New owner questions

[Emmo]

As a new owner I have just a couple of questions you guys might be able to help me with.

1. The car has run flat tyres - I can't seem to find a spare wheel or jack equipment. Is this normal when run flats are fitted?

2. I have not been issued with a key code for the radio. This was always needed when I ran Jags previously if the battery was disconnected. Do BMWs need this?

Cheers.

[Greydog]

Morning Martin

Welcome to the Forum, here is to many miles of enjoyable motoring.

Your questions,

1. Where runflats are fitted as standard the theory is there's no need to carry a spare or any of the tools. BMW are not alone here, with tyre manufacturers telling us that a runflat  will give up to 50 miles driving when deflated, they see no reason to supply the spare or jack also they assume that we all will be within that distance of somewhere that stocks that tyre?? 

2. The manufacturers introduced key codes to try and reduce/prevent theft BMW took the approach of component installation with elements scattered around the car making a thief's job difficult. The unit will also be coded to the chassis (on certain cars/models) which further complicates the thief's job. You can retrofit items and have them coded or with the right diagnostic software and a lap top or even mobile phone code it yourself.

Enjoy the car

Dave

[Emmo]

Hi Dave

Thanks for the info on run flats. 50 miles is not that far when looking for a place to repair or replace a tyre - motorways on a Sunday night come to mind! Regarding the radio key code, when I had my previous car (Jag S Type) battery disconnected for certain work on the vehicle, it required the key code to be inputted once the battery was reconnected before it would work again. I seem to read into your reply that because the BMW radio is difficult to pinch, no code is required and subsequently neither needed when the battery is reconnected for instance?

One more question if you don't mind. My door mirrors - I can't seem to find any way of folding them back either from the inside of the car or by the key fob. Can't even fold them back manually either. My manual suggests using a button on the left of the selector switch used for adjustment. I just have one slider selector switch, nothing else. Am I assuming then that my model doesn't have a fold back facility? Strange thing to omit form a car that has all the other bells and whistles.

Thanks, Martin

[Greydog]

Morning Martin

I have a friend who has a Mercedes with runflats who had just that issue M18 on a Sunday night apparently the only indication was the tyre pressure warning lamp and increased road noise. He had no clue how far he had traveled on it and it was too hot to touch he ended up calling recovery. Since then he has put tyre goo in all tyres and carries a small pump that plugs into the cigarette lighter, my X5 has staggered tyres so while it does have a spare (a bicycle wheel) I to have tyre goo and a pump ( BMW supply them as a Kit at a stupid price).

One of the tricks with your BMW is to carry out a reset of all control units by disconnecting the Battery for half an hour (bit like the hard reset on a computer) so no radio codes needed.

Have a look at www.realoem.com put the last 7 digits of your Vin into the search box it will bring up a parts list for your model look in the Trim section (I think) and you should see if your model has powered mirrors. Often they are there but need enabling in the software. There are many DIY Diagnostic packages available (I use BMW 1.4.0) many now are using Carly for BMW google BMW Diagnostic Programs and read up.you could save quite a bit rather than being in the hands of Dealers who will often charge a minimum of 1 hours labour (often more) for a diagnostic check.

Dave

[John Reed]

Hello)
Can you help me I just bought my first BMW 3 series with the android head unit.
I found this article http://smarty-trend.com/blog/260_connec ... -play.html
the problem is I can't connect my Iphone so Does anybody know how to connect? 🙂

[Greydog]

Hi John

Welcome to the Forum 

Looking your header you say the car is an e90 2001 I didn't think e90 started until 2004? or is it a different car?  If the car is e46 2001 or e90 2004 vintage then there were no android head units then so I would think you have an after market head unit'

If the car has the original BMW Professional set up with Nav and CD in the boot early cars tended to have a motorola phone built in which required its own sim. Cars around 2002 started getting bluetooth but it wasn't great tech.

It may be better to start a new thread or ask Trevor to move this one, some pictures would help identify what you have

Dave

[Emmo]

On 3 December 2018 at 8:12 AM, Greydog said:

Morning Martin

I have a friend who has a Mercedes with runflats who had just that issue M18 on a Sunday night apparently the only indication was the tyre pressure warning lamp and increased road noise. He had no clue how far he had traveled on it and it was too hot to touch he ended up calling recovery. Since then he has put tyre goo in all tyres and carries a small pump that plugs into the cigarette lighter, my X5 has staggered tyres so while it does have a spare (a bicycle wheel) I to have tyre goo and a pump ( BMW supply them as a Kit at a stupid price).

One of the tricks with your BMW is to carry out a reset of all control units by disconnecting the Battery for half an hour (bit like the hard reset on a computer) so no radio codes needed.

Have a look at www.realoem.com put the last 7 digits of your Vin into the search box it will bring up a parts list for your model look in the Trim section (I think) and you should see if your model has powered mirrors. Often they are there but need enabling in the software. There are many DIY Diagnostic packages available (I use BMW 1.4.0) many now are using Carly for BMW google BMW Diagnostic Programs and read up.you could save quite a bit rather than being in the hands of Dealers who will often charge a minimum of 1 hours labour (often more) for a diagnostic check.

Dave

Thanks for the heads up Dave, appreciated.

Martin