E30 Zone

Hi all, first post so go easy!

I have an E30 318i Lux Touring. It has a few niggles that I am slowly working my way through, some worse than others. I thought I would spend some time on an easy one this afternoon, and it turned out not to be so easy (inevitably!) so would appreciate some advice if anyone could help?

When I bought the car recently, it came with a hole in the dashboard and a Blaupunkt RDS radio in the boot. It's just a simple radio/cassette. I had assumed that fitment would not be entirely straightforward, as otherwise the vendor would have done it... I was right. Having looked around on the internet, it seems that my radio (which is allegedly from a 1993 Touring) has later, E36-type attachments, so the plug 'n play plug on my car (a 1993 Touring) does not fit, and my car's aerial plug is too fat to fit the socket on the back of the radio.

I have read that there are adaptors available for both, but my question here is 1) is that correct and 2) does anyone on here know where I might find them? Thank you very much in advance for any thoughts. Should add that I know nothing about car audio, having come from older classic cars! So treat me like I know nothing and you will be pitching it about right.

ST

Welcome Simon

Halfords if you want off the shelf - or ebay if you can deduce what you need and order it.

Aerial plugs I thought were standard size so its a bit unusual it doesnt fit.

Might be best if you can get a decent photo of the loom in the car and then the connections/loom on the back of the stereo and more help should be forthcoming.

post some pics of the car in the Photos section - its easy!

Hi, thanks for the response. You mean Halford do adaptors off the shelf that would work between the radio and the car? That's great, will have a look - I am happy with off the shelf, absolutely.

I googled to see whether this had come up before, and the aerial plug on the car being too fat for the hole on the radio was one that others had encountered - the plug my car must be two or three mm, whereas the hole is under one - I will try for pics but got a new 'phone this week and it is all I can do to make 'phone calls at the moment...

Thank you very much for the response, will research both Halfords and taking photos.

ST

Sounds like the aerial plug in the car loom is standard and its some sort of strange connection on the headunit.

Have a look at :

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... ice%7C%7C1

The way I'd probably do it is to take a decent pic of the car loom connections on your phone, and then take the headunit into halfords and try and find one that matches the two up.

Good luck !

That's really very kind of you, thank you so much for the link. That sounds like a very good idea, will head off to Halford's armed as you suggest. My radio is genuine, it has BMW stamps in the metal, so presumably the right part exists out there. It has 15 metal pins to accept the power plug, but the beige plastic plug on the car was entirely different. Will do as you suggest and it appears likely that Halfords will have something to suit. I would not have thought of them at all, so thank you very much indeed.

ST

the blaupunkt rds radio should fit into a factory connection on a 1993 touring, however sounds like it was removed then wires chopped and something else fitted by some cowboy. for the sake of a couple of quid someone would rather spend time cutting is beyond me.

Unless the original connector is further back as its allready got an adaptor fitted, have you tried looking further back on the loom ?

there are two types of Ariel sockets, easiest way to describe is one is male and one female. although both different shapes

I have looked as far back as I can through the radio opening in the dash, and I just have the two feeds, one aerial, one power. They look factory enough to me, but that doesn't mean much. I have read of others having this issue on other fora. If someone has hacked it about then I agree entirely at the bizarre aversion to spending a few pennies! I will have a look in Halford's, and will either post a follow up or try to post some pics once I have persuaded the iPhone to let me.

Thank you for the advice.

ST

Where are you ? unless you're in the middle of nowhere there should be another zoner near you who can take a look

the original ones sort of push onto the radio then you squeeze the clip shut and it clamps onto the radio

Lol middle of nowhere! Peak District, north of Bakewell, south of Buxton. Thank you for the thought - I will see how I get on with Halfords and take it from there. It feels like there must be a simple solution, as all the plugs look to be in good nick, they just need an adapter of some sort. Fingers crossed...

Middle of nowhere. Try PG automotive in Matlock for adaptors tel 0162956661 good luck.

That's a good shout, thank you very much.

ST

Come to think of it ,my touring has same/simillar radio fitted , you dont get sorted we can have look how its wired. Not far from you. South of Bakewell in sunny Matlock.

Cool, thanks for the thought, will see how I get on negotiating Halford's and drop you a line.

No probs

Best thing to do is pop up some photos of what you have - the back of the radio and its plug and the wiring in the car. Then we can say for sure.

Thank you - will try, but new 'phone this week (my wife has decided that we should join the Apple revolution lol) so I have lost email and browsing on my 'phone, so am struggling to upload anything to anything. When I resolve it I will upload some pics.

I found an aerial adaptor on Ebay last night that looked as though it might solve that side of things - for 89p and free p&p I thought it was worth a punt!

Morning all, have had a stab at uploading a picture using the new 'phone, not sure if it will work but this is the back of the radio:

ST

Sorry I have no idea why it is so big, apologies.

And here is a picture of the aerial and power plugs I have coming out of the dashboard:

That is definitely a standard ISO connection on the car, and a standard aerial. Must be a Blaupunkt specific adaptor that's needed as I've never seen the connector on the headunit before.

Thank you, that's very helpful. Am trying to narrow my search field, so all contributions welcomed!!

ST

What model of stereo is it?

To be honest I am not exactly sure - it has various numbers on it, stamped into the metal, but nothing that looks particularly like a model. Blaupunkt Reverse RDS Radio Cassette, Dolby, CE33? It is stamped BMW 6512 1375737 on top. It simply says 'BMW Reverse RDS' on the front, below the cassette opening and above the radio controls.

SimonTemplar wrote:And here is a picture of the aerial and power plugs I have coming out of the dashboard:

This pic. is of a plug that's part of the radio, which, by the red tape, has been bodged onto the E30 radio loom and speaker wires, which are just open ended wires in standard form, on all but the last E30s.
The last of the tourings came with a radio loom that had a plug on it that connected directly to the choice of radio. This plug was not too disimilar from the ISO plug, but is not interchangeable.

This pic. is of a plug that's part of the radio, which, by the red tape, has been bodged onto the E30 radio loom and speaker wires, which are just open ended wires in standard form, on all but the last E30s.
The last of the tourings came with a radio loom that had a plug on it that connected directly to the choice of radio. This plug was not too disimilar from the ISO plug, but is not interchangeable.

That's sort of encouraging and depressing all at once! Any idea what I do to mate that plug to the connection on the back of the radio (in my first pic). As I was taking the pic I thought 'this red tape doesn't look factory... sigh...

The BMW part number quoted suggests it isn't an E30 item

http://realoem.com/bmw/partxref.do?part=6512+1375737

The BMW part number quoted suggests it isn't an E30 item

http://realoem.com/bmw/partxref.do?part=6512+1375737

Thank you for posting the helpful list (I'm too new to these cars to have that sort of thing to hand so quickly, apologies).

But sorry if I am being very slow... the part number I gave is on the list, and specifies my car as one of those to which it was fitted - so surely the part number actually confirms that it is a genuine BMW part?

In your position I'd either try and find a replacement for the original cable/plug that was removed when your stereo was swapped for a modern unit, or get a modern radio and possibly the complete ISO harness (tenner from Halfords) as well.

In your position I'd either try and find a replacement for the original cable/plug that was removed when your stereo was swapped for a modern unit, or get a modern radio and possibly the complete ISO harness (tenner from Halfords) as well.

I absolutely see where you are coming from, but I am afraid that I am a bit of an originality geek, or at least I like things to look as though they could have been original, so I don't want a modern stereo in there, prefer a cassette/radio, and as this one was on the car when new I am going to try to use it.

But your post suggests that there is a location behind the dash from where I could unplug my car's (apparently bodged) wiring and plug in an original section? That would have a plug on the other end that should fit my radio? Unless I am not reading your post right? If that is the case, then tracking down that wiring would be my best bet, it seems, if I want to keep the radio? What do you think?

SimonTemplar wrote: But sorry if I am being very slow... the part number I gave is on the list, and specifies my car as one of those to which it was fitted - so surely the part number actually confirms that it is a genuine BMW part?

Genuine BMW part, fitted to E31 (8 series), E36 (3 series) and Z3s only. NOT fitted to the E30. That's the way I read the Real OEM list, anyhow

I suspect your head unit is newer than your car, and was mis sold to the previous owner as being right for the E30.

http://realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.do?model ... 7294&hg=65

This link shows what radio equipment might have been fitted by the dealer at point of sale. Vast numbers of cars came with no dealer fit audio.

Genuine BMW part, fitted to E31 (8 series), E36 (3 series) and Z3s only. NOT fitted to the E30. That's the way I read the Real OEM list, anyhow

I suspect your head unit is newer than your car, and was mis sold to the previous owner as being right for the E30.

That sounds sensible, except are we both looking at the same list? The one from the link a few posts ago? I have no loyalty to the radio, so I'm not deliberately wearing blinkers, but doesn't it say that that part was fitted to E30's? About half way down? Or am I completing missing something when reading these lists? (More than possible!!)

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=189510

This may be of use.

SimonTemplar wrote:

Genuine BMW part, fitted to E31 (8 series), E36 (3 series) and Z3s only. NOT fitted to the E30. That's the way I read the Real OEM list, anyhow

I suspect your head unit is newer than your car, and was mis sold to the previous owner as being right for the E30.

That sounds sensible, except are we both looking at the same list? The one from the link a few posts ago? I have no loyalty to the radio, so I'm not deliberately wearing blinkers, but doesn't it say that that part was fitted to E30's? About half way down? Or am I completing missing something when reading these lists? (More than possible!!)

Every time I link to the list, it mentions only the E31, E36 and Z3 models. Curious.