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2Addicts | BMW 2-Series forum Technical Topics Navigation, iDrive, Audio, Video, Bluetooth, Phone, Cameras, Electronics 2014 228i - Broken Head Unit Swap

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      02-20-2019, 10:19 AM   #1
rcbimmer
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2014 228i - Broken Head Unit Swap

So unfortunately I screwed up and the head unit in my 2014 2 series (HU ENTRY cd player / radio / bluetooth unit) shorted out while installing an aftermarket android display, and the OEM replacement package costs $1300 (yikes!) After doing some research it seems unbelievably cheaper to purchase a used unit, however it's hard to tell which one would work.

I was hoping that I could rely on others experience in this and get some insight on the following:

1. I've been able to narrow down the features that are on the unit that I have, and have been able to match them to a number of other units that I've found for sale. The problem is there seems to be an excessive variety of part/model numbers for this unit, often times without any distinguishable differences. What problems am I going to run into if the features match but the part numbers don't?

2. Will I have any trouble installing a unit that was previously in a different car? Is this something that can be overcome by coding? Getting something from the dealership? Tech? etc etc.

Thank you in advance for any information or assistance you can give!
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      02-21-2019, 05:26 AM   #2
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Hi,

That sounds unfortunate, hope you can get it sorted out. To answer your questions;

1) As far as the part numbers match there should be no problem, I would check what additional information ETK provides on the part. You can look it up from sites such as realoem. The important thing is it is always better the have one from your month and year of manufacturing as the newer ones have different operating interface and are also firewall protected that can only be overcome by the dealer. So check the part number to see when was it manufactured between.

2) These units are usually bonded to the cars VIN, you would need to do some coding. I believe it is possible to do so as there was once a theft high on these units for “retrofitting” them on indy shops etc.

Let me know if you need anything else THY I can help with...
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      02-21-2019, 02:41 PM   #3
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Might be worth checking with Bimmertech go see if you could / should upgrade to a newer unit. They'll be able to tell you what will work and what the benefits would be.
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      02-21-2019, 07:51 PM   #4
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Scott with codemybimmer posted a forum about retrofit kits that will give you a screen, controller, and HU all precanned coded to your vin and installed with ID5/6 and working CarPlay
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      02-22-2019, 07:47 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by omera60 View Post
Hi,

That sounds unfortunate, hope you can get it sorted out. To answer your questions;

1) As far as the part numbers match there should be no problem, I would check what additional information ETK provides on the part. You can look it up from sites such as realoem. The important thing is it is always better the have one from your month and year of manufacturing as the newer ones have different operating interface and are also firewall protected that can only be overcome by the dealer. So check the part number to see when was it manufactured between.

2) These units are usually bonded to the cars VIN, you would need to do some coding. I believe it is possible to do so as there was once a theft high on these units for “retrofitting” them on indy shops etc.

Let me know if you need anything else THY I can help with...
This is great info, thank you. I actually have spent time looking at ETK and RealOEM. I had initially hoped that I might be able to lookup the part # or numbers to assemble a list of HU_Entry model numbers that would function with my vehicle. Unfortunately, the part that they indicate works for my 228i is the "exchange" head unit, which I assume is somewhat of a universal option, and is quite expensive (~$700 US) considering what it is.

By contrast, there are units for $100 and under that match the feature set and approximate time period of my production date (haven't found one with the same features AND the exact month/year of my production date.) I'm hoping I can get a bit more clarity on what will work before I pull the trigger.


Quote:
Originally Posted by BEM-S4 View Post
Might be worth checking with Bimmertech go see if you could / should upgrade to a newer unit. They'll be able to tell you what will work and what the benefits would be.
This is great advice thank you. I think the difficult thing about this situation is that obviously, BMW would prefer that I be forced to purchase their iDrive replacement kit, and thus there isn't a lot of info on how to do this on your own. I know there must be a way, and hopefully, the guys at Bimmertech will be forthcoming and give me some guidance. I'll report my findings if any.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Clear_Blue22 View Post
Scott with codemybimmer posted a forum about retrofit kits that will give you a screen, controller, and HU all precanned coded to your VIN and installed with ID5/6 and working CarPlay
Unfortunately, it seems that the kits they sell will only work on a 2016+ 2 series. I do think that they may be able to screen share and remotely code a new unit to my VIN though. I'm also hoping that they may be able to perform some kind of diagnostic on the vehicle, or potentially find some other causes that the unit isn't working.

While I think the whole unit is blown there's a little voice in the back of my head that isn't quite convinced. I'm definitely an overambitious DIYer, but there was no moment where the screen came on and then seemed to short out, or smoke coming off of it, burnt electrical smell etc etc. I had taken the unit apart to try to fiddle with resplice the reverse camera connection (which wasn't working) and when I put everything back together it just didn't turn on.

The tech couldn't find anything wrong with it or any fuses so he just determined that the unit was bricked. With that said, I'd done some coding with the bimmercode app in the preceding days, perhaps that screwed something up? I checked last night and the "HU_Entry" section on the bimmercode app is now just completely missing. I tried to restore to backup for several of the sections hoping it would pop back on, but no luck.

I will say that after searching for hours on this problem I have yet to find a case that matches mine. Broken head units? Sure. People shorting out their head unit during installation of an aftermarket Android unit? None that I've been able to find. Really no instances of people shorting out this specific piece in general. I find that a bit fishy considering how benign what I did was. Hopefully there are some other options for diagnosis that I can utilize after speaking with some of these folks.
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