Removing Vents, Stereo and retro-fit Aux - Pic Heavy

Stuart Truman

Lifer
The Cotswolds
As we've lost a few pics with the loss of shipkillers site and as I wanted to fit the OEM aux kit to my car I thought I'd document it and upload new pics. I hope people find it useful.

Usual common sense rules apply, no force is required for any of these operations and if something won't move you're doing it wrong. Also I'm not responsible for what you might do to your car... :)

Firstly the vents. Apologies for the slightly blurry pic, if was tough to get a decent shot in situe. There are two metal clips which you need to gently pull down with a trim tool, or failing that a small screwdriver while gently pulling on the vent. It will slide forward slightly to allow you to work on the second clip. If you are struggling, this is the one time where a second pair of hands can come in useful.

The clip can be seen in the upper right of the pic...
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And you can see the two of them clearly here and how they work...
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The stereo is held in by the two larger screws. If you ever need to loosen the dash to fit a Brodit clip to an M where the carbon leather dash is too thick to just press it home, loosen the two screws in the top left and right of the where the vents sit and two corresponding ones below the stereo (not seen in this pic)
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The wiring block at the rear of the stereo. The black plug with the yellow/red and yellow/brown leads is the one we're after...
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This side view shows the rotating clip in its home position. To release it there is a small clip at the top that you just squeeze with finger pressure. I couldn't get the camera angle but it's obvious.
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And released...
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A view of the back of the wiring block removed from the stereo. The release clip for the black plug is just above/left of the purple/white lead. Squeeze it and pull and the block will come out easily. No force required...
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Thus...
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This is actually a block in a block, and you need to remove the smaller one from its holder using a small screwdriver to release the clip and slide it out sideways. It's keyed so you can't put it back backwards...
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Like so...
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The OEM aux kit is supplied in a block ready to go into the stereo, but we have the CD line in wiring so either you will need to move the 3 wires from the kit into the existing block, or the two yellow leads into the new one (which is obviously simpler)
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A pic to show the positions of the wires. Remove this block from its holder as per the earlier step.
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Side by side before transplanting the wires
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A couple of pics to clearly show the wiring positions of the OEM kit
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The wires are held in by a metal clip that needs to be depressed with a small screwdriver while maintaining gentle pressure on the wire. Here you can see it partially out
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As it pulls out it will likely catch on the clip. You can see the circle on the wiring clip in the pic below in the long slot. Move the screwdriver and gently push down and maintain gentle pressure on the wire and it will come out.
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Do them one at a time and place them into their original positions in the OEM aux kit plug and you will end up with this...
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Slide this back into the larger holder (it's keyed remember, it will only go in one way)
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And then clip the assembly back into the larger wiring block for the stereo...
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Refit this to the stereo and power on. As you cycle through the modes you should now have an AUX option as below
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iPhone playing spotify through the intravee with an appropriately named tune :)
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MP3 CD playing, everything is working...
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Slide the stereo back in, fasten with the two screws, slide the vent back in until you hear the clips engage and all looks flush. Job done!
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You can see I've got the lead trailing out of the panel below the heating controls. I'm going to route it into the glove box but it started hailing so I thought I'd come and write this up. I'll add the routing of the cabling at a later stage. Hope this is useful to someone.
 
Two things:

- There is no way you can do this without drawing blood and your hands are in one piece :D
- Where is the protecting towel where you pulled the cables over the edges :poke:
 
Great write-up and pics-are you putting this in the How to section?-did you need to disconnect the battery?-still on my to do list! :roll:
 
andysat said:
Great write-up and pics-are you putting this in the How to section?-did you need to disconnect the battery?-still on my to do list! :roll:

Thanks all. It's already in the "How to" section under audio and phones.

I didn't remove the battery and nothing needs coding, this is a plug n' play upgrade.
 
pvr said:
Two things:

- There is no way you can do this without drawing blood and your hands are in one piece :D
- Where is the protecting towel where you pulled the cables over the edges :poke:

Don't agree with the first, but do with the second.

The Radio resetting on the CFL :o
 
Hi,

first of all thanks, this is exactly what I have been looking for, I have just bought my dream car... the coupe... it has everything I want on it with the exception of the aux (and Bluetooth voice control... but only figured that I don't have this yesterday so I might be wrong yet!)

This picture guide is excellent, but I am afraid I have a couple of (potentially obvious...) questions, if you could please help?

1. Is the kit in the picture the mini kit that I have seen on here (I can't remember the part number!), if not what is the part number for it, and where is the best place to get it?

2. I assume you just drop the 'plug end'of the aux cable down the back and pull it through somehow? I can't find any instructions on this anywhere (I really have looked, apologies if it exists and I have missed it). I was planning on putting the plug either through the panel under the AC control's or in the ash tray... I have seen both ways on here, and the way I go will probably depend on how easy each one is!

thanks in advance for any help and thanks in general to everyone here... there is lots of usefully stuff on here!

thanks,

ian
 
The mini kit is fine to use. Think it's identical but cheaper.

There is plenty of room behind to drop down to the access panel under the AC controls where AUX is installed from the factory. It's also as easy to route through to the glovebox.
 
ianmuk, AFAIK voice control was never a feature on e85/86 Z4s. Could be wrong though...
 
Bing said:
ianmuk, AFAIK voice control was never a feature on e85/86 Z4s. Could be wrong though...

It is and I've coded it to be enabled :wink:

PVR never bothered getting it as it could never understand his dutch accent. You will have the same issue :lol:
 
Mine has voice control from the factory... Pointless though as siri works way better and works through the car mic.

Wish the button could activate siri... That would be cool!


Sent from my iPhone 5s using Tapatalk
 
Cheers everyone,

very useful info, about the Bluetooth and the aux! I will do some research on how to code it to make it work... the voice control on my s5 does not work through the button either... if it's easy to do it might be handy!

fyi: I have gone for this ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Z4-E8...1?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item4618fa9d37) aux cable.... the company were very helpfully when I describes what I was trying to do... or keep the bluetooth/cd changer/sat back.... I will update when it arrives if it is any good!

cheers,

Ian
 
Hmm... Bloody annoying cable!
The connector is a different size to the oem one!
I got it fitted and and it was working, but as soon as I put it back in the car it came loose and stopped working!!

Got to pull it out and start again!
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Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 
Good news... eventually!

I got the thing fitted, one of the little metal clips snapped so had to make a trip to Maplin to get a replacement... All good now though.

I went for a slightly different approach to the connector, I did not want to go drilling holes, so I went for this approach... What do you think?!
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When I don't use it, it fits nicely in the ashtray! (it closes with the wire coming out so I can listen to my phone with it all closed up neatly! )
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Still enough room for my car mints too...
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The red wire matches my red leather too ;-)


Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 
The wire coming out of the side of the ash tray was doing my head in, I decided it looked half finished!

Decided to take the lead from inside the ash tray, looks better I think.
I prefer this to having a socket because the wire is always handy!
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