Hey guys and girls. Okay so I'm by no means an auto mechanic... I have a DICE unit for my M5 and believe that the unit is defective. Tom over at EAS sent me another unit and now in order to properly remove and install the new unit I need to disconnect my battery, install the new DICE unit, touch the connectors to drain the power, and then reconnect the cables. How do I do this?
I know the battery is in the trunk, but I only see one connection to the battery... ist hat the positive or negative? Also, what is the best order for disconnecting the battery, and then reconnecting the battery?
if you disconnect the cable in the back (IIRC---its the positive cable due to the red cable color) that would hence open the hot battery bus circuit and thus...its disconnected.
__________________ Im in the highspeed aluminum business
it's easier to disconnect the negative terminal. There is a little popup cover over the negative terminal just for this purpose. To get to the positive terminal, you have to take off the whole battery cover.
always remove negative (brown, on a bmw) first. For something like this, you only need to remove the negative cable, that takes the power out of the system, no need to remove both.
Mike
__________________
Mike
91 M5 Alpine White II, Silver Gray 3/90 production
17x8/17x9 M system with PS2, 20mm touring roll bar; Ground Control Coilovers; EAT Chip, CD43; bmw/nardi blackline steering wheel, 3.8 Cam Gears
08 535i / 6 speed
Space Gray; Gray; Sport/Premium/Nav
00 M5 Ti Silver; Imola/black sportiv --Sold
Engine:
Supersprint Headers, Dinan CAI kit and MAFS, Throttle Bodies, Cams, Ported heads, Exhaust, Custom dinan software, Evosport Pullies, Dinan clutch and lightened flywheel; Ignition solutions plasma coils
Suspension:
Dinan Stage 3 with front and rear Strut Tower Braces, Beastpower Sway bar brackets, Dinan Wheels with 275/285 PilotSport, X5 Thrust arm bushings, Stoptech 355mm 4 piston front, 355mm 2 piston rear brake kit, Dinan 3.45 diff
Interior/Misc:
Eurodash, updated steering wheel, Bluetooth retrofit, Sirius Retrofit, hardwired V1, Widescreen Mk4 nav, M audio retrofit, Ice Link, BSW Stage 1 speaker upgrade, bmw towbar
You want to remove the negative "-" first for safety reasons. For example, if your metal wrench is on the "+" terminal and it touches any metal part of the car ("-"), then you could have any of:
1) battery explosion (I've seen this first-hand)
2) fire
3) burned hands
4) lots of sparks and a pow that will scare the bejeesus out of you
Now if you disconnect the "-" first, you can touch the metal car with the metal wrench and nothing happens (they're both "-").
One last bit of advice - have your key fob handy. Disconnecting/reconnecting the battery:
1) could set off the alarm (and it doesn't matter that the battery is disconnected)
2) could lock your doors
Cheers!
__________________
Sold: 2003 ///M5 LMB/LMB/Al (great car)
2007 RS4, Daytona Gray Pearl/Silver Nappa Leather/Carbon Fiber/12.5:1CR, 8250rpm, 4.11 gears, 8-pot Brembos, modded by Audi quattro GmbH
Daily driver: Cleveland Launcher Ti 460
Serious toy: '07 Ducati 1098S Superbike - quickest bike ever tested by Cycle World, 9.79 @ 147mph.
another thing worth mentioning is to wait a couple of minutes after opening the trunk before you disconnect the battery. I believe the nav computer fires up when you open the trunk, and will power back down in 90 seconds. I've read that you can damage the nav computer if you disconnect the battery while it's running.
Mike
__________________
Mike
91 M5 Alpine White II, Silver Gray 3/90 production
17x8/17x9 M system with PS2, 20mm touring roll bar; Ground Control Coilovers; EAT Chip, CD43; bmw/nardi blackline steering wheel, 3.8 Cam Gears
08 535i / 6 speed
Space Gray; Gray; Sport/Premium/Nav
00 M5 Ti Silver; Imola/black sportiv --Sold
Engine:
Supersprint Headers, Dinan CAI kit and MAFS, Throttle Bodies, Cams, Ported heads, Exhaust, Custom dinan software, Evosport Pullies, Dinan clutch and lightened flywheel; Ignition solutions plasma coils
Suspension:
Dinan Stage 3 with front and rear Strut Tower Braces, Beastpower Sway bar brackets, Dinan Wheels with 275/285 PilotSport, X5 Thrust arm bushings, Stoptech 355mm 4 piston front, 355mm 2 piston rear brake kit, Dinan 3.45 diff
Interior/Misc:
Eurodash, updated steering wheel, Bluetooth retrofit, Sirius Retrofit, hardwired V1, Widescreen Mk4 nav, M audio retrofit, Ice Link, BSW Stage 1 speaker upgrade, bmw towbar
okay guys, thanks! i think i understand... so the cable actually connected to the battery in the trunk is the negative (the one under that little plastic clip cover)? or is that the positive? if so, where is the negative located... somewhere under the hood?
what about touching the positive and negative to drain the power in the cable? not necessary?
thanks for the nav tip... wouldn't have thought of that on my own...
Here is the note about the Nav power from Bluetooth installation instructions on bimmernav.com:
Quote:
ALWAYS disconnect BATTERY before working on the electrical system in a BMW. Most importantly, you should ensure that the navigation computer Power light is OFF before disconnecting your battery. BMW states that if the battery is disconnected when the navigation computer is on you may damage the nav computer. The important thing to keep in mind is do not disconnect the battery if the power light is on your navigation computer.
okay guys, thanks! i think i understand... so the cable actually connected to the battery in the trunk is the negative (the one under that little plastic clip cover)? or is that the positive? if so, where is the negative located... somewhere under the hood?
what about touching the positive and negative to drain the power in the cable? not necessary?
thanks for the nav tip... wouldn't have thought of that on my own...
-keith
GreekM5,
The negative is on the right and the positive is on the left side of the battery. Like the previous poster indicated it is more difficult to disconnect the positive side because you have to remove the cover.
Everything can be found in the trunk. No need to look under the hood. I hope that helps
Linear Mode
