As somebody on this board remarked there is already a GPS antenna for the assist in place. There is just enough space to twin them. I used a little WD-40 and a pin the same size as the connector guiding it through the grommet. See picture below. I am sure BMW has a better solution for this without installing a second GPS antenna but I don't have time to quiz the parts people for ever.

Finally I wrapped all the wires in the back together and tied them to the chassis. Put the trunk back together and drove the car. All works just fine. Last items is to find the correct cable for the red connector on the Nav processor.

Today I have finish the front and then it is ready for the coding.

Attached Images

    

Done - got a little impatient and simply finished it up. Booked for coding work on Monday.

Still struggling to find out what the correct number is for the cable with the red nav plug......

Would I do again, absolutely but I'd rather take it all in one go next time around. It is a bit of a drag to have it sitting around disassembled this long but I didn't want to rush and break something or make a silly mistake.

Will do a write up with more pictures later.

Hope you all enjoyed the thread thus far?

rgds
Louis

I don't get why you installed a 2nd GPS antenna?

One for Assist, one for Nav?

Did they both use one antenna before?

Unlikely. Sharing antennas is quite hard to do.

Put it through a decent quality coax splitter with a DC-blocker in one path

You'll get a 3dB signal reduction on each side of the splitter but normally the GPS signal is loud enough.

however, a decent quality coax splitter costs more than a cheap eBay generic GPS antenna these days, and the nav might complain of open circuit antenna cable if a splitter is used.

Big Bob - I think you are right. The first one seems to be for the assist function, I put the one for the Nav.

They both fit snugly in the same place and I can't get any decent answers out of the dealer on how these things are done on an original install. Neither does there seem to be much inclination from people on the E53 forum to have a look at their install as I found when I asked a question about something else.

I guess I will simply have tackle a nearby neighbour one day who seems to have the same car, not sure if it has the same set-up though..... I looked at a 2005 4.4i and did not get any wiser.

I even emailed a company in Germany that sells complete retrofit kits (sans the components that is) and even they could not answer how to connect the red Nav connector when installing a replacement harness rather than the retrofit harness.

BMW's design for the car is way too complex and the parts documentation is appalling.

The equipment is all working fine, life is too short and I have other stuff to do.

It seems the part number I have been hunting for (that is the cable for the red nav connnector) is finally surfacing. I got an answer from the very helpful mr. Tschauner of Individual-Cars Consulting in Germany.

The website (also in english) also has some other very handy looking equipment although some of it I have also seen for sale in the US. But I thought I would relay the info to you guys anyway.

Question: when the car goes in for coding what am I asking them to do? The dealer sounds rather horribly clueless. I'd rather make sure I give precise instructions.