Jeffblak

There are a couple of thing I have come across since my initial installation.

1. I did not like my original microphone location on the side of the steering column. I later found that the top trim cover on the steering column has two perforated areas (grills) for internal microphones. One of these spaces is used for the factory phone mic mounted inside the trim cover, but the other one is not occupied and it is a great place to install your new microphone completely out of sight. The trim comes off easily after the removal of (3) #10 torx screws from below. You don't have to take the trim all the way off, just separate the upper and lower halves and open it up enough to work inside. Routing the cable to this location is easy from underneath and does not require any additional trim removal. Attachment of the aftermarket microphone in the steering column trim takes a little creativity, and be sure to locate it forward enough so that it does not cover the grill (perforated area in the trim). Lastly, when putting the trim back together, tilt the front side of the upper trim down and slide forward to engage the lower trim. The front edge has a catch to hold the two sections together, but it will also will hold the trim apart at the front if you don't engage it correctly.

2. There has been considerable discussion about why some cars without the CD changer need the CD changer option turned on in the PCM, while others don't seem to require this. Mine was one of the cars with NO changer that did NOT require reprogramming. I was not sure why until the other day I was reading the factory options list for my car and saw a line item that says "Prep for CD Changer". My guess is that cars with this option are programmed to look for the CD changer when installed, and as such find the LaPower unit when installed. Also, if you have the factory phone module, that will have to be turned off in the PCM to realized the phone feature in the new BT unit.

renncayman

Hello all, I just performed this installation on my car and I´m having some issues:

1. So I completed the installation and everything worked fine, but then I switched of and on the car again and the music wont play thru the speakers... Unit has power, phone connects and shows on the PCM screen, even music titles are shown and music apparently "plays" on the screen, but there is no sound coming of the speakers...

2. I decided to check all the connections... nada. Everything seemed to be fine. So all I could do is disconnect and connect the connections several times, turn on and off the PCC, etc. and at a certain point music started playing. Voilá.

3. I left the car parked for 10 minutes, when I came back to the car I turned on the engine, PCM turned on automatically, and again, music wont play thru the speakers...


What can be wrong?

Jeffblak

Check your phone Bluetooth and see if its connected to the unit, sometimes it's not actually reconnecting but the screen in the car is displaying the last known connection and appears to be playing. This happens to me once in a while only when the car is off just for a short time and the phone has remained in Bluetooth range. The Lapower unit seems to think it's connected to your phone when it's not - or at least the connection is compromised in some way. It clears itself after a bit of time passes with the car off. Or just go to the phone and renew the connection or sometimes just hit the play button on the music screen and things re-sync. During normal operation this almost never happens, it just seems to happen when you are testing the thing and turning the car on and off.

renncayman

Hey Jeff, thanks for your reply.

Phone is actually connected (phone name appears on screen, song names and seconds of song too, etc.). I discovered an interesting thing: When this problem happens, radio, CD, etc doesnt sound either, so I guess it means there is a problem on the fiber optic circuit from the PCM unit to the amplifier. but again, I check connection and everything seems to be fine... First I thought it might a bended cable when sliding in the PCM unit, but I tried to slide in the PCM while the music was playing and it worked fine. After installation I switched on and off the PCM several times and it worked great. But 3 hours ago stopped working again... What a nightmare!

Jeffblak

I know the phone looks connected when looking at the PCM, but did you try going to the phone and refreshing the connection?

renncayman

Yes, I even pressed next song from the phone and the the track changed on the pcm... and timeline was refreshing properly (minute 01:05....01:06...01:07....).

What I didnt try is "forgeting the bluetooth device" from the bluetooth settings on the iphone. But I disconnected and connected the bluetooth on the phone several times.

Jeffblak

Hmmm, your into a problem I did not have. I don't think it's a problem with the MOST ring because if that were the case there would be no communication between the PCM and your phone - which there seems to be. I can try to help off line if you like if you can send me an email.

renncayman

Hi again Jeff, thanks for your support.

Since every single source of music stops listening thru the speakers, and since the PCM screens shows everything working fine, my guess is an intermittent failure in the connection from the PCM to the amplifier. The thing is, why?

frenchtony

so I had my car programmed again today, the guy spent quite a long time following a recommended procedure, remove cd changer option, add bose option, let car sleep, then add cd changer option. All I have now are warnings that the CD changer is not there and the amp is not there, I can connect to the unit but nothing works, I tried the loop connection, but as mine doesn't have nav, bose,cdc, or telephone there is nothing else connected. I've connected the unit directly to the PCM - nothing- I guess I could have a faulty unit?? Guess it will have to be sent back.

bmwfan328

Installed my unit in the parking lot at work yesterday, very simple. tapped the power to the accessory outlet in the passenger footwell, followed the instructions in video posted earlier in this thread to tie into the fiber optic loop, mounted microphone under steering wheel trim, and routed iphone cable to the storage cubby in front of shifter. everything works as advertised, no coding required, and no error messages.

for reference, my car is a 2006 C4S with PCM 2.1 factory nav and Bose, WITHOUT cd changer in the frunk, WITHOUT factory phone module.

rtl5009

I am going to attempt to install this. One question I have is that I currently have some kind of archaic FM Transmitter from iSimple in my car. It has a little switch and when it is engaged 89.7 becomes the strongest station lol. How do I remove this from my car to install the LA Power Module?

ocmacman

I have mine still in the box. Took to Al and Eds but schedule didn't work for me. I am quite handy but how to do the fiber loop action is a bit confusing. I watched an Enfig video and still a bit confused. I wonder if an installer would know what to do?

rtl5009

ocmacman

I have C2S with CDC and Bose. Did you buy a loop for the optical cable behind the CDC?

rtl5009