BMW M3 Forum (E90 E92) - View Single Post

dazz100 · 08-30-2015, 03:10 AM

Hi

For the most part, the BMW PDC Front/Rear instructions were good to follow. It is what was not included in the instructions that made things difficult.
There are four wires that need to be connected in the fuse panel area.
The instructions say to insert the Green/White wire into pin 7 of the blue socket X11001. I expected to find an unused pin that the socket on the end of the wire would just slip into. In my case there was already a Green/White wire in that slot so I looked at my options. In the end I chose to splice the Green/White wires. This is what the fuse card in the glove box says is how it should be. It means that the PDC is wired the same as if it was factory fitted.

The instructions also say to connect a brown wire to a grounding point X10012. This is supposed to be located in the passengers foot well (for both LHD and RHD). If it is there, it is somewhere behind the carpet and impossible to access.

I connected the ground connection to the stud that holds the fuse frame to the firewall.
It is located below the fuse panel, in the centre of the foot well, about 25mm below the top edge of the carpet. The top edge of the carpet has to be pulled down to access the 10mm nut.

The other two wires connect to the CAN bus. I was lucky enough to find a loop in the loom located in the big thick bundle forward of the fan motor. That gave me some slack wire that allowed me to untwist a section of the CAN bus wires.

The BMW kit came with everything I needed except tools. There is a generous amount of wire in the looms so don't worry about anything being too short.
The instructions give no clue to the difficulty of working around the fuse panel and were obviously written by someone who has never done the job.

Here is a list of things I needed to remove to get access to all the places I needed to work in:

Rear bumper skin
The plastic trim along the rear edge of the boot.
The boot linings, right hand side.
Rear seat
Right rear back seat cushion (my car has fold down rear seats).
Lower right B pillar trim
Right door sill trim front and rear
Right foot well trim, right side
Right foot well trim, upper
Left foot well trim, upper
Left foot well trim, left
Trim around the coffee cup holders
The coffee cup holders (necessary to remove the glove box)
Glove box
Fuse panel
Plastic cover over brake fluid reservoir
leaf catcher in the right rear drain
Front bumper skin

All of these must come off to do the job.

The work on the fuse panel was definitely the worst part of this job. That top right screw is a bitch to get at. No standard tool will fit within the space. Custom made tool is the only option.

The instructions say to allow 5 hours to do the job. That might be true if you'd done 10 of them before but I reckon you should allow at least 2 full days. It took me a lot longer than that but I was slowed down by the need to look at options when I found something unexpected.

The next stage is coding. I am a newbie to coding so it could take a while to finish that part of the job.

08-30-2015, 03:10 AM	#80
dazz100 Enlisted Member 8 Rep 32 Posts Drives: BMW 325i E90 2008 Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: New Zealand iTrader: (0)	Hi For the most part, the BMW PDC Front/Rear instructions were good to follow. It is what was not included in the instructions that made things difficult. There are four wires that need to be connected in the fuse panel area. The instructions say to insert the Green/White wire into pin 7 of the blue socket X11001. I expected to find an unused pin that the socket on the end of the wire would just slip into. In my case there was already a Green/White wire in that slot so I looked at my options. In the end I chose to splice the Green/White wires. This is what the fuse card in the glove box says is how it should be. It means that the PDC is wired the same as if it was factory fitted. The instructions also say to connect a brown wire to a grounding point X10012. This is supposed to be located in the passengers foot well (for both LHD and RHD). If it is there, it is somewhere behind the carpet and impossible to access. I connected the ground connection to the stud that holds the fuse frame to the firewall. It is located below the fuse panel, in the centre of the foot well, about 25mm below the top edge of the carpet. The top edge of the carpet has to be pulled down to access the 10mm nut. The other two wires connect to the CAN bus. I was lucky enough to find a loop in the loom located in the big thick bundle forward of the fan motor. That gave me some slack wire that allowed me to untwist a section of the CAN bus wires. The BMW kit came with everything I needed except tools. There is a generous amount of wire in the looms so don't worry about anything being too short. The instructions give no clue to the difficulty of working around the fuse panel and were obviously written by someone who has never done the job. Here is a list of things I needed to remove to get access to all the places I needed to work in: Rear bumper skin The plastic trim along the rear edge of the boot. The boot linings, right hand side. Rear seat Right rear back seat cushion (my car has fold down rear seats). Lower right B pillar trim Right door sill trim front and rear Right foot well trim, right side Right foot well trim, upper Left foot well trim, upper Left foot well trim, left Trim around the coffee cup holders The coffee cup holders (necessary to remove the glove box) Glove box Fuse panel Plastic cover over brake fluid reservoir leaf catcher in the right rear drain Front bumper skin All of these must come off to do the job. The work on the fuse panel was definitely the worst part of this job. That top right screw is a bitch to get at. No standard tool will fit within the space. Custom made tool is the only option. The instructions say to allow 5 hours to do the job. That might be true if you'd done 10 of them before but I reckon you should allow at least 2 full days. It took me a lot longer than that but I was slowed down by the need to look at options when I found something unexpected. The next stage is coding. I am a newbie to coding so it could take a while to finish that part of the job. Last edited by dazz100; 08-30-2015 at 03:24 AM..
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