Iso cable required?

[LookinFoolish]

Am i right in thinking i need an ISO cable for my headunit?

I've got an alpine cassette player in my car, which i've took out this morning to replace with a 1998 Z3, OEM BMW cassette player. (Keeping the retro look of the car). My model is a 1997, so i expected it just to fit in.

But as shown on this photo i took earlier (i sound like Neil Buchanan)



So i guess i need an iso cable and it'll all be ok? right? What model cable would i need to fit this player?


This: cable looks correct http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MG-ZR-ZS-ZT-I ... 3cbdbea3b6

But it doesn't say it's compatible with BMW Z3

[Robert T]

If you are fitting a BMW unit, then it should just use the BMW connector. If you keep pulling entrails out of the dash you should find that you have Alpine to ISO and then ISO to BMW. You should be able to remove all the adapters. This is what the BMW connector looks like on my car (looks suitably like the one on the back of your BMW headunit):

Adapter chain to fit my Pioneer headunit


The BMW connector with the ISO adapter in place - you can see the second plug below it which is unused with the ISO adapter


Edit: Thinking about it, that bottom plug is quite possibly the multichanger connector - the end in the boot is a DIN type.

Cheers R.

[LookinFoolish]

thanks very much Rob. After pulling out a good 30cm-40cm old Alpine wiring, i saw the original BMW connection. Simply popped up the harness and slotted the radio into it. There was one other cable with a 'cap' which plugged onto the right hand side.

Also had to enter a code, i did this by;

Using the station preset buttons as follows to enter the 4-digit code.
Press Preset Button " 1 "repeatedly until the 1st Digit of your Code is displayed
Press Preset Button " 2" repeatedly until the 2nd Digit of your Code is displayed
Press Preset Button " 3" repeatedly until the 3rd Digit of your code is displayed
Press Preset Button " 4" repeatedly until the 4th Digit of your code is displayed

If the display now shows the correct Code number then press > to enter the code.



and finally, here's how it looks now compared to before:


before:



after:

[Robert T]

Good stuff, but why has the BMW headunit made everything blurry?

Cheers R.

[LookinFoolish]

i was thinking the same thing!! I'll re-take picture at some point.

[XVar]

Looks like your alarm indicator/button is smashed the same as mine was, they're about £10 from the dealer, part number 82929401797. Bit of a pain to replace as the wire goes all the way to behind the glove box into the alarm module, but not too bad. Just thought I'd point it out incase you weren't aware that it's also a button used to disable the interior sensors for parking up with the roof down.

[g8jka]

It's easier to buy a new led and holder from eBay with wires attach and fit that to the existing wiring behind the plate and it will only be a couple of quid

[LookinFoolish]

Looks like your alarm indicator/button is smashed the same as mine was, they're about £10 from the dealer, part number 82929401797. Bit of a pain to replace as the wire goes all the way to behind the glove box into the alarm module, but not too bad. Just thought I'd point it out incase you weren't aware that it's also a button used to disable the interior sensors for parking up with the roof down.

The led light doesn't feel like a button on mine, it's just a rock hard button. I've got a brand new Led indicator with the same model number you say, but i've yet to fit it. I don't use central locking due to my bonnet sensor making the alarm go off. I will sort it asap! thanks for the tip though

On a sidenote, i took a new pic but looks just as blurry