E60 Audio: Fitting an On/Off Switch for the Amp/Subs.

Even though my amp and subs turn off with the ignition I like to have a separate switch somewhere so they can be turned off manually when I don't want them on.

I fitted it at the back of the coin-tray in the centre of the dash so it's invisible and causes the least damage to the fascia, plus I plan to fit an aux. in there at some point too. This also keeps the extra-wiring needed to a minimum - I just snipped the remote-wire coming from the cigar-lighter and connected it to the back of the switch with two female-spade crimp-connectors.

I did this while the trim and fascia were removed during the remote-wire fitting in THIS POST.

E60 Audio: Getting A Remote On/Off Signal from the 12v adapter.

The amp and subs need a remote-signal to tell them to switch off with the ignition. BMWs fitted with iDrive have a 16-minute shutdown sequence on most of the car's electrical equipment. This means that a 5-12v remote-signal cannot be taken from any of the wires at the rear of the car, such as the parking-sensors on the E39 or E46. With iDrive they will keep the amp turned on and draining the battery for quarter of an hour every time you turn the key.

The only viable option and the most popular online is to take the remote-signal from the 12v adapter / cigar-lighter in the dash, which shuts down straight away. It's a fiddly setup with a spring, so to avoid wrecking the sliding ash-tray mechanism it's best to remove the whole centre-console as one piece and quite a bit of dash and trim has to be removed to do this. With the battery and audio-feed already in the boot, this is the longest and most involved part of the whole job, but a lot less difficult than I imagined.

You will need a good length of wire to reach from the cigar-lighter, over the dash, under the sills and into the boot. The blue remote-wire that comes with

1. Removing the Trim to get to the Cigar-lighter wires:

1.1 Pull forward the trim-strip that holds the passenger and centre air-vents on the dash, starting at the passenger side edge [door-open], working it gently up with a flat screwdriver and moving along to the centre.

1.2 From behind the trim-strip, press out the hazard-light and lock switch-panel out of the trim-strip and unplug the wiring-connector. The trim-strip can now be removed.

1.3 Remove the 2 crosshead screws from the top corners of the radio/climate-control fascia and pull that forward top first.

1.4 Unplug the 2 wiring-connectors from the climate-control fascia and pull it further forward.

1.5 Unplug the 3 or 4 wiring-connectors from the bottom of the fascia [ASC/PDC/heated-seats etc.] and completely remove it.

1.6 Gently prise up the gear-stick gaiter and lift it up out of the way.

1.7 Remove the iDrive knob by pulling it vertically upwards.

1.8 Remove the 2 screws under the gearstick-gaiter holding the centre-console trim panel using a T20 Torx-head driver.

1.9 Use a flat-screwdriver to gently prise up the centre-console trim panel, being careful of the 2 push-studs at the rear, unplug the 'Menu' button wiring-connector and remove the panel.

1.10 Remove the 4 screws holding the ash-tray using a T20 Torx-head driver and lift the ash-try out. It is not necessary to unplug the wiring-connector as it should reach out enough to splice the wire.

2. Splicing / Running the Remote Wire:

2.1 Pull down the plastic trim-panel directly under the steering-column. It has a push clip at either side.

2.2 Run the remote-wire in through the open trim-panel and round to the bottom of the dashboard and under the ash-tray surround so it comes out with the cigar-lighter wiring.

2.3 Splice the remote-wire into the Red live-wire for the cigar-lighter. Solder/heat-shrink is best, but I went with the quick and easy Scotch-lock method.

2.3 Re-fit the centre-console and dash/fascia trim, or if you wish to add a switch so the subs/amp can also be turned off manually then follow THIS POST first.

2.4 Remove the coin-tray from under the steering-column by undoing the 2 crosshead-screws.

2.5 Pull back the door-seal from the lower front-corner of the driver's door.

2.6 Run the other end of the remote-wire through the opposite side of the open trim-panel under the steering-column [towards the driver's door] to where it can be reached from the coin-tray aperture.

2.7 Reach into the coin-tray aperture with the end of the remote-wire and feed it through the edge of the dashboard until it can be seen in the gap behind the door-seal.

2.8 Pull the rest of the remote-wire out of the door-seal and re-fit the trim-panel / coin-tray.

2.9 Feed the remote-wire down behind the trim-panel at the low front corner of the driver's door and lift up the door-sill trim until the wire can be reached and pulled through from below into the footwell.

2.10 Re-fit the door-seal.

2.11 Remove the rear seat-squab by pulling it up sharply at the either side.

2.12 Run the remote-wire through into the rear footwell and up the side of the rear seat, tucking it under the door-sill and B-pillar trim as you do so.

2.13 Locate a gap along the top of the seat-back / parcel-shelf for the remote-wire to run through into the boot, the easiest place is the driver's side about halfway to the centre, and feed the wire down about 6 inches. From side the boot the wire should be coming through at the far edge of the parcel-shelf, so pull a good length through to avoid it getting yanked back up.

2.14 Run the remote-wire under the trim at the side of the seat-squab, tuck it up behind the side of the seat-back and along the parcel-shelf, then pull the remaining wire through into the boot.

2.15 Re-fit the rear seat-squab.

E21: Seat Fitment Guide:

Swapping seats round in a BMW E21 3-series is a nightmare, thanks to the floor-mounts being two different heights. To fit level-based seats from another car requires chopping out the welded floor-mounts and once this is done there is no going back.

1. Check if your floor-mounts have been chopped:

Check the outer floor-mounts on either side, spot-welded in place just inside the door-sill. They should look the one in the left photo below.

If they don't, and they look more like the right photo [with or without the wood], then you have chopped mounts and seats not originally from an E21. You also won't be going back to E21 seats very easily, so to preserve the style and make the ride a lot better, throw in seats from a newer BMW.

2.1 Fitting stock BMW seats from E30, E36 etc. :

This makes sense. E21 seats are sprung and uncomfortable and were dropped in almost every succeeding model. Other BMW seats are easier to come by and cheaper. E30 seats preserve the look almost identically and are far superior in construct. They also fit the inner seat mounts on the E21, the ones against the trans.-tunnel, so only the only outer ones need adapting. I am sure this is the case with seats from other 80s BMWs, possibly the E36 and E46 as I've seen it done, but need confirmation.
Modifying the outer floor-mounts, the ones against the door sills, is impossible as they just sit that much higher than the inner ones, the E21 of course having a crazy odd-height sub-frame design, so they need cutting out. Putting in new ones is pretty straight forward though, you can fabricate them with steel or alloy C-channel, wooden blocks, improvised stilts - these are all popular methods. Tilt-forward seats don't tend to be very strong anyway, so the new mounts don't have to be rock solid as long as they're bolted or welded securely to the floor-pan. Mine used the stock inner floor-mounts and a wooden block on the outer side to get the height - this presented no problem to the UK MOT (roadworthiness-test).

Check out my guide here: http://e21dub.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/e30-sports-seats-fitted.html

Or check out HSVTurbo's guide HERE [where I got my idea] in THIS THREAD on bimmerforums.

2.2 Fitting rigid Racing bucket-seats:

If you're building a track car then it's obviously best to keep things as stiff and secure as possible. The neatest and most weight-saving method is to cut some steel cross-beams to fit and weld them across the floor-pan, from the trans.-tunnel to the door-sill. This could be done with or without removing the outer floor-mount, but you will probably have to do this to get the seat low enough. Two cross-beams under each seat would probably be best, but it is most often done with just reasonably thick one.

More info. HERE on bimmerforums.

2.3 Fitting non-BMW stock seats (VW, Ford Recaro etc.) :

To get the right height and a central-position with stock seats from non-BMWs there is a lot of modification to the mounts - these seats will always have the bolt-holes in the wrong place. The tidiest way would probably be to weld in rigid cross-beams like in the above guide [2.2], otherwise you will need to fabricate custom mounts. [I used a combination of wood-block and steel cross-beam to fit Ford RS Recaros to mine in THIS POST].

Check out my guide here: http://e21dub.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/recaro-seat-base-adapter-finally-solved.html

3. Re-fitting stock E21 seats:

I have never seen anyone online do this. If you have level floor-mounts then I see no reason to switch back to E21 seats. All but the Recaros are uncomfortable, sprung nightmares. They give a truly bouncy and uncertain ride - only the most restoration mad would want it. The Recaros are super-rare and overpriced to fit the E21s mounts. E30 Recaros are a fraction of the price, have level mounts and are better anyway. If you are so desperate to restore your E21 dutifully, then I would consider it having cut floor-mounts a deal-breaker and to find one with stock seats, because the car will never be the same again.

There are 3 ways I see to achieve refitting stock seats:

1. Build custom outer mounts using a combination of the methods above, building them back up to the original and rather tall height for the stock seat-frames. [].

2. Locate a pair of original outer floor-mounts that have been cut out of another E21 and refit them to yours. These would first need to have been cut out carefully from the donor car and preserved by someone. Whether they would advertise them for sale is another matter, but asking on the forums can't hurt. Otherwise, you'll need to find someone with a scrap / breaking E21 and ask to neatly cut out its floor-mounts for a few quid. Either way, obtaining a useable pair is going to be tough.
Once you do though, they would just need to be measured up to where yours were cut off and welded into place. How neat a job you do will determine whether they fit or if it's unnoticeable.

3. Fabricate new outer mounts from the ground up out of steel and weld those in. I will endeavour to make a note of the dimensions of my cut one before passing it on and do a quick CAD design to fab-up a simple one.

**Also, I still have the passenger-side (N/S, Euro/US Driver-side) floor-mount [above], so if anyone wants it to try and weld back in message me! [Sadly, I cut the driver-side one out more severely and this is probably going to be the case if yours are chopped as it gives the wood or whatever more to grab on to.]

E60 Audio: New Amp sound cut-off issues.

This is common with BMW stock sound-systems. Something to do with taking an audio-feed from the rear speakers causes the entire sound-system to stop audio altogether. This happens in E39 and E46 models, but they can be reset straightaway with the ignition. The E60 and other iDrive models need a 16-minute cool down before audio can be restarted and this just won't do.
The problem did not occur in my E39 using an Alpine V12 1kW amp, only with a cheaper 'Toxic Audio' 1kW amp I was given at some point. This has its own volume control and the Alpine is just too loud, but with the long cut-out in the E60 I may simply have to revert back to it and turn bass all the way down on the head-unit. Having said that, there's no guarantee the Alpine will not still cut out audio and I have now found similar cases from people who have bought brand-new, good quality amps, so it looks like that rules out a fault with the Toxic. Worse still, my stereo suffered the audio cut out this week while the amp was plugged in to the speakers but not even turned on [no remote-signal], so this would back up my original fears that the cut-out is to do with too much current being drawn through the rear speaker cables, causing the head-unit to shut down all audio until the system is reset [fully powered-off and back on].

Here is a thread about it on bmw5.co.uk , I cannot say if the power of the amp versus the subs has anything to do with it though - http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/83362-new-sub-woofer-issues-with-audio-cutting-out/

** UPDATE:

After fitting the Alpine V12 amp I have not had any sound cut off issues, just as it was in the E39, but it is still way too loud and overpowering the system, even with bass turned all the way down on the head-unit / iDrive.

To finally get this Alpine amp in balance with the stock system I've bought a crossover-box off eBay, which is a slight extra power-drain, but at least it has a Gain control for each channel so I can turn the subs down and the bass on the stock speakers back to normal. It also cuts out the high frequencies and lets only the low ones through for the subs, though I'm not sure if this will do a great deal for sound quality. I cover fitting that in THIS POST.

E60: Second fault already... Front Parking-sensor!

How ironic! Just as I put paid to the E39's rear parking-sensor issue, a front sensor goes on the E60... they do seem to be temperamental little things those same sensor-units used from the E38 up until 2008 - they can be working fine one moment and then just fail over night!

 A few years ago one of my company directors had an E65 730Li, which started to spend a lot of time in our workshop under diagnostic. He blamed CANBUS issues and his symptoms were the car's electronics having a mind of their own, then as soon as one fault was rectified another would pop up straight away. I'm guessing the E60 uses the same technology as the E65, so can be forgiven for thinking mine might have the same issue seeing as the 'PDC' (parking-sensor) error came up the second I turned the key after fitting my new sidelight bulb...

Blown fuse?

The first thing to check, but mine wasn't blown and chances are yours won't be either, it's never the fuse with these BMW parking-sensors. The fuse is No. 21 in the glove-box, a green 30A.

Wet control-modules?

The sensors then fixed themselves for a day or two and then gave up completely, leading me to believe it was not just a failed bumper-unit. I hear on forums that intermittent PDC problems can be caused by a small amount of water being let in to the spare-wheel well while the boot is open and, without any drain holes, this can pool right where the PDC control-module is. Just a drop in the wrong place can cause erratic PDC behaviour and the module is fitted right at the bottom of here wheel-well, a bit of a design flaw, but it's only casually fixed in place on long wires so it's a good idea to move the module to a higher piece of ground somewhere else in the boot. I'll be putting up a guide for this as soon as I get round to it.

Broken sensor?

Yes. Those with vast experience tell me in 99.9% of these cases it's simply one of the bumper-sensors has thrown its hand in over night, which renders the entire system inoperable, as they work in a sort of daisy-chain. The only way to check which sensor is at fault is to kneel down at the front and rear of the car and put your ear to each sensor. As they work on a sonar principle the working sensors should emit a (pretty loud when your close) clicking sound. When you find the one that isn't clicking, that's your duff sensor - a lot easier than plugging the car into a diagnostic! 

Sure enough, all my sensors were clicking away save for one - the front driver's-side centre one, ironically one that happens to be located under the headlight I removed to sort the parking-light issue, so I can perhaps see what happened there. It's too much of a coincidence for that sensor to fail right at that point in time, so it looks like I've disturbed something or allowed water into the back of the sensor somehow. I gave the wires to the sensor a good wiggle and traced them back to the loom, but still nothing, so got straight onto eBay and bought a replacement sensor. It's pre-painted in Titan-silver, having been pulled off an '04 E60 and was £33 delivered. This was a bit more than the E39 sensor, but I know it's the right part and it's still a lot cheaper than the £125 from BMW, plus the 2-3 week wait and fitting charge.

REPLACEMENT PROCESS:

For Front-Centre Sensors:

** This couldn't be easier. The official procedure and internet forums recommend removing the 'bumper-skin' to replace the middle-front sensors, which is basically the whole bumper. This is totally unnecessary! You can get to them through the lower grille and don't need to have tiny hands or be double-jointed. This is for non-M-sport bumpers, I assume the larger mesh-grille on M-sport models is attached from behind and would need the bumper to come off, but if it is detachable then this would be even easier. **

1. Remove the black plastic grille-bars from the lower grille by unclipping the horizontal bar from the lug at either side. This is done by lifting the bar and pulling it forward. The vertical bars simply pop off.

2. Reach into the grille aperture and up towards the corresponding sensor, you will feel the wires about 5-inches up.

3. Remove the wire-connector by pressing in the clip at either side and the plug should easily wiggle off.

4. Remove the parking-sensor from its mount by wiggling it from behind and slowly pulling it towards the rear of the car. At the same time, gently apply pressure to the exterior-face of the sensor with your thumb. Once it is about 2mm into the bumper it should slide out easily.

5. Push in the new sensor from behind, ensuring it is the right way up - that is with the single small lug and wire connector at the top (12 o'clock) - then plug the wiring connector back in and replace the grille-bars.


For Front-Corner Sensors:

1. Remove the headlight that is above the corresponding parking-sensor by referring to Steps 1-6 of THIS GUIDE.

2. The parking-sensor is located just beneath the outer corner of the headlight and is easily accessible from above. Refer to steps 3, 4 and 5 of the above guide to replace.

E60: First Fault - Parking-Light Bulb

Got a lovely polyphonic chime last Sunday, one week exactly after buying the car. The iDrive showed a failure on the front o/s parking-light (sidelight), the angel-eyes basically. Seemed a bit weird that the bulb would fail so suddenly so I wiggled the wire connector with no joy. The standard headlight model E60s (non-LCI) use normal 501 capless bulbs for the angel-eyes and are just an easy swap. With the optional xenon headlights though, as mine features, the bulb swap is not so simple.

The part you need, above, is a very rare fitment bulb peened in to a ridiculous holder / lens. These are bought from BMW for £25 +VAT, but when I rang up from work to get same-day delivery they said it would need ordering specially and takes 2-3 days anyway, so I reverted back to eBay, where I got the part, BOSCH/Hella, so is OEM and only cost £23.99 with NextDay delivery included. I also got a feedback so that was a no-brained really, online part prices seem to be killing motor-factors lately.

The bulb and holder location is near impossible to work out without knowing what you're looking for, as it is one bulb powering both angel-eye rings, unlike the non-xenon headlights which have one small bulb for each ring. The single xenon angel-eye bulb is located at the inner-side of the headlight unit, behind the smaller round plastic-cap. Getting to it without removing the headlight is all but impossible, unless you have the most double-jointed hands ever, so just pop the headlight out. An official service-guide recommends dropping the front bumper to get the headlight out freely, but this is not essential and will quadruple the length of the job! With a bit of wiggling the headlight can be worked out without damaging the grille or wing.

Process: (For Xenon-headlight equipped cars)

1. Remove the round plastic-cap from the inner-side of the headlight back by gently pressing it anti-clockwise with a screwdriver a short turn and carefully extracting it through the gap.

2. Remove the two bolts holding the top of the headlight in place using a T35 Torx socket. The bolts are located on the headlight bracket on either corner.

3. Remove the two screws holding the bottom of the headlight using an 8mm socket with a long extension-bar. The screws are found just behind the lower corners of the headlight-back, right at the bottom. Dropping these into the lower-tray is annoying, so it's best to use a magnet-on-a-stick to retrieve them rather than extracting them in the socket.

4. Wiggle the headlight unit free from its mount and work it forward out of huge body. Start by moving out the outer-side a small amount and then begin to work the inner-corner away from the centre-grille. The outer-side should then pop out.

5. Remove the main wiring-connector from the headlight unit by sliding the sides of the clip down on either side until it ejects the wiring-connector plug, which should then pull out easily. If it doesn't, the sides of the clip need to go down further.

6. Remove the smaller wiring-connector from below the main connector-plug by pressing the clips in either side and pulling it back.

7. The parking-light bulb/holder is located in the small round aperture, which the cap is already off, right at the bottom - the holder is gold/orange in colour. Using two-fingers rotate the bulb-holder anti-clockwise 1/8-turn, or carefully use a screwdriver. The holder should now easily pull back out of its mount.

8. Use the wires to the bulb-holder to rotate it and pull it out of the headlight unit, wired-end first past the other bulb-holder.

9. Pull the wire-connector out of the old bulb-holder, plug in the new one reverse the process to refit.

Trip to collect the E60...

From being the proud owner of two awesome Bavarians, in the space of a week I went down to having none and the last couple of days of Beemer-frei living were long and fraught. I was surprised at the revvy eagerness of the 1.2 Clio I had use of, but that's all, so when the day came to collect the E60 I was up mighty early and getting ready... Just as well as my train left from Liverpool at 8.30am!

The ticket was only £36.50, but the Liverpool - London Virgin train took 3 hours instead of the usual 2. It was then two different Tubes to Liverpool Street Station in London where I hitched a Greater Anglia train out to east Essex, which was another hour, making it about 5 hours travel in total.

When I walked out of Manningtree station I was so relieved to see the E60 waiting for me. The car was exactly as described and after a 2 minute once-over in the rain I drove the guy, John, back to his house and signed the logbook over. All in all the deal took half an hour. Perfect.

12.09PM London Liverpool Street, my ultra-whistlestop tour of the capital after over 3 hours travel and 2 Virgin breakfasts.

10 minutes later the Greater Anglia train leaves for Essex, but just enough time to grab a large Burger King meal.

12.33PM - Heading out of London, the Gherkin etc. 

Canary Wharf, heading east through Hackney, I think.

1.30PM - Manningtree Station, north-east Essex. Last quaint stop before Norwich.

4.20PM - 150 miles nearer home in Corley Services, Warwickshire. I just had to stop for a wee and a KFC.

But not for fuel. I still had just over half a tank left and only another 100 miles to cover, provided by John of course, a nice deal sweetener.