After Market CD/Ipod Player not working

[B1rch88]

hi all,

so I have recently purchased a 2003 2.5 Z4 and as much as I love the car I cant stand not being able to listen to music from my iPod (as I have come from a car where I can)

so I thought I could just buy a new after market stereo, get the correct wiring harness and plug in and go (just like I did ion my last car).

but when I plug everything in the new stereo doesn't turn on! I have checked the fuses and all and everything is fine. I can plug the factory stereo back in and it works fine.

I have the Business CD Player and I think 8 speakers system, the sound quality is pretty good.

do I need to do anything else?

really appreciate the help

thanks

 

[RichardG]

Do you have cubby holes behind the seats or sub woofers?
If you have the subs then you have either the HiFi, Carver or DSP systems which use a Digital amplifer located next to the battery, if you have one of these systems then as far as I know no aftermarket HU will work.
Have you looked at fitting the Aux in, plenty of threads and Info on the forum about it.
You can buy one from BMW or follow this guide.
http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=15087

 

[B1rch88]

yeah I'm not to sure, will I know just by looking at them (don't know to much about this haha)

Yeah I'll look at the aux option if this is the case.

I spoke to Halfords and the said that I need an extra cable installed to the ignition for the stereo to get power so I will be taking it to them to have a look at so fingers crossed.

I will have a look tonight to see if I can see a digital amplifier, are they easy to spot just by opening up the bonnet?

thanks

 

[RichardG]

Halfrauds are talking cr@p, i have an aftermarket HU in my car and did exactly what you did with regards leads and it worked straight away, all the connections are in the converter lead.
The easiest way is to look behind your seats, if there are no cubby holes but speaker grills then you have a digital system.

 

[Boogle]

There's a few add-on boxes you can use such as Dension 300 / Intravee II that let you hook up an iPod dock to the stock HU. If you have DSP (press the button with the note on it a few times, if you can change equaliser settings [Jazz/etc.] then you have it) then only the Intravee II is plug and play with an additional unit.

It seems like a lot of work - but it's totally worth it. I have a little USB stick with all my music attached to a Dension. All my music available at all times - controlled via the steering wheel.

New HUs with digital / DSP look like a fair amount of pain if you're just after iPod connectivity.

 

[B1rch88]

thanks. I have chubby holes (good news, more storage space!! haha) then small speakers above them so I guess it should work.

will try and connect it all again this weekend.

I did notice that on the connector (the big block BMW side) there is an connector on the block (its white), this doesn't plug in to the new stereo when connecting to the wiring harness. sorry its quite hard to explain.

do you guys no what this is? I haven't got the 6 CD changer, as this cable seems to plug into one of those slots on the back of the factory CD player.

thanks

 

[B1rch88]

so I ordered a new wire harness and it came before the trip to halford. I installed it and then everything worked! halfords sold me the wrong cable they are so useless!

thanks for all the help