trying to put a CD43 into a 1989 E34 - and its not plug and play

[RonnieB]

Hey gang need some help
New to BMW's and thanks in advance for any replys.

I know it can be done, but because it is not plug and play I am hoping someone has "been there , done that"
:)
I have read till I AM crosseyed but many of the links are broken, pictures missing.
Something about not connecting speaker grounds, using an extra amp

All I really want is to play CD's in the Ol gal and I wanted to keep the BMW look.
My current system has the tape/AMFM/weather band, 10 speakers .
The CD 43 I have has the 17 pin connector that comes out of the donnor car , yes it is the one that has the M//3 logo

I also have a steering question I will post in another thread - thanks again!

[genphreak]

Ahhhh... let me guess. Premium sound? They have a fader under the cluster that makes the speaker wiring different to most. Just remove the fader from the system and it will all become clear... the wiring goes from where the fader used to be to your CD43 outputs.

BTW: If you have premium sound system, you can use the crossover in the 4-channel booster amp that can be retained when substituting it for a proper 4-5 channel amp. I've written this up in the past, as many have... check the archives et al.

[RonnieB]

thanks, I am going to tear into it , and see what I can figure out, I will post some pics if I get lost, which is most likely :)

[Paul in NZ]

thanks, I am going to tear into it , and see what I can figure out, I will post some pics if I get lost, which is most likely :)

i also beleive there is actually a bmw wiring loom to do this,and or commercially made looms,to conert the old e34 to the later wiring system which will be plug and play

[RonnieB]

try try as I might I could not find anything , do you have a part number?

[Paul in NZ]

try try as I might I could not find anything , do you have a part number?

65128350188 ( ithink)

let me know how you get on,cos i have a cd43 herre to put in too.For some reason the cd43 and dice ipod unit dont work in some E 34s.

[RonnieB]

well what i have done so far is identify the 15 or so wires off the plug that sits on back of the CD43 . What I found was + and - for the front and back , left and rear speakers. the rest are power, illumination , ect
What I have read and dont quite understand is that I am not suppose to connect the ground side of the speakers. I thought I could just match up the wires from the car harness to the identified wires of the CD 43, why wouldnt that work???
I still am not certain I have premium sound system, I do have two tweeters in the door window corners, but I do not have a separate fader. My current radio I cannot seem to source to see if I can find out more about it . It is AM/FM/TAPE with weather band. I looked on ebay and online and I cannot find one that looks quite like it . It is BMW original , my build date was 2/89
More to follow

[RonnieB]

so my old unit is a KE 83 by BMW?? I got it out tonight
the connectors are as follows 4 speaker connections , each connector has one wire to them, I assume these are 4 positive wires. there is a line for Ignition , power ant and ground, plus there is a ground stap on the back of the radio. One other plug that I have yet to figure out . Im lost ....

[RonnieB]

the other plug has a white and yellow wire, connected to a black grey wire and a red white wire

[genphreak]

There are special looms (Eg CD43 plug and loom) which are used to install later model radios to an early car, they just plug into the old plug and then the radio plug. Handy as you can plug in and out real easy later on to install the old radio. If yours came with the plug and wires, you remove the original plug with the old radio and just splice the new wires into the existing wiring.

[RonnieB]

OK, thanks, what I ended up doing is to take all the spades and conncectors off the car loom and the radio loom and replaced with bullet connectors. I matched all the lines up leaving the CD43 negative speaker wires unhooked. It took awhile to figure out where the 12V+ constant needed to go ( none of the colors matched) but once I did all worked fine. I kept loosing code each time I shut the car off so I knew I has something backasswards, but got it now and it sounds sweet, clear and 10X better than my old unit
Thanks for everyones help

[Paul in NZ]

do you also have the ipod adapter?

[RonnieB]

no , just the unit , all I need

[genphreak]

Great. BTW, If you have tweeters you have premium sound. I guess that only some cars had the fader- probably just those that came with a head unit that was missing one :) eg older cars- the old Becker radios maybe...

[RonnieB]

I do , and like I said, this was a good upgrade for me , ended up with a unit from Europe bought on EBAY, dont know why I waited so long lol