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RETROFITTING FACTORY BLUETOOTH......

266K views 257 replies 79 participants last post by  Rns-e 
#1 ·
This gets asked all the time, and I get messaged constantly about it, so thought it best to put a post up.

To retrofit bluetooth, your car will fall into one of the following categories, the only common thing is you need nav or professional radio.

Cars built pre 09/2009 and post.

It then comes down to cars with USB fitted and those without.

Cars with USB fitted already have the module you need for bluetooth, so it is just a case of buying a mic, a bluetooth antenna and coding the stereo to turn it on.

Cars without Bluetooth need that module, it is actually cheaper to fit USB and then add the mic and bluetooth antenna and get it coded along with your USB. Plus you get USB as well.

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THESE ARE THE PARTS NEEDED IF YOUR CAR DOES NOT HAVE USB....

USB retrofit kit 65410445465

HANDS FREE TELEPHONE MICROPHONE 84316938762
When the parts guy pulls this up get him to look at associated parts, one of them is a 6" wire with pins on the end, buy 4 of them.

Bluetooth antenna 84506928461
BMW do a 6" smb to smb cable but can't find the part number, by this to hook the antenna to the MULF module.

You will also need to source and MULF2 from ebay or similar, they are £600+ from the dealer and around £150 from ebay.*

Last part needed is some wire to hook the mic to the bluetooth unit, I bought some really cheap and thin twin core coax from Maplin, was about 80p meter and I bought 6m.

The USB unit sits in the boot, the harness that comes with the USB retrofit runs down the car to under the passenger seat and two wires to behind the stereo. USB module sits under passenger carpet and the USB/Aux socket runs to under armrest.
Total install time was about an hour.
While the sills were off I ran the mic wire from the mulf module in boot to headlining, took of a pillar trim, takes 10 mins tops.
Mic snaps into the space near lights.

You then need BMW to code your car for bluetooth and USB.

Bingo!

================================================================

THESE ARE THE PARTS NEEDED IF YOUR CAR HAS USB....

HANDS FREE TELEPHONE MICROPHONE 84316938762
When the parts guy pulls this up get him to look at associated parts, one of them is a 6" wire with pins on the end, buy 4 of them.

Bluetooth antenna 84506928461
BMW do a 6" smb to smb cable but can't find the part number, by this to hook the antenna to the MULF module.

Last part needed is some wire to hook the mic to the bluetooth unit, I bought some really cheap and thin twin core coax from Maplin, was about 80p meter and I bought 6m.

The USB unit sits in the boot, run the mic wire from the mulf module in boot to headlining, took of a pillar trim, takes 10 mins tops.
Mic snaps into the space near lights.

You then need BMW to code your car for bluetooth.

Bingo!

Total cost is around £45 parts and 30 mins coding.

================================================================

THIS IS FOR CARS POST SEPT 2009 BUILD......

Be careful hear, there are some crossovers, ie cars built slightly after with the old stereo.

Cars with no bluetooth, cd changer, dab, usb, etc. may not have the optical ports needed on the professional stereo.
You will have to slide your stereo out and look.

Number 4 in the image...


If it hasn't you then need to check if it says bluetooth on the radio anywhere, and there will be a second fakra connector next to the aerial one. This is for the USB, these latest radios have USB and Bluetooth built in, but you only get it if you order one of the other.

So if you don't have the most connector and don't have the above you will need to either follow the steps above, or buy a new radio with it built in and then code it.

If you do have a radio with it built in you will be able to add it pretty easily, however, not 100% sure yet what you need to buy etc.
Will update this section as more info comes about.

Looking into it at the moment with someone who has that radio and my parts guy.

=====================================================

Some of the info may sound vague, that is because it is, or because you don't understand it.

All the info is in this thread that I know so far. So please don't PM me asking for more info, as all I do is repeat this over and over again on a daily basis. Trust the info I have posted, I think many worry that it may not work and just want reassurance more than anything else.

*The only thing you have to be careful of is buying an MULF2 that has not been coded for bluetooth, I have only heard of this happening once or twice, it is very rare. Bluetooth needs to be activated and can only be done using the most connector, and bcaomes a pain, you would need to send it to someone on " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; to help you out. Not really an issue as 99.99999% are fine, but worth mentioning.
 
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#4 ·
Excellent write up, and should be in the "how to" section.

Would any MULF2 work?

I guess it's better to source one built after your car.

I guess that this all changes for the professional units with the extra fakron connector - can you add a suppplement for those units.
 
#7 ·
gIzzE said:
THESE ARE THE PARTS NEEDED IF YOUR CAR HAS USB....

HANDS FREE TELEPHONE MICROPHONE 84316938762
When the parts guy pulls this up get him to look at associated parts, one of them is a 6" wire with pins on the end, buy 4 of them.

Bluetooth antenna 84506928461
BMW do a 6" smb to smb cable but can't find the part number, by this to hook the antenna to the MULF module.

Last part needed is some wire to hook the mic to the bluetooth unit, I bought some really cheap and thin twin core coax from Maplin, was about 80p meter and I bought 6m.

The USB unit sits in the boot, run the mic wire from the mulf module in boot to headlining, took of a pillar trim, takes 10 mins tops.
Mic snaps into the space near lights.

You then need BMW to code your car for bluetooth.

Bingo!

Total cost is around £45 parts and 30 mins coding.
Does anybody know of an installer in London or surrounding areas that could do this install at a reasonable price? Or is it just BMW that can do the coding? I have taken my car to 2 separate BMW garages and both quoted me over £2000 to have factory bluetooth fitted into my 2009 116D, and I have USB. Surely the markup cannot be that much on a job that cost £45 in parts and 30min of coding?.
 
#8 ·
BMW are taking the ****. Clearly they are trying to punish you for not taking out the option when the car was originally ordered! (I know you probably didn't buy the car from new).

If you have USB then as per the instructions above, it will cost around £45 with a bit of coding, I know as I did it myself a few months back. You'll spend an hour or so fitting everything, the biggest job is fitting the mic in the headlining, even then, it's pretty easy. You could have a go yourself if you can't find anyone to do it.
 
#12 ·
There's 2 methods. The first is to use something similar to a blunt knife or better yet, a trim removal tool in between the plastic housing and the headlining. I couldn't get that to work.

The second way is to carefully pull down the headlining by the windscreen and use your fingers to locate the metal tabs which secure
It in place. Give them a push and they come free, releasing the light unit. That worked for me.

There is a link to a how to somewhere on this site but I'm not in a position to find it.
 
#15 ·
Quick question. You says "Cars without Bluetooth need that module, it is actually cheaper to fit USB and then add the mic and Bluetooth antenna and get it coded along with your USB. Plus you get USB as well."

Is it not cheaper to just buy the basic Bluetooth retrofit kit? I know you don't get USB then, so there is an argument that for the extra £100 or so you may as well have both, but you also have to get all the extra wires you refer too needing for BT if you only get the USB retrofit kit.

Have I got it wrong? I am really tempted to get one kit or the other and have go at installing it, but it all seems a bit of minefield and could all go so horribly wrong. :|

Rich
 
#16 ·
You need a harness for bluetooth or for USB, the module is the same, the bluetooth kit comes with snap in adapters for the armrest and wiring for the antenna etc. so actually costs more than the usb retrofit kit.

So I can't see the point of not going USB, it is an easier install too.

If you are talking the older ULF module then you could go that way. Not sure about that though, how to code it etc. and how to wire it, maybe look on e90post.com forums for more info.
 
#17 ·
Thanks for that. Just had a reply from BMW:
"I have looked into the fitting costs of the basic bluetooth kit (part number 84640443734) you would also need to purchase a telephone control unit (84109226711) in conjection with the kit. The fitting cost would be 421.44+VAT, the total cost for the retrofit of the basic bluetooth kit would be £1100.44 inc VAT"

I assume 84109226711 is a MULF but without USB? To be honest, considering that includes the cost of the MULF, it's not too bad.
Anyway, I may give your way a go when I get the time to spend on the car, perhaps do that and the Alpine install at the same time - anyway that is another thread :)

Rich
 
#19 ·
Thanks for this thread Guy. Retrofitted BT to an E82 on Friday. For what it's worth I chose to run the mic wires along the n/s sill and up the drivers a pillar, then lower the fromt of the head lining slightly and you're there.

Option code $644 is what you need to add with NCS Expert. Worked fine with Sandy's iPhone 4s.

As for coding, the MULF won't talk to NCS, it's controlled through the radio (2RAD) for the Bluetooth side of it's operation.

If you fitted a second hand MULF you might need to code it to your car, for which tool32, winkfp or possibly program would be needed.
 
#20 ·
hi gizze

you mentioned the following:
"To retrofit bluetooth, your car will fall into one of the following categories, the only common thing is you need nav or professional radio"

Sometime ago I went through a painful exercise of trying to fit the correct BMW bluetooth retrofit kit.
I have a 2005 120D with professional stereo and cd multichanger.

The cable harness was really easy to fit, I purchased 2 mulf from eBay (i bid on 2 and won both by accident!)

I took my car to a BMW garage (not main dealers) and it was hooked up to their computer for the best part of a day and the software couldn't program either mulf or the professional radio. (It was the old computer/software that updated the units with new software rather than just activating just the TEL option on the Professional stereo)

The upshot was that I ended up fitting a parrot kit, although still have the kit and mulfs so may revisit.

I think the key problem I had was that my Professional Stereo does not have the "TEL" option when you hit the "Menu" button as seen in other pictures.
Having read the details over at bmwcoding.com I can see that it should be quite simple to enable it in the head unit, then it is a case of connecting a mulf/mulf2 which already has bluetooth enabled (one of the 2 that I have has the bluetooth symbol on it).

Question: does having a cd multichanger in a pre-facelift have an impact on your instructions?

many thanks
Freddy
 
#22 ·
gIzzE

Thanks for the post, I've just picked up a post 2009 Pro HU with built in Bluetooth, I'll write up the cable part numbers as I get them.

My iPhone4 and the HU connected up first time, sound quality is great, just need the MIC. The HU is installed in a late 2007 car.

Couple of initial problems that need addressing:

- PDC works front and rear but the detection range has reduced significantly, the beep rate appears to be doubled as well

- Gong even when set to -5 is mega loud

Carl
 
#23 ·
gIzzE,

Thanks for this post, I've recently fitted a post 2009 pro HU to my late 2007 e87.

The unit paired to my iphone4 quickly, if I'd had a mic it would have been working well by now. I do not have a MULF/MULF2 fitted in the car.

As I find out more about cable part numbers I'll post here.

The only problems encountered so far that I need to investigate further are:

- reduced detection range on front and rear PDC

- shorter sounding beep on PDC

- Gong mega loud even when set -5

- when fitting the HU I had to take a rat tailed file to the plastics around the radio mount so the antenna connector wouldn't foul as the radio was pushed home

I have INPA/NCS Expert and access to an Autologic unit so I'm hoping to resolve PDC, enable CDC and do one thing with GONG

Carl

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
#26 ·
Please don't get angry here but...

I have all of the buttons in the cabin for the bluetooth however, the car doesn't actually have bluetooth, do all 1 series come with the bluetooth buttons regardless if they have the system or not?

Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk... Yes i have that app now
 
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