Retrofit multifunction steeringhweel 1998 E39

[osteper]

Hi guys!

I'd like to retrofit a MF M-sport steeringhweel to my E39. It is made in 01/1998. Anyone knows if its possible to do this on my car? I haven't found much about doing this to E39's produced in the same year as mine.

Any help is appreciated!

[cal45fan]

Find a donor car made BEFORE 3/99. You must find a single stage unit because that is what your system is.

[osteper]

Find a donor car made BEFORE 3/99. You must find a single stage unit because that is what your system is.

Is that all I need to get? No cables or anything?
Thanks for your help!

[Qsilver7]

Do you already have the 4 spoke MFL steering wheel and slip ring? I ask because all e39s came standard with MFL steering wheels in the USA market. If you have a regular 4 spoke steering wheel WITHOUT MFL buttons...or a heated steering wheel...then you may or may not need more components.

The heated steering wheel uses a different slip ring...so if you have that feature & want to go to the 3 spoke "M" MFL steering wheel...that wheel was not offered with a heat option. If you have a regular 4 spoke steering wheel (no MFL buttons) and your build date is prior to 9/1996...then you don't have the MFL control module that will communicate over the I-bus. You would need to some how run a wire from the new MFL steering wheel to connect to another I-bus wire in this case:

[osteper]

Do you already have the 4 spoke MFL steering wheel and slip ring? I ask because all e39s came standard with MFL steering wheels in the USA market. If you have a regular 4 spoke steering wheel WITHOUT MFL buttons...or a heated steering wheel...then you may or may not need more components.

The heated steering wheel uses a different slip ring...so if you have that feature & want to go to the 3 spoke "M" MFL steering wheel...that wheel was not offered with a heat option. If you have a regular 4 spoke steering wheel (no MFL buttons) and your build date is prior to 9/1996...then you don't have the MFL control module that will communicate over the I-bus. You would need to some how run a wire from the new MFL steering wheel to connect to another I-bus wire in this case:

Thanks for your help!

I have the 4-spoke steering wheel WITHOUT heating or MFL functions.

So it looks like I can get an M-sport steering wheel with MFL, produced after 09/1996 and the steering wheel will already have the control-module incorporated? Would be neat if theres no more parts needed, except for running the wire to I-bus!
I guess I'm gonna need to google some more, to find out where that I-bus wire needs to be connected.

[Qsilver7]

Thanks for your help!

I have the 4-spoke steering wheel WITHOUT heating or MFL functions.

So it looks like I can get an M-sport steering wheel with MFL, produced after 09/1996 and the steering wheel will already have the control-module incorporated? Would be neat if theres no more parts needed, except for running the wire to I-bus!
I guess I'm gonna need to google some more, to find out where that I-bus wire needs to be connected.

The I-bus wire is running all over the place...shouldn't be hard to find below the steering wheel since the instrument cluster is the main gatekeeper...and EVERYTHING runs to it, or through it.

It may even already be in your slip ring wiring harness since you identify you have a 1998 model year...check the harness first to see if it's there. I'm not sure what the wire color is for the I-bus (somewhere deep in my fading memory there's something that says white...but I'm not sure if its a specific color with a white stripe or a white wire with some other color stripe on it).

Also remember...you need a 3 spoke steering wheel from 9/1996-2/1999 build date. The 3 spoke steering wheels from 3/99-up are designed with the dual stage airbag system (as already mentioned) which has a different slip ring, different airbag, and different mounting to the steering column.

Image below shows the topology of the communication bus system. Hopefully it will give you an idea of why I mentioned that there should be multiple I-bus wires around the steering column...due to its proximity to the instrument cluster:

- - - Updated - - -

The 1st pic below shows the wires running from the single stage 3 spoke steering wheel & slip ring. The 2nd pic shows where the white connector in pic 1 plugs in below the steering column (it goes to the white connector in pic 2). Remember I mentioned that the I-bus wire may be white (still double check because I could be off my rocker)...but see if you have the white wire running out of your slip ring. If you do, then the job may have just gotten a lot simpler...and all you may need to do is plug & play:

Check to see if the receiving connector also has a connecting pin & wire in the white connector in pic below (if the white wire is the I-bus wire)

{the 2 wires in the 1st pic above get plugged into these two connectors in the pic below}

[osteper]

The I-bus wire is running all over the place...shouldn't be hard to find below the steering wheel since the instrument cluster is the main gatekeeper...and EVERYTHING runs to it, or through it.

It may even already be in your slip ring wiring harness since you identify you have a 1998 model year...check the harness first to see if it's there. I'm not sure what the wire color is for the I-bus (somewhere deep in my fading memory there's something that says white...but I'm not sure if its a specific color with a white stripe or a white wire with some other color stripe on it).

Also remember...you need a 3 spoke steering wheel from 9/1996-2/1999 build date. The 3 spoke steering wheels from 3/99-up are designed with the dual stage airbag system (as already mentioned) which has a different slip ring, different airbag, and different mounting to the steering column.

Image below shows the topology of the communication bus system. Hopefully it will give you an idea of why I mentioned that there should be multiple I-bus wires around the steering column...due to its proximity to the instrument cluster:

- - - Updated - - -

The 1st pic below shows the wires running from the single stage 3 spoke steering wheel & slip ring. The 2nd pic shows where the white connector in pic 1 plugs in below the steering column (it goes to the white connector in pic 2). Remember I mentioned that the I-bus wire may be white (still double check because I could be off my rocker)...but see if you have the white wire running out of your slip ring. If you do, then the job may have just gotten a lot simpler...and all you may need to do is plug & play:

Check to see if the receiving connector also has a connecting pin & wire in the white connector in pic below (if the white wire is the I-bus wire)

Thanks alot for your help!
Will look for the I-bus wire when I got time, and do some research if theres more work needed. If its just some easy wiring needed I will definitely order a 3-spoke steering wheel with MFL!
I'm currently changing the lower thrust-arms, ball joints and the entire rocker-panel, so I gotta get that done first!

Edit: Just did some research, yeah you are right, the white wire is I-bus!
Color coding:
White: I-bus
Black: Cruisecontrol
Blue: Horn
Purple: 12V+
Brown: Ground

Wonder where the black one, labeled cruisecontrol goes?

[dannyzabolotny]

So if one wanted to install the sport wheel on an early 1995 build car (an E38 in this case), there would be more work involved?

[easymoney]

I have a 3 spoke "M" steering with stage I airbag without slipring if you are interested but it's gonna be expensive. It came from my Touring built 09/98. Not that many available now.

[Qsilver7]

So if one wanted to install the sport wheel on an early 1995 build car (an E38 in this case), there would be more work involved?

Yes...Cliff (visionbmw7) did a DIY back in 2008 (found on e38.org) when he installed a 3 spoke steering wheel in his 95 e38. If it's not covered in the text write up...he has a link to his youtube video: http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/476495

The problem is as mentioned in the info back in post#2. Prior to 9/96 build date...the MFL control module is below the dash...not built into the steering wheel/slip ring harness. All it takes is a simple wire so that the data can flow to the I-bus.

[dannyzabolotny]

Yes...Cliff (visionbmw7) did a DIY back in 2008 (found on e38.org) when he installed a 3 spoke steering wheel in his 95 e38. If it's not covered in the text write up...he has a link to his youtube video: http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/476495

The problem is as mentioned in the info back in post#2. Prior to 9/96 build date...the MFL control module is below the dash...not built into the steering wheel/slip ring harness. All it takes is a simple wire so that the data can flow to the I-bus.

Thanks for that! Though now that I've thought about it for a bit, it might just make more sense to get a regular 4-spoke prefacelift wheel and get it rebuilt/recovered to be thicker and have the bumps that the sport wheel has. That's all I really care about anyway.

[osteper]

The I-bus wire is running all over the place...shouldn't be hard to find below the steering wheel since the instrument cluster is the main gatekeeper...and EVERYTHING runs to it, or through it.

It may even already be in your slip ring wiring harness since you identify you have a 1998 model year...check the harness first to see if it's there. I'm not sure what the wire color is for the I-bus (somewhere deep in my fading memory there's something that says white...but I'm not sure if its a specific color with a white stripe or a white wire with some other color stripe on it).

Also remember...you need a 3 spoke steering wheel from 9/1996-2/1999 build date. The 3 spoke steering wheels from 3/99-up are designed with the dual stage airbag system (as already mentioned) which has a different slip ring, different airbag, and different mounting to the steering column.

Image below shows the topology of the communication bus system. Hopefully it will give you an idea of why I mentioned that there should be multiple I-bus wires around the steering column...due to its proximity to the instrument cluster:

- - - Updated - - -

The 1st pic below shows the wires running from the single stage 3 spoke steering wheel & slip ring. The 2nd pic shows where the white connector in pic 1 plugs in below the steering column (it goes to the white connector in pic 2). Remember I mentioned that the I-bus wire may be white (still double check because I could be off my rocker)...but see if you have the white wire running out of your slip ring. If you do, then the job may have just gotten a lot simpler...and all you may need to do is plug & play:

Check to see if the receiving connector also has a connecting pin & wire in the white connector in pic below (if the white wire is the I-bus wire)

{the 2 wires in the 1st pic above get plugged into these two connectors in the pic below}

I just recieved my M-sport steering wheel, removed from a 1998, same as mine.

I checked what wires went into the connector you showed me, and there were only 2 wires connected. Brown (Ground), and Blue(Horn).
To get the radio/telephone buttons working I guess I only need the I-bus cable connected. But to get the MFL working, according to BMW's retrofit guide, I need to pull some wires from the LCM and DDE box.

The turn signal stalk-connector seem to have a white wire going to it, do you know if this is an I-bus wire? That would make things a bit easier. Would still have to pull the wires behind my dash and glovebox tho, but not that big of a deal.

[osteper]

Update:
I have managed to get the radio buttons to work, by using the I-bus wire that goes to the radio. I did some research on where to connect the cruise control wire. Turns out my 525tds has a 18 pin connector (Think it was X6041) right next to the DDE unit, the CC wire is supposed to be connected in to pin 12. I tried this yesterday, but could not get the CC to work. Will do some more research. Might be a bad connection in the cable somewhere as I had to splice it.

[gmak]

Nice. Baby step progress, but progress nonetheless.

[osteper]

Another update, seems that the cruise control is working after all! I was driving, when I pressed the CC button for fun, and it started holding the speed by itself!

So the problem is that the light in the dashboard isn't working properly. I know the light itself works, as it lights up when I perform the speedometer/lights check.

Anyone know what the problem might be?

[iViLe]

I think I remember reading that the cluster may need to be programmed to turn on the light when cruise is on.