BMW E38 740il How to Install Android Head Unit!

[@12halo12gamer13]

I love working on my early 2000's luxury car that has been molested by the previous owner!

[@bmw_fanatic]

Ohhh I know the feeling lol

[@BiggTim]

I have a '97 BMW 740i it didn't come with a navigation system. Can that unit work in my car? How far are you guys from Jacksonville FL?

[@bmw_fanatic]

Yes it will work, actually it’s more easier, you don’t have to bring the cable all the way from the trunk, it’s just plug and play

[@eulmar3824]

You could at least show how you connected the IBUS to the plug

[@EE_E38]

Great vid. I'll be doing this to my e38 one day. Thanks!

[@bmw_fanatic]

Thanks! Yes it’s a great upgrade

[@canadian28]

Where do you buy this let me know please

[@davidav3412]

Awesome Video. I am gonna attempt to install that in my e38 2001 740i as well.. Keep up the good work guys! Also i noticed your plates are in Washington, i am also in Washington, Vancouver to be exact.

[@elpretochines]

Hi! I am from Portugal and I am looking forward to do that as well to my E38. A few brands that I came across are Pioneer and Alpine. Which one do you recommend? I have an issue that basically I can only buy from them one of their partner brands that's the reason why I suggested Pioneer or Alpine. Are they all compatible with E38 as long as they fit or I get them to fit?

[@bmw_fanatic]

To be honest I have no clue about pioneer and alpine brands for e38 so I can’t tell you exactly, I would probably do some research.

[@24GMOFO]

Hi im halfway through the install, i plugged it in at the rear and i cant seem to get any sound to work. Any ideas? Sound was working on the original unit before removal. Thanks

[@bmw_fanatic]

You have to connect the ibus and unlock it to get the sound.

[@ivan5dworld]

Красавчик 👍

[@timedwards9190]

I have a 1998 E38 but it doesn't have the Nav system, it has the radio head, graphic equalizer and cassette player. I would love to install this setup along with the backup camera. Seeing as how it didn't come with the Nav system setup I'm assuming the wiring harness may be missing all the connections required to install this unit. I love this car and I've owned it since it was two years old. I just want to update to a more modern format and keep fixing every last thing to keep it looking and working like new. This would be a great option to add if possible. My car has the six disc CD changer in the back that I never use. Every time you hit a bump the CD jumps to another song or just skips while playing. I looked around for a way to install a blue tooth unit somewhere in the car so I could sync my android phone to it but apparently there's nothing out there. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[@bmw_fanatic]

Yours it’s just plug and play, you don’t need to pull wiring from the trunk, just get a nav frame from facelift e38 2000 or 2001 and everything you need just all up in the front when you remove your old stereo system.

[@timedwards9190]

@@bmw_fanatic Ok I've still got a couple questions. My understanding is that since my DSP unit is in the dashboard no wire needed from the trunk correct? If so that would be great as I had an accident and became disabled and confined to a wheelchair. I'm used to doing everything myself and there's no way in hell I could run that wire from the trunk up to the unit without a whole lot of help. Most of my friends are not what I would call mechanically inclined. Does this new head unit come with it's own GPS antenna installed or will I have to use my Android phone connected in order to use the GPS? Since this car never came with a backup camera I would still need to run those wires from the camera up to the new head unit correct? I doubt there's any provisions for that in the existing wiring harness since there wasn't a factory installed backup camera in the car originally. My hope is I can just get my mechanic to run that wire for me and I can finish the rest. In this video at minute mark 18;30 you talk about the LED light settings. My tail lights were shot and had water in them and the lenses were just pretty bad so I ended up purchasing a new set of LED tail lights from CARID.com. They had a more updated look and were less costly than OEM lights that weren't that attractive to begin with. Needless to say when I received them and installed them only the tail lights and brake lights were LED's the backup light and directional light were still incandescent bulbs. I had no problem with that but before I purchased the lights I had read some blogs on the Bimmer forum on the topic and they said to make sure the tail lights had the resistors built into them so the computer wouldn't keep throwing up messages on the instrument cluster to check the lights. CARID assured me that these had them built in so I'd be all good. They were all good for a while but then I started getting "Check Brake Lights" and "Check Tail Lights" messages on many occasions when I turned the car off. Sometimes while I was driving the car but that was more rare of an event. The issue that I keep having is the Tail lights always work and the brake lights always worked when I was getting these messages so I just figured that it was a resistor issue and it was screwing up the computer. I just put up with the issue after my mechanic checked the lights to make sure the resistors were actually in the lights and they were indeed there and he checked the resistance and said they checked out so technically I should be all good. Unfortunately I started having issues with the directional lights intermittently not working. Just a fast blinking on the cluster and the front directional light blinking fast while the tail light directional didn't blink at all. Every time this happens I've never gotten a message on the instrument cluster to check directional bulbs, not one time. Sometimes it would be both directional lights in the tail lights or just one of them. Sometimes a fast blinking for only six or seven blinks and then it would go back to normal and the light would start blinking in the tail light again. It's like every time I get into the car and drive it and I use the turn signals it's a crapshoot as to whether they'll actually work or not. Frustrating as hell to say the least and not very safe. When they aren't blinking and I've removed the bulbs to check them the bulbs are always good and not burnt out. It's like I have some kind of gremlin running around screwing with them! Sorry for the long rant! So my question, based on what you're saying in the video about the LED bulbs I should be able to correct this issue by changing a setting? If so that would be awesome as I don't really want to piss away a ton of money on OEM lights that I don't even like the look of. Thanks again for the help!

[@timedwards9190]

Oh yeah I had one more question, since the factory head unit is basically 25 years old is this new head unit going to improve the music sound quality?

[@SteveThinman]

At the end you have to route a new cable through the whole car because of 4 cables (the red, black, yellow, brown cables which attach to the radio). I really wonder if there is no other way to do it. It's a lot of work for 4 cables...

[@bmw_fanatic]

I don’t know if there is any another way but this way it’s one way

[@SteveThinman]

Forget what I said. I made a huge logical mistake... The four cables are coming from the wiring harness, feed the Android unit and then go back to the radio and feed the radio. Those 4 might be spliced out in the front of the car somehow, but I completely ignored the laudspeaker/ amplifier cables. They have to run from the Android unit to the back of the car, to the original connector. I was completely wrong. Sorry.

[@joellowery]

Great work, thanks for the tour

[@ernestmfakudze]

Loving this channel! Am from the UK and I have a BMW E38 740i, August 2000 model. I would like to install this unit. Would installing it in my model also involve the same work you did like removing the seats and running the cables?

[@bmw_fanatic]

Yes it will require exact work unfortunately but its worth it to be honest.

[@bmw_fanatic]

Also thanks for such a positive feedback.

[@BiggTim]

My rear deck speakers are busted out. How to replace them?

[@bmw_fanatic]

You have to take the speaker covers which is the easiest way or you can just pull the whole deck

[@alanjackson5911]

Do you use the factory amp for the sound

[@baileyrossignol8051]

Whats the name of the head unit

[@bmw_fanatic]

Avant 4 head unit e38, just Google it

[@bozze137]

What is this for radio? I need this too

[@FilippoPenati77]

Cool upgrade, nice job

[@bmw_fanatic]

Thanks

[@hakopgrinigoryan7376]

Where did you get the radio?

[@bmw_fanatic]

Just Google it Avant 4 head unit for e38

[@nadimizzatov2998]

Dude I love it ❤ thank you

[@bmw_fanatic]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@larsfiedler9991]

I bought one of these a few years ago and had an installer install it. I had the same OEM navigation and dsp like you. But now I hear a whine - perhaps from the alternator when I turn up the dsp volume. Any recommendations on how to properly ground it? Radio reception is also really bad.

[@ThomasBerry-b9h]

Sounds like its coming through the speakers? Believe thats a grounding issue.

[@larsfiedler9991]

@@ThomasBerry-b9h Yeah, whine is through the speakers. What would you ground?

[@syedwaji7011]

How did you connect it to the dsp?

[@bmw_fanatic]

The quad lock cable in the trunk that I connected, that was for dsp system and you have to unlock it thru ibus app in order to work.

[@Gasher92]

Where did you get the unit? Thanks !

[@bmw_fanatic]

From avain! Just type in Google Avain head unit for e38

[@froq]

Thanks for the extensive and detailed tutorial! Glad you showed how to install the reverse camera as well, since all of the other tutorials don't seem to cover that. Might try install my unit this weekend.

[@bmw_fanatic]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@robinostman2800]

Awesome video i got a e38 pre facelift and no display from factory. Do u know what i need to do to get this radio and backup camera?

[@bmw_fanatic]

Yours is super simple, all you need is a facelift display frame holder and that’s all just plug and play, you don’t have to feed the cable all the way from the trunk area and for the back up camera is same process I showed in the video.

[@stevebrayne2609]

Why would you want to put something so modern in a classic car . It just does not look right at all.