Your specialist subject: The life and times of the BMW CIC unit in E89s

[B21]

Can you not get a 2nd hand 677 unit…?

Not many 677s were ever fitted to E89s..so you need a written off E89 with a 677..most breakers in my recent bitter experience haven't a clue about the car and its sub systems..it also has to be DAB'd which I guess most 677 are..and even then cause the VIN is encoded i 4 places on the CIC that still needs to be coded to your VIN to allow maps to be used..so the simple answer is no!

[john-e89]

Can you not get a 2nd hand 677 unit…?

Not many 677s were ever fitted to E89s..so you need a written off E89 with a 677..most breakers in my recent bitter experience haven't a clue about the car and its sub systems..it also has to be DAB'd which I guess most 677 are..and even then cause the VIN is encoded i 4 places on the CIC that still needs to be coded to your VIN to allow maps to be used..so the simple answer is no!

Yep that’ll be why then….

Purely out of curiosity, I’d be thinking of ripping the lot out and putting a stand-alone system in as the car is obvs a keeper. By pass all the issues, keep the new Idrive screen in, link up stand alone sat nav, etc, PDC anre retro fitted so not an issue, any reason you can’t do that..? I know you’re not going to but in theory..?

[B21]

If you accept a loss of automation then you can strip out / change quite a lot..

I never realised how complex these data buses are on the E89s..

It’s part legacy and part new technologies…with at least 4 different networks cross wired its complex..

But sure you can put a stand alone nav and audio system..

Of course then voice guidance, PDC etc has to be figured out / ignored …

With an auto again have to be careful with interfering with certain sensors etc ..

But yes it can be done ….

[AnubisZed]

Can you not get a 2nd hand 677 unit…?

Not many 677s were ever fitted to E89s..so you need a written off E89 with a 677..most breakers in my recent bitter experience haven't a clue about the car and its sub systems..it also has to be DAB'd which I guess most 677 are..and even then cause the VIN is encoded i 4 places on the CIC that still needs to be coded to your VIN to allow maps to be used..so the simple answer is no!

?? What?

609 - CIC
676 - Business sound system, speaker output to amplifier.
677 - Professional sound system with MOST fibre optic sound output.

The headunits are all the same. To change the system from 676 to 677 you simply remove 676 from the VO, and code the car accordingly. You then code 677 to the VO and code accordingly. Once this new code is then written to the CIC unit it then knows not to amplify the sound and, in so doing so, not to output via the wires but to instead to feed out via the fibre optic. It's a standard coding process that takes no more than about 10 minutes at most.
So, in short, it makes no difference where the headunit came from, as long as it has DAB, it'll code just the same.

[B21]

Can you not get a 2nd hand 677 unit…?

Not many 677s were ever fitted to E89s..so you need a written off E89 with a 677..most breakers in my recent bitter experience haven't a clue about the car and its sub systems..it also has to be DAB'd which I guess most 677 are..and even then cause the VIN is encoded i 4 places on the CIC that still needs to be coded to your VIN to allow maps to be used..so the simple answer is no!

?? What?

609 - CIC
676 - Business sound system, speaker output to amplifier.
677 - Professional sound system with MOST fibre optic sound output.

The headunits are all the same. To change the system from 676 to 677 you simply remove 676 from the VO, and code the car accordingly. You then code 677 to the VO and code accordingly. Once this new code is then written to the CIC unit it then knows not to amplify the sound and, in so doing so, not to output via the wires but to instead to feed out via the fibre optic. It's a standard coding process that takes no more than about 10 minutes at most.
So, in short, it makes no difference where the headunit came from, as long as it has DAB, it'll code just the same.

That’s the theory…did exactly that..when I tried to do so this weekend it said it had done it..but no audio..no cigar..

Maybe the Mr 12 Volt MMI or ID4Motion got in the way…even if had it still wouldn’t sat nav..we covered that earlier..

[mkinternet]

As a matter of interest does anyone know of a person/company here in the UK who repairs these head units. I suspect the pre-out on mine (connects to a 676 amp) is not working correctly as the subs do not fire at all and the sound is awful.

[B21]

As a matter of interest does anyone know of a person/company here in the UK who repairs these head units. I suspect the pre-out on mine (connects to a 676 amp) is not working correctly as the subs do not fire at all and the sound is awful.

Just crated both boxes to this chap…

https://www.novacartech.co.uk/

I’ll let you know how I get on..

Reviews seem very positive…

[mkinternet]

Fab and thank you - just down the road as well.

[B21]

Fab and thank you - just down the road as well.

You can pop in and see how it’s doing

Parcel force says it’s on its way….

[Deepseaskateboard]

I have seen somewhere on here that the MR12Volt box, or some of them at least have an idrive controller connection. They also have video out, and connect to the head unit at some point.

I know this won’t be straight forward, but what would prevent a none iDrive car from having the 12volt box installed, linking it to an idrive controller and oem screen?

This is my ideal set up.

So, it’s carplay without idrive essentially.

"Why not just get the android screen which does all of this?"

I am not convinced on the look, and it would be cool to craft a system with OEM parts, to give the original look.

[B21]

I have seen somewhere on here that the MR12Volt box, or some of them at least have an idrive controller connection. They also have video out, and connect to the head unit at some point.

I know this won’t be straight forward, but what would prevent a none iDrive car from having the 12volt box installed, linking it to an idrive controller and oem screen?

This is my ideal set up.

So, it’s carplay without idrive essentially.

"Why not just get the android screen which does all of this?"

I am not convinced on the look, and it would be cool to craft a system with OEM parts, to give the original look.

The main CIC box does all the hard work…the screen is completely dumb as is the controller..

So your wish is not easily granted…

I’m about to publish my foray into Android head units ..

[mkinternet]

Fab and thank you - just down the road as well.

You can pop in and see how it’s doing

Parcel force says it’s on its way….

Did you get it back and is it now working ????

[B21]

Fab and thank you - just down the road as well.

You can pop in and see how it’s doing

Parcel force says it’s on its way….

Did you get it back and is it now working ????

One he couldn’t get to work reliably ….im sending that to my Polish guy soon..

The other he reprogrammed…works but some strange things happen in the cd player bit..track data is corrupted..but play ..

I’d give him 6/10…

[Deepseaskateboard]

I have seen somewhere on here that the MR12Volt box, or some of them at least have an idrive controller connection. They also have video out, and connect to the head unit at some point.

I know this won’t be straight forward, but what would prevent a none iDrive car from having the 12volt box installed, linking it to an idrive controller and oem screen?

This is my ideal set up.

So, it’s carplay without idrive essentially.

"Why not just get the android screen which does all of this?"

I am not convinced on the look, and it would be cool to craft a system with OEM parts, to give the original look.

The main CIC box does all the hard work…the screen is completely dumb as is the controller..

So your wish is not easily granted…

I’m about to publish my foray into Android head units ..

So the mr12volt wouldn't drive the screen by itself?

It’s almost like I want an android unit without the screen I suppose.

[B21]

I have seen somewhere on here that the MR12Volt box, or some of them at least have an idrive controller connection. They also have video out, and connect to the head unit at some point.

I know this won’t be straight forward, but what would prevent a none iDrive car from having the 12volt box installed, linking it to an idrive controller and oem screen?

This is my ideal set up.

So, it’s carplay without idrive essentially.

"Why not just get the android screen which does all of this?"

I am not convinced on the look, and it would be cool to craft a system with OEM parts, to give the original look.

The main CIC box does all the hard work…the screen is completely dumb as is the controller..

So your wish is not easily granted…

I’m about to publish my foray into Android head units ..

So the mr12volt wouldn't drive the screen by itself?

It’s almost like I want an android unit without the screen I suppose.

AFAIK it’s either MMI with CIC or an Android head unit with CarPlay built in..