Help to remove a Business radio on an 1999 E39
 

When I remove the volume button, the only thing I see is a clear round
plastic cover of a circuit of some-kind, and right above the button spike,
there is a small hole (about 3 or 4 mm wide) with a vertical groove (sorry
if my English isn't so good as I wish!) I've already inserted a small
screwdriver in it and tried to turn it 1/4 turn, but it doesn't turn...
Any thoughts? Shoudn't there be a 2mm hex hole somewhere? Please help...

All the best,

Vasco Ricardo,
99 E39 520i

My radio has two small covers, one on each side of the faceplate. These
covers are about 4mm square. Open them and a small hex screw will be
exposed. The problem is, the hex nut only has 5 sides, so it takes a special
tool. BMW sells this tool for about $5 (USD).




"vricardo" > wrote in message
lkaboutautos.com...
> When I remove the volume button, the only thing I see is a clear round
> plastic cover of a circuit of some-kind, and right above the button spike,
> there is a small hole (about 3 or 4 mm wide) with a vertical groove (sorry
> if my English isn't so good as I wish!) I've already inserted a small
> screwdriver in it and tried to turn it 1/4 turn, but it doesn't turn...
> Any thoughts? Shoudn't there be a 2mm hex hole somewhere? Please help...
>
> All the best,
>
> Vasco Ricardo,
> 99 E39 520i
>
>

Jeff Strickland wrote:

> My radio has two small covers, one on each side of the faceplate. These
> covers are about 4mm square. Open them and a small hex screw will be
> exposed. The problem is, the hex nut only has 5 sides, so it takes a special
> tool. BMW sells this tool for about $5 (USD).

The E39 does away with that scheme of mounting the radio. The tool would
be useless for an E39.

>
>>When I remove the volume button, the only thing I see is a clear round
>>plastic cover of a circuit of some-kind, and right above the button spike,
>>there is a small hole (about 3 or 4 mm wide) with a vertical groove (sorry
>>if my English isn't so good as I wish!) I've already inserted a small
>>screwdriver in it and tried to turn it 1/4 turn, but it doesn't turn...
>>Any thoughts? Shoudn't there be a 2mm hex hole somewhere? Please help...

If you look into the hole behind the knob and see a slot - then it takes
a small screwdriver, and about a 1/4 turn to release the catch on the
MID (Multi-Instrument-Display - the thing with the display and all the
buttons, which most people confuse with the actual radio.) I have also
seen these where it took a tiny metric allen wrench.

Whatever - your goal is to turn this 1/4 turn and pull the MID out by
pulling on the knob shaft while the lock is turned.

Once the MID is out (you can leave it connected and dangling if you
want) - look at the bottom edge of the actual radio (which is where the
Dash CD player or Cassette player is located) - you'll see two holes. In
the radios I've removed - these require a Torx wrench (from memory a
T-10). There are two screws in those holes - loosen them and pull the
radio forwards. There are several connectors with locking tabs on the
back that you have to remove to take the radio out of the dash.

HTH,

>>All the best,
>>Vasco Ricardo,
>>99 E39 520i

In
> the radios I've removed - these require a Torx wrench (from memory a
> T-10).

The shop manual says 2MM hex for the MID unit, and 2.5MM hex for the
upper unit (cassette or CD). Those 2 size work fine in my car.
Matthew
00 E39