Install Alpine 6-Disc MP3 CD Changer Install Factory E46 BMW Alarm OEM Alarm Installation Bluetooth Install. More Electrical - BMW E46 DIY. Interior - BMW E46 DIY. Schroth 4-Point Harnesses Schroth Rally 4 Harness Shift Boot Replacement Interior Trim Removal And Install (Coupe) Interior Trim Removal And Install (Sedan) Left Foot Brake Pedal. SETUP INSTRUCTIONS FOR TIS 1. Insert the TIS disc into your CD Rom drive. Depending on the setup of your system you may get. An AutoPlay window popup. Cancel out of AutoPlay. Go to My Computer and double click on the CD icon to view files on CD. Double click on WIN95 folder then BMW folder then the TIS folder. BMW TIS/ETK CD’s can be bought for some $20.00 at Ebay. At no time you should insert your key in the ignition during disassembly. If your car have manual seats, disconnect the negative post of the battery before step 1 below. If your car have power seats, please follow the steps below: 1) Remove driver’s seat. (TIS 52 13 000).

After researching for a little over a year the way of retrofitting the OEM Nav first to my 330i and now to my M3, luckily BMWAG came up in January of 2004 with a complete retrofit kit that includes a simplified harness that just plugs into the existing Audio/I Bus harness, the 16:9 display with CD player, the MKIV GPS receiver/DVD computer, the Professional radio (not Business), all brackets, bolts, connectors, plugs and installation manual for an all inclusive set.

For those that also have been researching a way of retrofitting Nav in their 3 Series you will inmediately notice how less complicated and time consuming this installation is compared to the old way of unplugging the current non-Nav harness from all its components and installing one built for a Nav car.

This is a simple guide of my installation, with tips to facilitate its reproduction in your car.

Disclaimer (copied verbatim from this DIY) :

While I think this process is pretty easy, you need to read through the directions and evaluate it yourself to decide whether or not you can do it. The details presented here are believed to be correct but they are not not guaranteed to be correct. I am not responsible for any damage that you may do to your car or injury that happens to you as a result of following these directions. Proceed at your own risk.

Preliminary steps:

The very first thing that anybody should do before attempting to do this retrofit is to read and study the installation manual (thanks to Santiago for hosting this document). Once you familiarize well enough with the steps to follow you will get the best results in the least amount of time.

I did this installation by myself; if you can get some help from friends knowlegeable and careful enough, the time and effort will be greatly reduced. However, the main idea is to get a quality and reliable job performed, not to finish ASAP.

Disassembly:

Having the BMW TIS/ETK software and/or the Bentley manual for E46′s, although not required, can further simplify the overall installation procedures. BMW TIS/ETK CD’s can be bought for some $20.00 at Ebay.

At no time you should insert your key in the ignition during disassembly.

If your car have manual seats, disconnect the negative post of the battery before step 1 below. If your car have power seats, please follow the steps below:

1) Remove driver’s seat. (TIS 52 13 000)

There are 4 bolts on each corner of the rails. You will need the battery power to move the seat back and forth to gain access to the bolts. Once unbolted, tilt the seat back to disconnect the main plug underneath.

2) Disconnect negative battery terminal from car chassis.

Once disconnected, cover it with electrical tape.

This strip have to be slided towards the front of the car first and foremost and then pulled up. Otherwise you will break it. Once removed you will have easy access to the carpet.

4) Remove the rear seat bottom cushion (item #1 or #4 below) and left side cushion (item #7 below). (TIS 52 24 005)

Just pull up the bottom seat and slide forward. Before the left cushion can be removed the top plastic cover have to be removed (item #10 above). Once this is done (one clip) pull the top of the cushion out and then up in that order. Otherwise its bottom tab will be broken.

5) Remove decor trim and rear left side panel (if Coupe or just the decor trim if Sedan)

6) Remove center console, shifter trim and storage assembly below radio-A/C unit. (TIS 51 16 210)

Start with the shifter unit (shown in the previous step), follow with the center console (where the armrest is, you do not have to remove the armrest, only item #7 and its subassemblies shown below) and then with the center storage assembly in front of the shifter.

The trick of the center assembly removal is that there are 4 screws at the bottom and in the top. You only can see the bottom two screws once you remove the shifter trim. The other two are behind the top cubicle (above the row of DSC/HK/heated sets buttons, below items #3, #4 or #15 depending of your vehicle).

Open the lid, and press up hard on the inside top front corners of the rubber cubicle and then pull forward; it will come off. The two screws are behind this separate assembly.

7) Remove Radio and Climate Control panel (TIS 65 11 030)

The trick is to remove first the air vents above the radio. Remove the two screws above the radio and pull the vents up and forward. Once this is done the vents are no longer in the way of the radio, Just pull the radio out, disconnect the antenna and main plug and then pull the climate control out. Disconnect its connectors and relocate towards where the top cubicle below the A/C controls where. That’s going to be new location of the climate controls.

Remove glove box (TIS 51 16 360)

Six screws attach the glove box to the dash: three on the top, two deep into both sides and a single one on the bottom right.

9) Remove both C pillar covers

These covers have a Torx screw behind the light fixture. Remove the light fixture (clips) and unscrew this screw before pulling out the trim (two clips attach it to the pillar, item #8 below)

10) Remove rear shelf (item #1 below)

The rear shelf is secured by four plastic clips at the front (towards the front of the car) attaching the plastic trim item #6 below, the three child seat anchors and a single screw centered thru the metal shelf underneath.

If your car has the HK subwoofer, you will need to remove the sub unit (item #1) to gain access to this screw.

9) Remove left trunk liner (item #1 below) (TIS 51 47 151)

If you do not have the OEM CD changer/Assist preparation in your car, you will need to buy a new trunk left trim (the one with the door).

Once you remove all these parts you Coupe should look like this…

Notes:

a) The only part of this retrofit that is absurd is the connection of the telephone/CD Changer wires to the new harness (page 10, top illustration). Why BMW did not attached the same connector as the one in the main harness to make it just “plug and play” like the main connector but force the installer to remove pins and wires from one connector and create another is a mystery to me, especially when plug X13321 have the same number of wires as branch A3.

b) The section that explains where branch A7 connects is not very illustrative. Joint connector X428 is located on top the fuse box. Pull the fuse box further down (over its detent, it will not break) and connector X428 is the big junction box snapped on top. Branch A7 is connected where all the blue/yellow wires are located. If there is no free space left, use one of the joint tap connectors supplied with the kit and connect this wire to another blue/yellow.

I got the location of this joint connector from the main tech of my local dealer…

See photo below for location:

Re-assembly and function check:

If the installation document is followed step by step, all the components should be installed and connected at this step. Before putting everything back together I also installed the SES voice recognition module. It is the silver box shown in the photo below on the upper right corner (above and

Bmw Tis Cd