[squidlyboy]

Btw... while i was looking around for information, i stumbled across this in the install guide for the front PDC sensors. I'm assuming that this also applies to the rear PDC sensor as well, but not 100% sure. But to be technical about it, it talks about the sensor holder's position being absolutely critical, and not the sensors themselves. But since where the holders go, so goes the sensors, so i'm assuming that its the sensors positioning themselves that's critical. Again, just an assumption on my part.

But for what its worth, it took me back to roxxor's original guidance to point the connector side away from the center of the bumper. BMW says this is "absolutely essential" to do this. When i re-do my wiring, i'll probably fix this as well.

[casualDIYer]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

Btw... while i was looking around for information, i stumbled across this in the install guide for the front PDC sensors. I'm assuming that this also applies to the rear PDC sensor as well, but not 100% sure. But to be technical about it, it talks about the sensor holder's position being absolutely critical, and not the sensors themselves. But since where the holders go, so goes the sensors, so i'm assuming that its the sensors positioning themselves that's critical. Again, just an assumption on my part.

But for what its worth, it took me back to roxxor's original guidance to point the connector side away from the center of the bumper. BMW says this is "absolutely essential" to do this. When i re-do my wiring, i'll probably fix this as well.

I'm curious about this as well. Still waiting on parts but i wonder how the sensors are oriented for rear pdc. I thought it would be with connector straight up, not pointed left or right. How did others orient the sensors for rear pdc?

[casualDIYer]

Originally Posted by menncars

I'm curious about this as well. Still waiting on parts but i wonder how the sensors are oriented for rear pdc. I thought it would be with connector straight up, not pointed left or right. How did others orient the sensors for rear pdc?

Wait, I just re-read the initial post. Answer is right there in the initial post. "away from centre."

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by menncars

Wait, I just re-read the initial post. Answer is right there in the initial post. "away from centre."

Actually, i asked him about that awhile back in this thread... asked him where he got that information and why it has to be pointed away from center. Never replied...

[RSnic]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

Actually, i asked him about that awhile back in this thread... asked him where he got that information and why it has to be pointed away from center. Never replied...

SquidlyBoy,

Was out of town for the last several days so sorry haven't chimed into to this thread. Have you isolated the problem? Is it the K-CAN (CAN-BUS) connections?

[squidlyboy]

The K-CAN signal wires seem to be Ok. Rheingold didn't indicate any problems with them specifically. It only mentioned stuff about the PDC sensors themselves and not being able to communicate with them. I might have shorted something in that inner connector when i was forcing it back into that outer housing. I just order a few more of those connectors and a few more pins, so i'll try to re-wire / re-seat everything once everything comes in.

I can't find that part for the outer connector for the life of me, not that i absolutely need it, but having a spare would be nice.

@Rsnic - just curious why you asked about the K-CAN signals? Do they play a part in the rear PDC sensors?

[casualDIYer]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

Actually, i asked him about that awhile back in this thread... asked him where he got that information and why it has to be pointed away from center. Never replied...

My impression is this is a BMW requirement. This a complete guess but I could imagine the sensor emits a signal that represents a slightly flattened cone. If the sensor is oriented improperly, instead of the cone being oriented horizontally for max coverage, if it were oriented vertically it would not offer sufficient coverage. By saying "orient away from centre" this ensure proper orientation of the sensor.

[casualDIYer]

It's DONE! Took longer than expected (4 hours for everything). Roxxor, RSnic, ShawnSheridan, SquidlyBoy, steelerfan, and the TokenMaster. Without you guys not sure this would have been possible.

NOTE: I did not use the retrofit kit I used the repair kit. I didn't want to wait around for two months for the kit to arrive so I found a way to use the repair kit. I was slowed down a bit buying the wrong mount but once figured out everything else went smoothly. See following posts.

[RSnic]

Originally Posted by menncars

It's DONE! Took longer than expected (4 hours for everything). Roxxor, RSnic, ShawnSheridan, SquidlyBoy, steelerfan, and the TokenMaster. Without you guys not sure this would have been possible.

MennCars,

Terrific!

[casualDIYer]

Rear PDC Install for F30 – Notes

These notes are additions to the original post by roxxor and everyone else. Sorry, but you're going to have to read all the posts . . . or brick your car. Your choice.

Full disclosure: Had a friend who is an industrial engineer at a car parts company help out. If you can get one, that’s going to make your life a lot easier.

Parts I used

51128059970 - PDC Mounts – set (of 4): It says it’s for the M sport bumper but I can tell you from experience, THIS IS THE SET TO GET, at least if you have a 2014 320i Sportline and I imagine any other F30 with or without an M rear bumper. Not sure? Order from the dealer and compare. Ideally, you will have the sensor to test fit to the mount. Remember: It's easier to return a used condom than the wrong auto part.

66209261581 -> 66209288224 – Ultrasonic sensor x 4: These are the painted rear PDC sensor part numbers from BMW. Be prepared to crap your pants when you see the price. On one web site I saw them at $171 real money, I mean US dollars, for one sensor. I picked up a set of 4 BMW used sensors (with mounting rings) from a guy in Germany off Ebay for 150 Euros (sort of real money). Thanks German guy. Those parts worked GREAT! Hey BMW, please learn what the words "Colour Match" mean. Match. Not 'kinda' close.

66206923000 – Decoupling ring x 4 – Yep. I guess for a $171 they can’t throw in a $3 ring but times are tough. This seals the sensor to the bumper isolating it from vibration and keeping water out. The water gets in underneath the bumper instead.

61359362394 – The Rear Electronic Module. Topic beaten to death already on why you need to replace yours. What can I say? This part works! $234

61119293040 - PDC Repair cable: It comes with pins but not outer shield insulation around the sensor wires. You could use shrink tube but it seems automakers really hate shrink tube (probably because it catches fire). Electrical tape should be good to wrap the harness but for go…sh sakes use the good stuff. Don’t buy that crap they sell at the Dollar, shekel, yen, won, dong, Victorian half-penny store. Get the good stuff. You know what I’m talking about. The cable is $18 bucks.

Electrical tape (see diatribe in previous paragraph)

¼ inch grommet. Yep. Something you can buy at an auto parts store in a pack of 10 for $1.50.

Anti-seize or rust preventing paint. This will be used to treat the inside of the hole you drill into previously rust treated steel. How about grease? Well, a rubber grommet and petroleum-based grease are . . . an industrial accident on replay.

An 18mm step drill bit – You’d think in Canada where you can drive 100 kph and buy a litre of milk you can buy an 18mm bit. Nope. Stores and stores full of drill bits in a measurement system developed in 4 AD and that is so cumbersome to deal with mathematically that Alan Turing gave up being a carpenter and became a mathematician instead because the math was easier. “Uh… let’s see that’s ½ plus 11/16 and 9 and 4 20 quarters . . . damn it! Breaking the Enigma code is easier than this!”. Believe it or not, the drilling really is the hardest part. Unlike Utter who has access to a $4 million, down to the micron, PDC hole drilling machine at the factory, you’ve got that Black and Decker hand drill you bought 2 Christmases ago at Home Depot on sale, and only used 3 times, and now you’re eyeballing it. You can buy an 18mm bit on eBay. Go slow, drill perpendicular to the surface (or those holes on the side will look screwed up) and be careful.

Take off bumper. There’s a secret button. Press it and the bumper falls off. I wish. See previous posts on how to get it off.

My bumper was marked with where to place the sensors. We scored the centre of each hash with a punch tool (which instead of a dimple had a pimple . . . thank you mold machine guy) to help avoid slippage during the drilling of the pilot hole. After that, the step drill was used. If your step bit goes beyond 18, use tape to ensure you stop at 18mm. Remember, a hole a bit too small is okay because you can slowly make it bigger. Too big is . . . a new bumper at $1150 painted. You don’t want too big.

Note there are two types of sensor mounts. Two are narrow and two fat. The narrow ones go on the far left and right. The fatties in the middle. Test fit mount and sensors with the backing on because getting it off is difficult. Note on the mount there is a line. Note that on the bumper where the sensor is to go there is a line. Line ‘em up. I placed the sensor in the mount and mounted them together. Light press fit the mount (with sensor). If sure it’s a good fit, really press it in there. The tape is pressure activated. More press = more stick. Made a mistake? Stop making mistakes. All sensor connectors point away from the centre . . . as commanded by BMW . . . which means two point left and two point right.

Since the sensor connectors are of all different length it’s pretty easy to see which ones go where but if it isn’t, see that Sesame Street episode about which is longer than the other. Gordon and Grover team up to explain the dimension of length, in layman’s language. Note on the car, there is a cable tray to run the sensor wires. You may need to play with the length a bit to get it right.

Regarding the hole through the body (an easy to remember 6.352987635123mm or the harder to recall ¼ inch), was drilled a bit above where BMW current runs their cable through their mega grommet. Using a neodymium magnet on the inside to catch metal filings, the hole was drilled out first but then back in to help bevel the edges to help with keeping the grommet from getting cut to ribbons. Okay, rubber ribbons but that sounds like some kind of weird type of exotic porn . . . . anyway . . . make sure to treat the inner edges of the hole and place the grommet in the hole. As you no doubt have taped the harness, at the point where it runs through the grommet, add more tape and really cram it in there. Use a cable tie on either side of the wire harness just in front of the hole to keep the cable from moving.

Notes on Esys
You’d think my first experience would be to turn on Bluetooth streaming on my 40k luxury car so it could have the same feature as the $2300 ChukChuk Luloo Bingbing family mobile but no, it was rip out a major module, replace it, get that working, then reprogram another major module to get the working too. Boy was I shocked when it didn’t work at first. My problem was the computer wouldn’t connect to the car. Esys says it was connected but it wasn’t. I then thought, “Hey, I bet the speed of the ODBII port, developed in 1996, isn’t in gigabits (a 2003 technology), it’s probably in way, way slower bits. Setting the network card to an MTU of 1500 and the speed to auto-negotiate fixed the issue. After that programing was nerve wracking but worked flawlessly.

[squidlyboy]

Nice write up! Lots of good extra details you added to roxxor's original post that should be help to everyone attempting this retrofit

Originally Posted by menncars

61359362394 – The Rear Electronic Module. Topic beaten to death already on why you need to replace yours. What can I say? This part works! $234

I ended up returning my 700 REM because none of the I-Level steps i tried (i tried every one listed ) during the Inject CAF from SWE step would result in a clean Code of that module. I don't know if its the production date of my car, or my psdzdata version (54.1) doesn't go back far enough, or something else, but i ended up ordering the 394 REM instead, and i'm going to try that instead.

Originally Posted by menncars

61119293040 - PDC Repair cable: It comes with pins but not outer shield insulation around the sensor wires. You could use shrink tube but it seems automakers really hate shrink tube (probably because it catches fire). Electrical tape should be good to wrap the harness but for go…sh sakes use the good stuff. Don’t buy that crap they sell at the Dollar, shekel, yen, won, dong, Victorian half-penny store. Get the good stuff. You know what I’m talking about. The cable is $18 bucks.

This is the most interesting part of your install notes.. to me. I paid around $90 for my PDC retrofit cable and waited 2 months to get it, because they don't sell it anywhere else and i had to get it from Latvia (Partsale.eu). You got yours readily online (or locally?) for only $18 as a replacement cable?!?! This is a small revelation of sorts. Really good information for those attempting this retrofit.

[casualDIYer]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

I ended up returning my 700 REM because none of the I-Level steps i tried (i tried every one listed ) during the Inject CAF from SWE step would result in a clean Code of that module. I don't know if its the production date of my car, or my psdzdata version (54.1) doesn't go back far enough, or something else, but i ended up ordering the 394 REM instead, and i'm going to try that instead.

Version 55.4 of psdzdata was used in my car. The injection did work but the number was slightly different than the I-step of the car. Next time the car is hooked to a computer I'll post what cafd esys used.

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

This is the most interesting part of your install notes.. to me. I paid around $90 for my PDC retrofit cable and waited 2 months to get it, because they don't sell it anywhere else and i had to get it from Latvia (Partsale.eu). You got yours readily online (or locally?) for only $18 as a replacement cable?!?! This is a small revelation of sorts. Really good information for those attempting this retrofit.

You can get all the BMW parts from ecstuning. Your dealer will have them as well. It doesn't make sense there is a PDC repair kit but not a retrofit kit. My understanding is the car market in Europe allows people to choose single options over packages. Retrofitting must be a bit more common so the kits seem to be available there first. The interesting part was the mounts. On ECS they were around US$30. I had a set but it was the wrong one. Getting a bit ahead of myself I just grabbed the correct set at the dealer for US$61.00. Yeah, yeah, shouldn't have but let my mistake be someone else's gain. I mean if it was $600 vs. $30, that would have pretty dumb and I would have waited. For $31, well.... it's in the car now. But for a grommet, harness, mounts at roughly $120US, that price is about right.

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by menncars

Version 55.4 of psdzdata was used in my car. The injection did work but the number was slightly different than the I-step of the car. Next time the car is hooked to a computer I'll post what cafd esys used.

Thanks - can't wait for that info. I'm guessing that the I-step number you ended up using would be _higher_ than your default factory I-step since its a newer part than your factory installed REM. But i'd love to see what you ended up using, since i'll have to do the same.

The other thing is that i'm curious about is if i'll need to upgrade to version 55.4 of psdzdata to do this. I've been using 54.1 since i started coding. Is it as easy as removing the old version and replacing with the new version? What about all my saved CAFD files - are those useless now? And does that mean i need to upgrade E-Sys as well?

Originally Posted by menncars

You can get all the BMW parts from ecstuning. Your dealer will have them as well. It doesn't make sense there is a PDC repair kit but not a retrofit kit. My understanding is the car market in Europe allows people to choose single options over packages. Retrofitting must be a bit more common so the kits seem to be available there first. The interesting part was the mounts. On ECS they were around US$30. I had a set but it was the wrong one. Getting a bit ahead of myself I just grabbed the correct set at the dealer for US$61.00. Yeah, yeah, shouldn't have but let my mistake be someone else's gain. I mean if it was $600 vs. $30, that would have pretty dumb and I would have waited. For $31, well.... it's in the car now. But for a grommet, harness, mounts at roughly $120US, that price is about right.

I never understood how some of these retrofit cables - e.g. PDC and reversing camera to name a couple, are not readily available in North America but only in EU. I can see if they are just available in EU first, but man, our F30's have been around for years now. I've gotten used to it, so having you confirm there is this other cable available, and for 5x less $$$ is good news. Gives me hope that in the future, other retrofits will be easily obtainable without having to wait months and/or pay through the nose.

I also got my mounts from ECS, but i did not notice that some were fatter or skinnier than the others. They all looked the same to me, and they seemed to fit whatever sensor i put in there. Why are they different.? I didn't even notice as i was putting them onto the bumper, but once i get my wiring situation straightened out, i'll need to go back in there to point them in the right direction.

.
.

Btw... its really funny what we all struggle with when we do our retrofits. I found the bumper drilling to have been relatively easy and enjoyable. I had a metric step drill bit where 18mm was the last step, so i could just drill right through without thinking about it.

Drilling the hole through the car, however .... (to feed the PDC cable through to the REM) - what a ROYAL PITA. I was hell bent on using the supplied grommet that BMW provided with the kit, so I needed to drill a 1.5" hole through the car.

I first bought the one steelerfan recommended (Lenox from Lowes), and i grinded that down to nothing, and it didn't even put a dent in the car. I then picked up the Porter Cable one and you can see what condition i left THAT in. And you can also see the "progress" of the hole after literally drilling for 2 straight f****** hours. It did almost nothing, and i was left with 2 burned out hole saw bits and barely a scratch on the car.

I finally picked up a hole punch kit, and i literally put a hole in the car in 5 seconds with 5 pumps of the lever/handle. Seeing what you did, I probably should have tossed the BMW supplied (stupidly oversized i might add) grommet, gone to the auto parts store to pick up a pack of smaller grommets for $2 like you and just used the pilot hole i had easily drilled earlier that day.

[steelerfan]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

Drilling the hole through the car, however .... (to feed the PDC cable through to the REM) - what a ROYAL PITA. I was hell bent on using the supplied grommet that BMW provided with the kit, so I needed to drill a 1.5" hole through the car.

I first bought the one steelerfan recommended (Lenox from Lowes), and i grinded that down to nothing, and it didn't even put a dent in the car. I then picked up the Porter Cable one and you can see what condition i left THAT in. And you can also see the "progress" of the hole after literally drilling for 2 straight f****** hours. It did almost nothing, and i was left with 2 burned out hole saw bits and barely a scratch on the car.

I finally picked up a hole punch kit, and i literally put a hole in the car in 5 seconds with 5 pumps of the lever/handle. Seeing what you did, I probably should have tossed the BMW supplied (stupidly oversized i might add) grommet, gone to the auto parts store to pick up a pack of smaller grommets for $2 like you and just used the pilot hole i had easily drilled earlier that day.

Look at the picture of your bit.. it's for plastic & wood.. not metal. I had no trouble drilling through the bit made for a metal with a 20v cordless drill. They metal bits have different teeth that will go right though the thin sheet in our cars. Agreed a step bit for metal would make quicker work it of it & gives you the flexibility to test for perfect fitment.

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by steelerfan

Look at the picture of your bit.. it's for plastic & wood.. not metal. I had no trouble drilling through the bit made for a metal with a 20v cordless drill. They metal bits have different teeth that will go right though the thin sheet in our cars. Agreed a step bit for metal would make quicker work it of it & gives you the flexibility to test for perfect fitment.

Odd.. when i went to Lowes, I asked the Lowes person which of the Lenox ones will go through metal. The ones he pointed me to looked like the same packaging as the one you showed. And when i looked on the packaging of the hole saw, the picture showed the thing going through sheet metal. Just to be safe I looked on their entire section of hole saw bits, and they all looked the same except they were different sizes. That was the first one. After 30-40 minutes of that, I went back to Lowes, and told the guy it didn't work, he gave me the Porter Cable one.

The interesting thing is that i had no problem using a titanium drill bit to drill the pilot hole. And then using a step drill bit, i was easily able to get the hole bigger and bigger, but i didn't have a step that would take me to the full 1.5". Thats when i just said, f*** it, i'm just going to use a punch.

I coulda easily got the hole up to 1 inch with the step drill bit i had, but i really wanted to use the BMW supplied grommet. Looking back getting a generic smaller sized grommet would have saved me a lot of aggravation.

[steelerfan]

Originally Posted by RSnic

SquidlyBoy,

Good luck -- let me know what you find out.

While we have the problem isolated, the shop foreman, who is working on it, is on a medical and will be back in a week or so, but think we are on the right track finally.

BTW, no offense, hope my Mets come out of their funk against the D'Backs tonight!

Hey RSnic,

Did you ever get this resolved? I'm running into issues with my reverse camera & also did the same TRSV & control module as you. I didn't purchase or install the side/overhead camers... i thought i was just setting myself up to be able to purchase those in the future & not have to swap those parts out. Odd part is, now i have lost my rear PDC even after removing option 3AG & VO-Coding all the affected ECU's.. It's frustrating for sure.. i get such limited time to work on this (basically it was my fathers present to be able to work on my car)... today i noticed my comfort access is no longer working after all these changes...

[RSnic]

Originally Posted by steelerfan

Hey RSnic,

Did you ever get this resolved? I'm running into issues with my reverse camera & also did the same TRSV & control module as you. I didn't purchase or install the side/overhead camers... i thought i was just setting myself up to be able to purchase those in the future & not have to swap those parts out. Odd part is, now i have lost my rear PDC even after removing option 3AG & VO-Coding all the affected ECU's.. It's frustrating for sure.. i get such limited time to work on this (basically it was my fathers present to be able to work on my car)... today i noticed my comfort access is no longer working after all these changes...

SteelerFan,

Not yet; shop foreman is out for another couple of weeks recovering from his surgery, BUT will keep you all posted --- as I said, seems like it is the wiring from the TRSV ECU to the HU-NBT on the K-CAN that is the problem.

As to your PDC problems, you may want to go through and check the individual coding items, just to make sure that they didn't get inadvertently changed, as well as the wirling that ties your PDC into the REM

BTW, did you get the NCD-CAFD tool finally -- if not, sned me PM with your EMail and I'll get it to you.

[casualDIYer]

My version of the cafd file used for the replacement REM. Let me know if more info is required. Note: Not a Esys whiz so post instructions for the information required. Thanks.

[RSnic]

Originally Posted by menncars

My version of the cafd file used for the replacement REM. Let me know if more info is required. Note: Not a Esys whiz so post instructions for the information required. Thanks.

Guys,
In spite of my challenges with the cameras, my PDCs (front and rear) work fine. I have 7A1 5-34-7 CAFD for my car's REM (that is the replacement one) and it's I-Step current is: F020-14-502.

Hope that helps

[casualDIYer]

Odd, after coding Bluetooth streaming, rear PDC has disappeared from the i-drive screen when the car is in reverse. Beeping is still there but no graphics. I wonder what happened? Does one kind of coding undo another?

I guess I can redo the work but how do I keep my work from being over written?

[rubber_ducky]

F80 owner checking in here... i placed an order for retrofit cable recently and plan on doing the work as soon as it shows up.

My car is painted azurite black, which is an "individual" color. According to RealOEM.com, prepainted sensors don't seem to be available for this color. That's said, I'll likely go the eBay sensor route myself.

Wish me luck

[Shazsta]

Just an update. I successfully got my rear pdc installed and working. I screwed up on one of the holes. I guess I got a little cocky when I got a couple of the holes perfect. Hopefully I can paint it and hide it a little. Thanks everybody.

I'll do the fronts next weekend maybe. But I'm beat after finishing up the rear camera today in 90 degree weather. I wish bimmerpost was up earlier then I would have known to run front pdc wire to REM while I had all those trim pieces out. Ah well thanks again especially Roxxor!