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Getting wires through firewall on 2010 BMW e60

DIY: 
19K views 12 replies 6 participants last post by  Waitingondapig 
#1 ·
First - apologies for the large pictures but I thought given the detail in them it'd be better than down-sizing.

I'm installing a Laser Interceptor and radar detector system so have been trying to figure out how I'm going to route the wires. So yesterday I had read about a potential spot on I think an e63 (sorry can't remember who posted it!) for a passthrough on the firewall of my car so I had a couple of minutes and decided to poke around and see if it'd work. One thing led to another and after a few more minutes I had my car torn apart. Well at that point it only made since to just get the wires in place and then bundle them for when I had the time to do the rest of the work. So I took pictures, some were done after the fact since I didn't originally intend to actually do this project yet :) But, here's a clean route to get through the firewall on an e60 for sure, but possibly all e6x's and potentially others. Again, this wasn't my brain child so I can't take credit for the find but it does work well and is remarkably easy. Enjoy!



I didn't document taking the interior portion apart. The M5 has a crazy sound-proofed and airtight cabin so it's a bear to say the least. But I think despite all the crap I took off all that may have been needed was the small plastic panel above the feet where the accessory cigarette lighter is located. I removed the glovebox and some other things which I don't think was necessary for this step but it did provide clean and easy access.

On the right side of the car (passenger side on US models), there is an electrical box under the hood hidden away behind the cabin micro-filters. This has feeds into the fuse panel which is accessible through the glove-box. Which, coincidentally, if you don't have a changer provides a darn handy spot for mounting your CPU's while providing ready access for future updates and such. There is an un-used pass through on the firewall in here as well which allows you to just feed the wires through.

Pictures:

Figure 1: To get the access you need to remove the micro-filters on both sides of the car, the plastic water channels that are below the hinges, and the plastic housing for the micro-filters. Sounds worse than it is.



Figure 2: the micro-filters come off by popping the retaining clip on the side and rotating about 90 degrees the plastic retention bolt (I think it was 13mm hex). Take them both off. Note the right one has wires - I didn't mess with them as I just laid it over to the side and left them connected. (good time to change these if you need to). Also, there are two torx screws, one on each side, noted here on the bottom. This holds the plastic housing in place and that hat to come out to. Sorry, didn't pay attention to the size.



Figure 3: Once you have both micro-filters off, there is a plastic gizmo in the middle of them that slides to the right and lifts off. There are three more of the plastic retention bolts on each filter connection point. I don't know if they need loosened but I did - same as before just a 90 degree turn. And if you didn't already, lift out the plastic tray pieces that are under the hinges on both sides. They're bendy so you can just maneuver them out of place.



Figure 4: with the center gizmo out of the way you'll see one more of the plastic retention bolts. Loosen it and then you can pull up and out the tray for the filters in two halves. Note the gasket will go with one of the two pieces. There is plastic clip on each end holding it so you may need to loosen those first - mine were already loose from either working their way out or not being popped back in after a maintenance check in the past.



Figure 5: now you'll see the DME housing on the right side. There are I think 5 hex screws (again, sorry didn't note the size) that you need to loosen. You don't have to take them all the way out but enough to clear the bottom housing. On the back there's a white tab sticking up that you slide to the left to unlock the lid.



Figure 7: (no figure 6 - I jacked up the numbers) The arrow points to the hole in the firewall. You'll see below it is the loom going through and below and to the right of that you'll see a fan that also goes through the wall (vent for the DME box). That opening you see with nothing in it is in fact a clear opening right to the fuse area in the cabin! Don't drool - water is bad in here. But yes, it's that easy! Also note the circled un-used rubber grommet to get outside of the DME box. You'll see that down below in a bit. Oh, and I removed that gray thing while I was looking around but you don't have to do that. Yours should be fastened on the left side.



Figure 8: Kind of hard to make out but I poked a wire-tie through. You'll want to try a couple times to make sure you get the best route on the inside. The first time I did this it was easy but it went between two wire looms so it would have been tight to pull the large connectors through for the CM heads. I did it again at a slight angle and it popped through beside those looms on the inside and was a clear and open path for the connectors. And I'd go the opposite direction if you use a wire tie so you have the head of the tie to help as you pull the connectors back through. I just taped them in a staggered fashion to the head of the wire-tie and pulled it through while guiding the connectors.



Figure 9: inside view of the wire tie.



Figure 10: fishing the connectors up. Again, tape them in a staggered approach so you can pull one through at a time and have a long screw driver or something handy to help guide hte connector through the hole as you pull it.



Figure 11: view from inside. I taped a marker to one of the LI heads to make sure I know which cable is feeding left vs. right side. May not ever be needed but figured I'd rather have it then not if I did need it one day or for troubleshooting.



Figure 12: this is the grommet I noted above. Slicing a single slice through this to allow the connectors to pass through. Once it's all done and I know I don't need to adjust cable lengths I'll probably come back and dab a bit of silicon on the **** to make sure it's water tight but consider this is pretty well shielded I'm not overly concerned. I'll also leave a bit of slack in the cable to provide a drip loop in case moisture or water does work it's way back toward the DME box it will fall off the line before hitting the grommet.



Figure 13: Connector feeding through - pay attention to the direction. You want to go the right way.



Figure 14: Grommet back in and a little wire management over the wire and down through the hole. I split the wrap - it's just butted against each side of the grommet.



Figure 15: I didn't provide detail but there is one more rubber housing I had to share with the loom here to get the connectors into the engine bay. One at a time it fits but it's tight - just be patient and use your finger to open the hole a bit and guide the connectors through. Then button everything back up and enjoy the work. I guestimated the length of each wire based on where the heads will sit so I am pretty close to where they need to be when they connect to the heads. B/c if this I did button every thing up and wire manage it behind the panels. I then coiled, bagged, and zip-tied the wires neatly next to the air intake for storage till I come back to do the heads and then add wire management to the rest of it.

 

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#2 ·
Awesome write up. When I installed mine I ran it on the drivers side by the brake booster.
 
#6 ·
Where are you mounting your front view camera? I installed mine in the kidney grills but I think I need it lower (in lower bumper mesh?) to see curbs.
 
#7 ·
Yes, for the same reasons, I ended up mounting mine at the top of the lower grill under the lip of the bumper cover (mine is an e63 M6 but they are layed out like the M5's). I tried it inside the lower grill but it blocked the image too much. It is far enough back that it is not visible when walking around the car from about 8 feet away so I'm good with it.



 
#12 ·
Good stuff! I ended up moving mine last night to a similar spot on my M5

Was there a reason that you didn't want the camera in the trunk lid handle component?
Yeah that's how I have mine too. Nice because its in the center and no error codes.
 
#10 ·
Here's the back one by the way. It is made for the e38, but since the plate light is bigger for the e63 M, I took out the led pack from the M, did a little dremeling, and put the e38's into it. Right now the M's led pack is in the trunk lighting up my car battery :) so it doesn't throw the light code till I can get the error coded out with NCSexpert. Still have to get it to click in on the right side (broke the clip getting it out.
 

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#13 ·
Mine is an M6 so i don't have the trunk handle feature unfortunately, but the engine bay and fronts are very similar so the DIY wire pulling is virtually identical. For the E63, the BMW roundel tips inward to unlock the trunk and also serves as the handle I'm guessing ( I always pick it up by the spoiler attached to it ), so I ended up haveing to put it down by the plate as my only option.
 
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