So with no comments either way on the MoBridge products, I bit the bullet and made the purchase.
I write this in an effort to help out any D3 owners who have a defective factory bluetooth unit like I had.
The symptoms were I lost audio on the radio and the head unit screen shows "Phone Mode". No attempts I made cleared the fault.
I removed the bluetooth unit and did some bench fault finding on the pcb to no avail. Its all surface mount devices and I couldn't spot anywhere where etc smoke escaped.
So its time to replace the bluetooth unit with a new one.
Google tells me I can "buy" a second hand bluetooth unit for a few hundred. A bit of a risk considering it may be faulty or close to failure as well.
Google also told me a brand called MoBridge makes a plug and play unit for the D3 (as well as a bunch of other Euro brands too)
I emailed the firm first (Fibre Dyne in Melbourne) and asked whether the "M2 Connect - MOST" unit is plug and play. Aussie made - yay!
Return email very quickly confirmed it was. They also advised me that streaming music from a bluetooth device will be via an "emulated" satellite radio station and I won't be able to change tracks up and down via the steering wheel controls. I would need to change tracks on the device itself. I'm ok with that.
So did a phone order with my credit card. $550 including GST plus $13 express delivery. It arrived the next day.
For those who aren't aware, the bluetooth module in the D3 sits on the driver's side in the rear cargo area, behind the big plastic trim section that has the little removable door that houses your jack and tool roll.
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Remove this panel. One screw behind a plastic cover at the front, removing the TORX TX50? of the seatbelt helps move it a bit more. The rest of the panel unclips when you give it a mighty big heave to release all the clips. I think the cupholders in the top of the panel were designed for grip for this purpose! (just kidding) I'm not going to tell you how to pull your car apart, but more on how to install the M2 Connect.
Behind the panel sits the factory bluetooth unit.
It has a multipoint plug with only 2 of the 36 pins used. 12V positive and ground. We will tee-off power for the new unit from this wire.
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The bluetooth unit also has the MOST connection plugged into it via a "Tyco" plug. This is a fibre optic connector with a "in" and "out" direction of the light to magically travel into and out of the module.
I learnt so much during this exercise. Particularly how the MOST bus carried signals all over our D3's.
MOST = Media Oriented Systems Transport...... means the light in the fibre optic cable carries digital signals (mainly instructions and audio) between connected modules. Up to 64 modules I believe.
In my D3 it carries signals from the satnav screen to the head unit to the amplifier under the driver's seat to the bluetooth unit and back again. All of these devices communicate with each other via a fibre optic link. (as well as the CANBUS system but that's a whole different masters degree that I'm not going to touch here)
So- this is how simple it gets:
1. Tap off 12V from the wire feeding the factory bluetooth module and feed the loom supplied with the M2.
2. Unplug the MOST connector from the factory unit and plug it into the M2 unit.
3. Run the Parrot microphone to a suitable location (unfortunately the factory microphone doesn't work any longer, but the Parrot mic is very small and unobtrusive. The lead is plenty long to run up behind the trims above the rear and front door and clip onto the A-pillar trim.
Job done. (yes, its that easy)
You need to replace all the trim and "pair" your phone with the M2 unit, but that's nothing new.
Your steering wheel controls all work as before.
And the bonus of the whole exercise is you can stream music from your device now, keeping everything looking factory and retaining factory looks, display etc. that you won't get by fitting an aftermarket head unit (which loses your clock in the information display too)
p.s. the M2 wiring loom comes with a "valet" switch which you can turn "on" when connecting a scan tool via the OBDII port. If the switch isn't in valet mode, the scan tool will show up an unidentified device (apparently). I had an hour of trouble after installation getting the system to work, only to realise the valet switch was in the "on" position and everything refused to work. Switched it "off" and bingo - it all works!
Handy Hint (even if you aren't fitting this unit)
If you want to isolate a unit for the MOST bus to find a faulty unit (amp, bluetooth, head until etc) unplug the MOST connector and plug it into a fibre optical loop connector. there should always be a red light coming out of the socket in the module when you cycle the ignition once. It stops communicating after a minute or so. We need red light to communicate.
If the sound comes back on the radio, you have isolated the faulty module.
These fibre optical loop connectors can go for $50 from a dealer, or $4 on eBay for Hong Kong, or free from a car stereo installer who would make a collection as some stereo kits supply one.
I ordered one from Hong Kong - it hasn't arrived yet. So I made a home made solution.
The MOST connector is marked with directional arrows - light in and light out. Get a texta and mark arrows on the MOST cables to match. You need to know which fibre is "in" and which is "out" when you put them back into the plug.
Undo the Tyco connector by pushing out the blue plastic pin and releasing both fibre optic cables.
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Grab yourself a biro case or similar. I used a 2 cm length of that black plastic "spline" you use when putting a flyscreen into an aluminium frame. Even a wrap of black electrical tape will do in a pinch.
Basically you point one fibre optic light end at the other end and the light passes across the gap. You are making an optical "join". The light carries the sound signals to the amp under the seat (and back again)
If your radio (etc) suddenly works, you have eliminated the faulty component.
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I hope this helps someone out who has lost their mobile phone use in the car and/or wants to stream music from a device - all the while keeping the factory look and functionality of the D3 system.
Cheers, Matti
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