DIY OEM Bluetooth Retrofit doityourself

[Crickett]

I actually did this almost a year ago, but didn't have the mounting brackets to do it up right . . . [Jeremy Clarkson voice] until now.

(I used this guide from Bimmernav to help myself along the first time.)

Tools you'll need:

• Philips screwdriver
• flat screwdriver (or your fingernails)
• 8 mm socket
• 10 mm socket

Parts you'll need:

• a BMW TCU (84 10 9 129 851) or ULF (13th gen 84 10 9 154 358) (I pulled the TCU from my wife's 2004 X5 with Assist, YMMV)
• TCU bracket – 84 13 6 924 551
• Bluetooth antenna – 84 50 6 928 461
• BT antenna bracket – 84 13 6 912 160
• "body nut" x4 – 61 13 1 372 033
• "hex bolt" x4 – 07 11 9 902 932
• plastic nut x3—6 (I used 3) – 63 25 9 128 043
• hands-free microphone – 84 31 6 938 762

Parts for the trunk (L to R): TCU bracket, TCU, "body nuts", "hex bolts"
(plastic nut not pictured)



Parts for inside the cabin: antenna bracket, Bluetooth antenna, plastic nuts



Got all that? Good, here we go.

0. Before doing any installation steps, look at the TCU's label for a four-digit number labeled "PK"; this is the pairing key you'll need when pairing your phone for the first time. You do not want to get everything installed only to discover you don't remember the pairing key!

1. Pop your trunk & use a flathead screwdriver or your fingernails to remove the plastic expanding rivets holding the left side of the trunk liner in place:



I think there is supposed to be a second one here:



2. Start pulling the trunk lining away from the body & into the main trunk cavity:



Keep pulling it away until you reveal the trunk accessories framework:



3. I didn't find out until later that it's much easier to route the needed cables now, before you start mounting the TCU.

There is enough room between the mounting brackets & the body to route the cables to this position, behind the bracket:



These two cables are long enough to be routed through this hole in the bracket:



4. Clip the body nuts onto the top part of the main bracket:





5. Bolt the TCU bracket to the main bracket with the four 8 mm "hex bolts"



6. Plug in the large black plug into the back end of the TCU before mounting the TCU on the bracket! Unless you're leprechaun-sized you won't have enough room to both work & see what you're doing if you try plugging it in after mounting it. Trust me.

7. Mount the TCU on the bracket, plug in the blue & white plugs, & secure with a 10 mm plastic nut:



Note: I only had one plastic nut from the wife's X5 to use, but the TCU feels secure enough to me to not be worried. Also, the white plug gets in the way of putting one on the right post, & the two on the other end (by the black plug) were too difficult to fit anything back there to tighten them anyway.

8. Button up everything in the trunk the reverse way you took it apart: guide the trunk lining back into its place, reinsert the expanding rivets, & close your trunk.

Now for the inside portion:

1. The Bluetooth antenna mounts at the back end of the center console, so get into your back seat & open your ashtray:



Press the ashtray cover down fully to pop the ashtray out of the console:



2. Remove the two plastic screws in the expanding rivets at the bottom:



The screws & rivets look like this, so be careful to not strip them when reassembling:



3. You can now remove the ashtray holder thingy but be careful to not break the cable plugged into it for the little ashtray light:



4. After unplugging the light, you can now remove the two Philips screws at the bottom of the ashtray cavity:



(Yes, I lost a washer . . . )

5. Now remove the plastic lining trim piece; it just snaps out (sorry, I didn't get a picture).

6. You can now lift up the back portion of the center console to gain access to the antenna mounting location (you'll need to raise the armrest to do so):



I didn't remove any of the parts at the front of the center console so I couldn't completely remove this part, I just had to hold it up while working. It really wasn't that much of an inconvenience.

Here is the location you'll be mounting the antenna & bracket to:



7. Mount the Bluetooth antenna to its bracket with two 10 mm plastic nuts, attach the black & purple cable to it, & attach the assembly to the mounting point with the silver body nuts:



Note: I mistakenly did not use the body nuts to clip the antenna bracket to the mounting point; it would've made reassembling the center console much easier. Do it like this:



8. Now, just reassemble everything in the reverse order of disassembly, taking care to route the ashtray light power cable through each piece as you go.

The microphone installation is exceptionally simple, just follow Bimmernav's guide.

To use your new factory Bluetooth system, either start the car or turn the ignition to position 2. The TCU should be discoverable for ~120 seconds; use the pairing code from the label to connect. After a successful pairing, your phone should automatically connect each time you get in the car.

I hope this helped! Enjoy your BMW Bluetooth system!