Can only connect to Engine and Gearbox E39 2000

[ewoutbrogt]

I'm a newby, but did a lot of search on the internet. Unfortunately, I can only connect the INPA software to my gearbox and engine. However, I need to reprogram my DSC unit.
As I am not able to connect to the IKE or any other unit, I cannot retrieve any data like the ZCS of the car.
The car is a BMW E39 540i 9/2000, without the round connector under the hood.
I've tried already two different cables, with and without pin 7/8 soldered, but I cannot see any difference in behavior with the software.
Can anybody please help me to connect my computer to all the other components?


Edit: problem solved. The wire connected to pin 8 of the OBDII socket seems to be broken somewhere behind the dash. A bypass directly to te k-bus on the instrument cluster did the magic trick

[rondo]

Hi check under the hood again for the round connector and also look at the obd connector to see which pins are present (7&8?)

[ewoutbrogt]

In the past weeks / months, I checked everywhere under the hood to find the round socked, but without luck.
Today I went more into the wire diagram. Pin 7 was working good, but the K line on pin 8 was not.
I found the white wire with the purple stripe on different locations (Instrument cluster, DSC, OBD socket) and checked the wire. I noticed that pin 8 was not connected tot the Instrument cluster and also not to the DSC, while the DSC and Instrument cluster where linked together (just did a check with a multimeter). Placing another cable from the instrument cluster to the OBD socket, to bypass everything, I was able to access all the other components. Finally after 2 months of checking.

Does anybody knows where the white/purple wire from pin 8 in the OBDII socket under the steering wheel directly goes to? I think somewhere this cable is broken.

Today i gave it another try after weeks / months of trying to fix this problem.
Today I went more into detail about the wiring system of the car. In the past weeks, I've tried different obd cables, different computers, but always the same result, I was only able to read engine and gearbox data.
Engine and gearbox data are connected to pin 7 in the OBDII socket. The others are on pin 8. Because I couldn't see any difference between pin 7/8 soldered or not, my focus was on this wire in the car.
I found the white cable with a thin purple stripe at different locations. The DSC unit was connected to the Instrument Cluster, but both fail to the OBDII socket. (checked with a multimeter)
So I bypassed the existing wire, with a new one, plugged in the Instrument Cluster on one end, and in the OBDII socket on the other end.
Fired up the computer, end like a miracle, everything works.

Now I have another question. If I follow the white cable from the OBDII socket, it goes behind the dash. Does anyone knows where this cable (white with the purple stripe) goes to? I suspect this cable is broken somewhere.

Problem solved. The wire connected to pin 8 of the OBDII port, seems to be broken somewhere. With a bypass, directly to the instrument cluster, everything seems to work like it supposed to do.

does anybody knows where this wire (white with purple stripe) goes to? As far as I can see, it goes behid the dash.

[David Mc]

does anybody knows where this wire (white with purple stripe) goes to? As far as I can see, it goes behid the dash.

Have a look under the carpet in the Driver's side footwell.

[swirlflaps]

I have this very same problem all other avenues explored. Can you tell me how/where to access the white/purple wire at the instrument cluster so I can bypass?

[KevinMullins]

Have a look under the carpet in the Driver's side footwell.

Ditto - X183
From there it will go to all the various modules. (IKE, DSC, etc, etc)

G_015057.png

[swirlflaps]

Thanks, so you reckon I should re-connect it there rather than to the back of the instrument cluster?
Being right hand drive do you think this connection is likely to be driver or passenger side? if it turns out to be opposite side, to save me a routing a wire across the car, do you think it would work of the instrument cluster?

Cheers.

[David Mc]

The connector should still be under the carpet on the driver's side as locations are normally mirrored in right hand drive cars. Check the connector first as a break is far more likely at this location than at the cluster where the wiring is integrated as part of the harness.

[swirlflaps]

Thanks David mc. If it stops raining I'll be out there tomorrow.

[swirlflaps]

All sorted. Many thanks to all on this thread.
Tried to pull back the drivers carpet and nearly put myself in hospital!!! In the end it was easier to remove the instrument cluster (5mins), drop a wire down to the obd port pin 8.
After wiring it up, inpa picked up the airbag module and reset it.

[rswapp]

Ditto - X183
From there it will go to all the various modules. (IKE, DSC, etc, etc)

G_015057.png

After chasing my tale for 3 hours and constantly looking in the area of x181/183 I finally determined where exactly those splices are.
The picture really doesn't show x183 splice, it's not the ground splice bonded to the chassis.
Absolutely nowhere in any of the forums does it say where exactly this point is, not even in the BMW TIS.
You must remove the nut that holds the black wire loom guard from the chassis, pry the two plastic fasteners from the rocker box gently roll the black guard and you will see the splice block.
All the White/Purple trace wires are connected at this junction point, this is a place where you will get some water infiltration especially if you don't have the sealed and installed. Never operate a e39 without the jack pads installed under the rocker panel.
On my e39 all the white/purple wires broke from the splice, you can either butt splice the wires together or strip the wires back, solder them and heat shrink them. Might be difficult soldering them if they were corroded, too much surface oxidation for the solder to stick.

[David Mc]

Good information, thanks.

[rswapp]

After chasing my tale for 3 hours and constantly looking in the area of x181/183 I finally determined where exactly those splices are.
The picture really doesn't show x183 splice, it's not the ground splice bonded to the chassis.
Absolutely nowhere in any of the forums does it say where exactly this point is, not even in the BMW TIS.
You must remove the nut that holds the black wire loom guard from the chassis, pry the two plastic fasteners from the rocker box gently roll the black guard and you will see the splice block.
All the White/Purple trace wires are connected at this junction point, this is a place where you will get some water infiltration especially if you don't have the jack pads sealed and installed. Never operate a e39 without the jack pads installed under the rocker panel.
On my e39 all the white/purple wires broke from the splice, you can either butt splice the wires together or strip the wires back, solder them and heat shrink them. Might be difficult soldering them if they were corroded, too much surface oxidation for the solder to stick.

I corrected a typo, missed the jack pads sealed and installed, omitted the jack pads from the sentence.

[brc5]

Resurrecting a thread from the dead to add more detail. I have the exact same issue - but with the 20 pin diagnostic port, not the obd port. It's a 2000 model without an obd port.

from the schematic you can find about the place (bus troubleshooting PDFs) you can see there are two txd lines - one which goes direct to the dme and one which goes to the ike. From the wds we worked out it was a white/purple wire. The issue was that the pin 20 on the diagnostic port had zero voltage, tested with multimeter. I found the White/purple wire in the connector on the back of the ike, and checked the voltage, and got about 4 volts. That meant the ike was powering the line ok. So I fed a wire into the back of he connector and the other end in the back of the diagnostic port (needed about 1.5 meters of wire). I checked the voltage at the diagnostic port and the pin 20 was now getting voltage. The two txd wires are both white/purple so need to check it is the right one.

with this in place I checked the diagnostic again and this time I could access all modules again. Not sure whether I will trace this back (probably the x183 connection block) or run a new wire from the ike loom to the diagnostic port.

so if you are having a similar issue I would check the voltage on the diagnostic port pins (need to check the wds for the appropriate model) - if you have no voltage that is why no diagnostic.

[hodgess]

Hi,

If you are in the US, you have both a round port in the engine bay and an OBD port under the dash. If the wires in the footwell are corroded, niether will work.

[homepagez]

Hi,

If you are in the US, you have both a round port in the engine bay and an OBD port under the dash. If the wires in the footwell are corroded, niether will work.

I've spent months now working this issue - reading forums/etc. I really hope you can help me.

I have a 2001 BMW E39 M5 that refuses to start after a very dead battery caused the immobilizer to engage. The NAV system is now asking for a 4 digit code but the Emergency override count-down is stuck due to some unknown reason. I even tried walking through all 0000-9999 codes - no luck. I don't wish that on anyone. I've tried the "pull the battery, wait, reconnect, turn to position 1, etc" - no luck. Emergency timer is stuck at 9:59.

I began by connecting my BMW Scanner (1.40) via the under-the-hood PAC-MAN connector and I found I as unable to connect to anything but the DME.

I notice I had gotten moisture in the drivers side wheel well and the x183 block was corroded - which would explain the loss of one of the K-lines (pin 8). I'm now able to communicate to the ABS and LEW modules - but that's it. No ability to talk to the IKE - where I could attempt to find out why it's not allowing the count-down to take place. BMW Scanner is reporting "CAN timeout, instrument cluster". I do understand that most of the remaining modules live behind the cluster - and that's why I'm not seeing any of those modules reporting.

I checked voltage on the diag port under the hood and I'm seeing 12V on pin 20 now - but under 1V on pin 17 (which I believe is TX II)

I'm struggling where to go from here. Read that a bad module could be pulling pin 17 down - but I'm not sure how to systemically disconnect each module in turn. I've also considered that my cluster could be bad - but hesitant to go this path as I would have to reprogram the cluster.

Appreciate any ideas/thoughts - I'm stuck.

[homepagez]

I've spent months now working this issue - reading forums/etc. I really hope you can help me.

I have a 2001 BMW E39 M5 that refuses to start after a very dead battery caused the immobilizer to engage. The NAV system is now asking for a 4 digit code but the Emergency override count-down is stuck due to some unknown reason. I even tried walking through all 0000-9999 codes - no luck. I don't wish that on anyone. I've tried the "pull the battery, wait, reconnect, turn to position 1, etc" - no luck. Emergency timer is stuck at 9:59.

I began by connecting my BMW Scanner (1.40) via the under-the-hood PAC-MAN connector and I found I as unable to connect to anything but the DME.

I notice I had gotten moisture in the drivers side wheel well and the x183 block was corroded - which would explain the loss of one of the K-lines (pin 8). I'm now able to communicate to the ABS and LEW modules - but that's it. No ability to talk to the IKE - where I could attempt to find out why it's not allowing the count-down to take place. BMW Scanner is reporting "CAN timeout, instrument cluster". I do understand that most of the remaining modules live behind the cluster - and that's why I'm not seeing any of those modules reporting.

I checked voltage on the diag port under the hood and I'm seeing 12V on pin 20 now - but under 1V on pin 17 (which I believe is TX II)

I'm struggling where to go from here. Read that a bad module could be pulling pin 17 down - but I'm not sure how to systemically disconnect each module in turn. I've also considered that my cluster could be bad - but hesitant to go this path as I would have to reprogram the cluster.

Appreciate any ideas/thoughts - I'm stuck.

To close this out for future generations - after fixing the x183 block (which was falling apart) - I still had issues starting the car with the emergency count down and no access to the various onboard computers. Bought a used cluster and swapped - problem solved.