Phone, Bluetooth, Pairing - 2003 M3

[veeonfire]

Hi All,

I am the proud new owner of a 2003 M3 convertible in topaz blue. Just wanted to introduce myself and say hello. I do love the car and am getting to grips with the SMG box.

One thing I am struggling to work out is how to connect my phone to the unit? Car has Bluetooth, I have the card with the code but cannot for the life of me work out how to set into pairing. I have tried holding the button on the steering wheel and starting it etc, there is no button by the handbrake just cup holders.
The display just stays on Activate Phone but nothing happens and my phone doesn't find the car....

Can pairing be activated via INPA - if so, does anyone have the steps to do this?

Many thanks

Vimal

[DennisCooper]

Hi,

The BT modules in these cars are getting old now and some are failing and other's aren't compatible with various/many phones. iPhones have the best chance of full compatibility, Android can be hit and miss.

This forum is 99.8% USA orientated and for 'common' issues and aspects to various BMW models, it's great as a resource. You may already know but in case you don't, look at M3cutters and E46zone for 3 series specific UK focused forums to get more information from.

if you *must* have oem BT working in your car, then you might need to purchase a later BT module and hope that your phone is compatible with it. You might need to also delete all the old pairings with the current module. Have a search on this and other BMW forums for this and try out some of the suggestions.

Cheers, Dennis!

[Onizukachan]

2003 don't really have BT. No matter what it says on the passcode paper.
You need to look for the tcu PDF on the web that lists the TCU that do,
buy one(I have a first gen -993 for $50) on eBay etc and it will work fine with your iPhone.
Even better if you have ncs expert in case you have to code mobile handset aktiv.