[Fallstaff]

Hello Bimmerpost!
Just bought a 2013 x3 and am hoping this forum will be a good place to learn more about it.
I just got rid of my Land Rover Discovery and have always had a great experience over at Land Rover Forums and hope that BMW owners are as enthusiastic and helpful.
I have a few questions, I’m sure many are answered somewhere, but I’ve not found anything obvious so I’ll just ask here.

OBD tools! What’s the recommendations on those? I’m a shade tree mechanic at best, but always willing to take a crack at things.
I can see I’ve got a rear break pad job in my future and will need something to wind back the parking system. So at minimum I need that feature, but what else is there to look for? If I get a cheap one that can do that am I going to regret not getting a better one for the next job to come down the pipe?

The air filter: I went to look at it last night, seems there are four clips on the box. Three make perfect sense - reach in and unclip. But the forth one (bottom right); how on earth do you reach that? Seems to be completely enclosed. You’d have to have the hands of a spider monkey to get to it. What gives?

The Bluetooth system: it pairs with my iPhone just fine, but only uses phone functions. Is there no way to make it “see” the audio? I know it’s 2013, but still… And if I plug the iPhone in it says I’m using the wrong cable. Any idea what the right cable would be?

I’m sure I’ll have 100’s more questions in the years to come, but I’ll leave it there.

Thanks and hello!
👋

[pungo]

Welcome to the forum....

• Install ista+ on a laptop with a $15 ethernet>obd cable for one the best tools
• Can't help with air filter, never did one on a 28i 4 cyl, my 35i is screwed on.
• If it hasn't been done already, the timing chain on these fail and can destroy engine, so check it out.
• I have a 2011 and can stream bluetooth audio from my phone, it even speaks text messages from the phone. Do you have combox?

[Fallstaff]

Thanks! Appreciate the advice.

What’s “combox”?

[richardodn]

Plug your VIN into the box at https://www.mdecoder.com/

It will give you a list of "SA" codes, named that because they all start with S and end with A. Sometimes you'll see them listed without the SA. It's the numbers in between that matter. I think the code for bluetooth audio is 6NF (S6NFA)

[HPR]

Bimmer code and Bimmer link are two great phone apps for accessing or changing software options and understanding/clearing trouble codes.

[pungo]

Originally Posted by Fallstaff

What’s “combox”?

Option 6VC=control combox (streams audio from phone, even does music artwork)

Also check if you have the latest bluetooth software installed.
Here's what I have on my 2011 Readme_UPD01008_ENG.pdf

[Wayfastwhitey]

Adding on question, I have com box and this one listed SUC4G Combox Conversion

But I plug a cable in to my iPhone and don’t see artwork or can control?

[Fallstaff]

Thanks everyone. There seems I’ve got a lot to learn.
I don’t see anything to do with a combox on that vin lookup page, perhaps I don’t have such a thing. That page makes me realize quite how many options I don’t have. Bit disappointing, but can’t be helped. Still happy with the car. And makes me wonder what can be added?
I know with my old Land Rover many of the features are built in but not switched on (so to speak - actually just didn’t have switches. Easier to build all the trucks the same and then make the features extra by enabling/disabling). Does this happen with BMW too?

Less prosaically, how do I figure out my Bluetooth version?
I went to the bmw site for software updates, it said there were none for my vin.

[Fallstaff]

And another newb question: what is the noise from the back end that happens when ever I open the doors? Something waking up, but no clue what…

[pungo]

Originally Posted by Fallstaff

Thanks everyone. There seems I’ve got a lot to learn.
I don’t see anything to do with a combox on that vin lookup page, perhaps I don’t have such a thing. That page makes me realize quite how many options I don’t have. Bit disappointing, but can’t be helped. Still happy with the car. And makes me wonder what can be added?
I know with my old Land Rover many of the features are built in but not switched on (so to speak - actually just didn’t have switches. Easier to build all the trucks the same and then make the features extra by enabling/disabling). Does this happen with BMW too?

With many of the base 28i models, especially the earlier ones, several had limited options, i.e. crappy Halogen headlights instead of Bi-Xenon, 17" wheels instead of 18", base stereo, no birds eye view, no power hatch etc... Since most options require physical hardware, there no "enabling/disabling" them

Originally Posted by Fallstaff

And another newb question: what is the noise from the back end that happens when ever I open the doors? Something waking up, but no clue what…

Fuel pump