where's the tow harness?
 

have a 2006 X5 with an aftermarket class A hitch and I can't seem to find the wiring harness. have looked under and see nothing. in the spare tire compartment I see something that might be what i'm looking for. it's a black square receiver but looking nothing like any towing wiring assembly that i've seen. will try to get a pic but in the mean time if anyone has an idea or suggestion, it would be appreciated. thanks

wierd, my tow harness was tucked up under the rear bumper cover on the passenger side zip-tied to the PDC sensor wiring. Just had to cut a zip-tie and pull it over to the tow hitch area...

The connection for the factory towing module is in the spare tire area. There is no harness per-se, just a plug to hook the factory module into.

Near the battery is the plug in the vehicle wiring harness that accepts the tow module (white box in the picture below). The trailer harness (shown below) plugs into the white box, is led out through a grommet, and is mounted to the receiver with the supplied bracket. All of this is a kit that is supplied with the OE hitch, but which you can purchase separately if you have an aftermarket hitch.

See this ECS tuning link (also available at your dealer):

BMW E53 X5 M54 3.0L > Exterior > Trailer > ES#185391 Wiring Harness - 71600009698

finally...got my CURT hitch installed
 

Hi JCL,

thanks for the pointer!!:thumbup:

finally i got it done, my tech were great finding problems and solve them at the same time, PM'd me if anyone in SoCal needs help.

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...5/IMG_0363.jpg

Now, do i just buy the cable pin adaptor or the whole kit as in your picture? seems to me the adaptor has those pins that looks like i can just buy them from Pep Boys down the street...:dunno:, no?

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...ghtharness.jpg

You need the entire harness as shown in JCL's post. This will put the 7 pin round connector next to the receiver. You would use the adapter you've pictured to plug into the 7 pin round and adapt it to the 4-flat plug you have on your trailer. I use one of those adapters too when pulling the jetskis or a small Uhaul trailer. But the harness set you get from BMW includes the correct plugs to plug into your vehicle's wiring harness without butchering it up, and it has an electronics box as part of it which really makes everything work right. Remember, the wiring in an X5 is hall-effect, in other words some of the wires in the system do more than one thing, and the light control module in the right front foot well controls the pulsing of the signals through the circuits. It's very easy to muck it up.

BTW- nice looking setup- white X5, white bike, and even a white trailer. Nice.

As Towx says, you need the entire kit with the trailer wiring box, the harness, and so on.

However, if you already have that kit, and are just missing the adaptor that you attached a picture of, that goes from round to flat 4 (for a small trailer) then any trailer supply shop, or U-Haul, sell them for a few dollars.

thanks TowX and JCL
 

thank you thank you, don't know what else to say...YOU GUYS ROCK!!!:thumbup:

for ordering the adaptors, online is better or just run down to my dealer would be easier? anyhow, let me call them to check if they have any in stock:p:

LOL, :iagree:didn't even notice till you pointed out...

I bet a well stocked UHaul store has them. But personally I get a lot of my trailering stuff from the guys at etrailer.com:
Pollak 7 Pole to 4 Pole Connector Adapter Pollak Wiring PK12716

And if you have LED lights on your trailer causing your blinkers to flash too fast:
7-Way to 5-Way and 4-Way Trailer Adapter for VW, Audi and Porsche Towing Trailers with LED Lights Valley Wiring V39008

The folks at etrailer are great to work with and after probably 7 or 8 years getting things from them they've never failed to impress me with their knowledge.

hey...that look almost exactly like the on in the catalog.

i'd bought my hitch from them, and technical support would need to be updated from the manufacture. my last experience in getting the hitch installed were solved by the X5 forum, beforehand, I did try them without success.

guys...need more help
 

I've installed everything, except for this part as pictured, anybody knows what part is this for?

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...rtsfromBMW.jpg

I didn't compare the part number, but that looks like the trailer electrical module. It plugs into the vehicle wiring harness, and converts the multiplexed vehicle wiring signals into left, right, brake, and tail light power. The harness runs from it, to the plug in receptacle on the hitch drawbar.

I am a little confused how you can install everything else without installing this, since everything else connects to this.

JCL, thanks for getting back to me so quickly. here is what i've gone through...:yawn:

i got the kit from the dealer not from CLS tunning, which i should of...:banghead:

second, the kit i got from the dealer is missing this part, the guy just say plug everything in and it should go....:stickpoke

third, the kit did looked like it is strieght forward, the harness, has a connector plugs into the car's existed connector and other end was bolt on to the hitch, with a cable pin adaptor female.

I thought i am done, but, the thing just don't lit up, I'm wondering if that part needs to be purcahase, in order to make it work (i'm almost 99% sure need to be)

would you mind or someone can take a picture show me how is "hooked" up?

much appreicate it!!!

Hi JCL,

can you confirm if the module installed as pictured?

thanks~
http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...stallation.jpg

I had to go back and read the installation manual to remind myself how it all connects. There is an intermediate harness already in the vehicle, running from near the hitch, up to this module. I had forgotten that. I had thought that the harness supplied with the hitch kit ran right to this module, which it doesn't.

Yes, you need this module, it is what powers the trailer wiring harness. Look at my post #4 in this thread for the complete wiring kit.

Yes, it is installed as in your picture, under the rear load floor, near the battery.

thanks JCL, I'm running to BMW tomorrow and see if i can get lucky...

BTW, which trailer lights you would recommend? any suggestion would be awesome!!

I gather the trailer doesn't have lights installed now. If you need to purchase and install them, I would go to a trailer supply store and see what they recommend. I would tend not to get LED lights, since they can cause problems. I would go with plain old fashioned incandescent bulbs, unless the LED lights have some type of circuitry in them to apply a load and thus simulate an incandescent bulb.