The harness to the windshield has four wires only, 2 go to the rain sensor and the other to go to the mirror connector for the led light. The new mirror I have has 7 pins in the connector.

Any help is much appreciated-thank you

[Scott ZHP]

You positive the connector isn't taped back somewhere up there? I added rear footwell lamps to my E53 and the connectors were taped back to the harness; but they were there. Have you checked RealOEM to see how many harnesses were used for the '11 E70?

[smassey321]

You may be able to get the E90 retrofit harness to work. You really only need to hook up 4 additional wires inside the overhead console. Check out the PDF wiring diagram at the link below. See if you can figure out where the 4 wires on the overhead console hook up. If you have the same components/wiring/open pins you may get lucky. You will be adding the missing wiring to your current mirror wiring.

The Rear View Mirror Guide

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...s/61120434330/

[momox5]

Scott, I didn't see anything taped when I opened the overhead console last night, I figured I better look online for some guidance before pulling and tugging on harnesses. I will look deeper later today as I found a couple of post that mentioned e39's having the harness tucked away behind the headliner. I will try realOEM if I can figure out how to do the search that way.

[momox5]

smassey321, I almost bought the e90 harness last night but I wanted to at least find what the pins in the new mirror were so I can connect it correctly. I am now obsessed with this as it seems to be such a simple retrofit for other models, except for this one!

[momox5]

Ordered the kit from ecstuning. They said it is not meant for the X5 but oh well! I'd rather try than stare at this mirror on my desk everyday.

[Qsilver7]

Hmmm...interesting if the harness is NOT there. I say that because many years ago...I purchased a 1995 (e34) 525iT and it didn't have an auto dimming rear view mirror. After removing the sunroof access panel...I looked & poked around above the headliner and found the harness tied/taped up approximately over the driver's sunroof visor.

As others have mentioned...a lot of the non used wiring harness are tucked & taped off (very well sometimes). It's more advantages (economically) to create a wiring harness that is "inclusive" even though the vehicle may not be optioned for everything the harness is designed for. That way BMW doesn't have to have multiple harnesses for different optioned vehicles as the come down the line...just the one...then as the option is added...the wiring harness is already there to hook it up.

[momox5]

I did some investigating in there yesterday and couldn't find anything that was not in use. there were some wires going to both sides of the a pillars, they were solidly in place and were not budging. The thing is I already have a harness going to the mirror with power to the rain sensor and led light, it just doesn't have enough wires to carry power to the other components in the new mirror.

[bmrboi2]

Same Boat. I robbed the Autodim/powerfolding side mirrors and rear view mirror off my totaled 08. I am wanting to do the retrofit but haven't found anything about it yet (Havent been really persuing it heavily either) because most of these things come with the premium package where all that stuff is included.

[Price]

BMW went away from 'prewiring' long time ago, so in most cases retrofits require additional wires, pins and sometimes plugs/connectors.