[miketee99]

Towbar fully electric 3AC £765

Beware

It would appear that my new Rosslyn built X3 m sport with factory fitted towbar 3AC has been delivered to my dealer with a 13 pin socket on the swivelling towbar arm BUT all 13 pin functionality is NOT included

Apparently supplies to pin 9 for the ATC and pin 10 for the Fridge/leisure battery charging are not there

My dealer informed me yesterday that he has ordered the additional loom and will be fitting it today

No idea of costing or who will end up paying.

This is an old chestnut that BMW are refusing to rectify at the factory.

Towbar fully electric seems to mean that it MOVES!!

[Jeepersjoey]

No idea what you are saying. Or asking. Or complaining?

Dunno.


Paul

[Pray for Mojo]

Being a loyal subject of the Crown I can translate. He wants to tow a trailer but the wiring loom on his South African built X3 won't power all the appliances in the trailer while towing.

[miketee99]

Originally Posted by Pray for Mojo

Being a loyal subject of the Crown I can translate. He wants to tow a trailer but the wiring loom on his South African built X3 won't power all the appliances in the trailer while towing.

Thankyou PRAY FOR MOJO for the explanation to JEEPERS JOEY

Since 2009 all touring caravans in the UK have been supplied with 13 pin electrics wired up to a standard approved configuration.

The blogs are awash since then with instances of BMW OEM wiring not matching this standard.

It would appear that in my case BMW are still not fully wiring the towbar socket and this is having to be carried out at the dealership.

My original post was a warning to future OEM towbar bloggers

Thanks again PRAY FOR MOJO

[Pray for Mojo]

Caravan in North America is lower end family minivan.

[Dandle]

This has always been the case with most European cars. My last BMW had pins 10,,11 and 12 missing form the 13 pin socket as do all VW and Mercs with factory fitted towbars. Battery charging and powering fridges aren't a thing with German caravans.

My van is plugged in at home so the fridge is cold before I set off, we then put chilled food/beer in it and its still cold at the other end of the journey. Not really an issue for me although I have looked into wiring up the extra pins here.

Can you do me a favour though when you pick your car up and ask them what loom they have ordered and fitted or if they had an auto electrician fit the extra cables?

[Jeepersjoey]

Yea...our family had a caravan when we lived in New Zealand in the 80s.

My dad towed it with his 81 Mazda 626.

Picture an elephant attached to a tick.

My point was that his random words made no sense without any context or understanding of whether he was asking a question, or stating a fact, or ??

Luckily you POMs (no disrespect, remembering the word from the NZ days and still think it is funny) were able to translate into proper English (ie American).

Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke that Bear.

Installing flame suit as I giggle to myself, stupidly.

Paul

[miketee99]

Originally Posted by Jeepersjoey

No idea what you are saying. Or asking. Or complaining?

Dunno.


Paul

JEEPERS JOEY So Sorry to have confused you

I was merely pointing out to any bloggers in the UK that have ordered an X3 and have specced up the factory fitted towbar 3AC that it is unlikely to have full 13 pin functionality in the wiring .

Hope this makes my original post clearer for you JEEPERS JOEY

Thank goodness for PRAY FOR MOJO

[Dandle]

Originally Posted by Jeepersjoey

Yea...our family had a caravan when we lived in New Zealand in the 80s.

My dad towed it with his 81 Mazda 626.

Picture an elephant attached to a tick.

My point was that his random words made no sense without any context or understanding of whether he was asking a question, or stating a fact, or ??

Luckily you POMs (no disrespect, remembering the word from the NZ days and still think it is funny) were able to translate into proper English (ie American).

Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke that Bear.

Installing flame suit as I giggle to myself, stupidly.

Paul

Made me laugh too.

[535i Andrew]

Apologies for digging up this old thread, but I was googling something and found this and can offer a solution to this problem.


I successfully managed to make all 13 pins on my 3AC towbar work correctly for a literally a few pence worth of BMW connectors as linked too by Dandle

Here are links to how I did it.

Pin 10 wiring

https://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/14233...-installation/

I also used pin 12 to be a dedicated charging point for the car battery.

Pin 12 wiring

https://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/13757...ng-3ac-towbar/

My dad has G01 with the same issue, but my beer stays cold now.

[Dandle]

I found on the factory fitted electrical towbar all 13 pins were already populated on the G01. I think sometimes they don't code for the switched ignition to work though.

[535i Andrew]

My replacement towbar had all 13 pins present, but pins 10-12 had no wiring to them, rather than coded out.

The lights are on but there is no one home.

[Dandle]

The wiring is all present on the G01 and the newest X5 as well. I suspect it's the same on all the electrical folding towbars now. They just don't code them to fully work.

[Dilbert2402]

Anyone who tows and uses the excellent MILENCO aero mirrors is strongly advised at least to change the pads to the Falcon type or alternatively fit the complete Falcon clamp as shown here:-

https://www.milenco.com/products/mir...-mirror-spares

https://www.milenco.com/products/mirrors/falcon-mirrors

I towed for the first time with our X3 last week with the standard aero mirrors and not only were they a bugger to fit but I was worried that one or both would end up spinning down the road behind me!