E30 Zone

How do I fit a replacement aerial on a 1990 4dr?

Its dead easy!........youll need to remove the left side boot liner (if the existing one is in the standard place) and you should be able to see the aerial mounting holes and connections etc.

It should be a 10 minute job!

I've got the old one out, apart from I can't see the black connector on the black wire to disconnect it so I can connect the new one...

It should connect to the aerial in a screwing fashion near to the top of the aerial.

Ill try and find a pic

Yes but where does it connect the other end?

Should the aerial move up when the ignition is on or is it only when you start the engine? Basically, I can't start the engine due to another problem so was wondering if it should raise on ignition... The new aerial is a Beru one from ECP...

I think my electric aerial is tied to the stereo powering up, not the ignition. Of course the stereo powers up at any ignition stage.

Oh ok thanks. Not sure what's wrong then as everything is connected...

You've connected red black and the BLUE cable? blue cable goes to the stereo and when the stereo powers up tells the aerial to extend

I've got a main black cable then a red and a green cable both going into a white connector. There is also a black earth strap...

HI i've got the same problem - retrofitting an original Pioneer radio/cassette player to my 1990 318i 4 door.

What colour wire am I looking for from the electric aerial - red/black (one wire) or red and black (2 wires)? Should I then find a blue wire from the stereo to connect to this/these? How can I trst if the colours are different?

Also, I can only get the two front speakers to work? Could two of the four channels in the radio/cassette be dead? How to test?

Thanks for any help or suggestions

The BMW colours for the aerial control wire from the front of the car are a plain red wire and a plain white wire, which are joined together to make a figure 8 parallel twin cable.
The red wire is 12 volts permanent live for the aerial, and the white wire is the control. With 12 volts + on the white wire the aerial should be up. With zero volts on it, the aerial is down.
If a black wire is an earth wire, then that's not a BMW wire. Black is usually ignition switched 12 volts live on BMW's. Brown is always earth.

Hi Brian, does this mean that I connect the plain red to the end of the plain white ?

eddieg wrote:Hi Brian, does this mean that I connect the plain red to the end of the plain white ?

At which end?
Only if you want a flat battery every morning.