[TimeFor]

Notice: Updated Guide for Newer iDrive Controllers: HERE

How To Guide: Disassemble BMW i3 Touch iDrive Controller

Why: I spilled some liquid around the buttons and they started to get sticky and gross. The buttons themselves worked but their motion wasn’t what it used to be. Since the cup holder is right in front of this switch I'm guessing other people have had this problem. I couldn't find any guides on this iDrive Touch controller so here you go...

Part: 65829350723. Checking RealOEM this is exactly the same part for many BMW's.

Time: About 45 minutes

Tools:

• Micro Flathead Screwdriver
• Torx T6
• Torx T8 (Not Required)
• Torx T15 (I think, my tool was unlabeled)
• Cleaning Solution – I used diluted rubbing alcohol
• Parts Tray (Not Required)
• 5.5 Socket (Ignore in Photo - Unused)

Guide:

The top of the center console pops up from the front edge. No tools are needed. You don’t need to (and actually can’t) remove the rubber portion of the main cup holder. Feel long the front edge and pull up along the seem




Before lifting the plate up too high, disconnect the two blue electrical connectors. Squeeze and pull straight out. No tools needed.



The panel is hooked in the rear but it should just lift out.



Three black T15 Torx screws hold the iDriver control in the top panel. Additionally there are 4 silver T6 Trox screws that need to be removed.



Flip over the iDrive unit once removed from the panel



Using a Micro flathead screwdriver gently pry around the top seam between the black rubber bezel and silver touch sensor pad. The touch sensor pad pops off.


Below the sensor pad there is PCB board with a white ribbon cable attached. On the electrical ribbon connection, pull the brown tab outward release tension on the ribbon. Very carefully pull the ribbon out from the PCB board to remove the circular PCB board from the controller knob.



Flip the iDrive controller over and remove the bottom-most black plastic cover. There are 3 clips on one side and two on the other. I used the screwdriver to unclasp the clips. Below the cover you’ll expose bottom end of the ribbon cable. The brown clip on the connector holds tension on the cable. Remove with the screwdriver and very carefully pull the cable out. You can now pull the ribbon cable through completely. This may not be required but I was worried about damaging the cable as I removed other piece of the controller. If you further remove the silver metal plate you’ll need the use T8 screwdriver but I didn’t find this to be necessary.



With the top PCB board and ribbon removed you’ll now see the rest of the black plastic knob. The center piece pops off. This can be tricky and you’ll need to pry around with the screwdriver. I found two small square ends on the center disc where I pressed in and pulled up. Eventually that center will pop up. Once the center clip is removed the whole knob lifts up. From here it should be easy to lift off the various plastic pieces, clips, buttons, and components that make up the top half of the iDrive controller.






Clean all the components as needed. I used diluted rubbing alcohol. Try to use something that won’t leave any residue. There is a little white grease on the buttons and you should probably leave that there.

For reassembly it’s the reverse of what we did. The plastic bits snap back together pretty easily. The pieces only go one way so its not hard figuring out what goes where once apart. Just make sure each piece is fully snapped in and aligned as you put everything back in.

Good Luck

[35mphgolf]

Very nice writeup! I hope I never have to follow it - but if I do I'm thankful for your efforts

Hmm makes me wonder if you could replace the wheel with the ceramic version...

[TimeFor]

Originally Posted by 35mphgolf

Very nice writeup! I hope I never have to follow it - but if I do I'm thankful for your efforts

Hmm makes me wonder if you could replace the wheel with the ceramic version...

I've read elsewhere the wheel isn't sold by itself. RealOEM suggest the part is shared on the F01 and F10 so yes it should be a direct replacement if you got an iDrive controller with ceramic version.

However the part is like $500+. If you disassemble the controller like I did it probably would cost no more than $50 to have the silver pieces powder coated any color you want. The ceramic color after all is just paint. It would probably be even cheaper and easier to just use a lightweight wrap. Plus then it could be removed.

[simoneq]

Very good write up!

I had exactly same problem (spilled soft drink) and now it's like new. Well.. almost, cause my "rubber bezel" has some marks on it now (not easy to spot though).

Actually I had trouble with this part: "Using a Micro flathead screwdriver gently pry around the top seam between the black rubber bezel and silver touch sensor pad. The touch sensor pad pops off."

To be specific - for anyone else use in the future - you need to push the 8 black latches in between silver 'ears' of the sensor pad trying to pull it up in the same time.
At first, I tried to lever these 'ears' instead of pushing the black latches - that was my mistake

Anyway, thank you very much. This post helped a lot

[gtthree]

Very informative post.

I have CIC controller which I am struggling to take apart, which is similar yet different.

I have managed to extract the circuit board, but I cannot remove the central plastic lock which I need to release to remove the wheel.

Any further tips or even experiences with a CIC controller?

[gtthree]

Hi

Can anyone advise how to continue the tear down of a CIC controller?

I've managed to remove the circuit board but I cannot figure out the next step.

I'm trying to remove the ceramic control to retro fit to my CIC controller which is ten pin.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

gtthree

[TimeFor]

Originally Posted by gtthree

Hi

Can anyone advise how to continue the tear down of a CIC controller?

I've managed to remove the circuit board but I cannot figure out the next step.

I'm trying to remove the ceramic control to retro fit to my CIC controller which is ten pin.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

gtthree

Looks to me like you're at this step:

Originally Posted by TimeFor

With the top PCB board and ribbon removed you’ll now see the rest of the black plastic knob. The center piece pops off. This can be tricky and you’ll need to pry around with the screwdriver. I found two small square ends on the center disc where I pressed in and pulled up. Eventually that center will pop up. Once the center clip is removed the whole knob lifts up. From here it should be easy to lift off the various plastic pieces, clips, buttons, and components that make up the top half of the iDrive controller.

[gtthree]

Hi TimeFor

Yes that is the step I'm struggling with and would appreciate if you could offer a little more insight.

Can I ask did you push down and inwards behind the two little raised squares or just to the left and right of each square and lever inwards?

Also did you apply pressure from both the left and right of the square at the same time using two screwdrivers.

Would you recommend any other tool?

gtthree

[TimeFor]

Originally Posted by gtthree

Hi TimeFor

Yes that is the step I'm struggling with and would appreciate if you could offer a little more insight.

Can I ask did you push down and inwards behind the two little raised squares or just to the left and right of each square and lever inwards?

Also did you apply pressure from both the left and right of the square at the same time using two screwdrivers.

Would you recommend any other tool?

gtthree

I'd try two small screw drivers on both the black squares pressing in and trying to pry upwards at the same time. That knob looks a bit different so I really am not sure. I just poked around at mine for awhile on any piece that would move. With my piece it was obvious it pulled up somehow.

[Wibbles]

Sorry to resurrect this thread but I've just taken a G30 controller apart and when I put it back together the laft/right forward/back on the click wheel isn't smooth anymore, I don't seem to have lost any parts.. any suggestions?

[TimeFor]

Originally Posted by wibbles

Sorry to resurrect this thread but I've just taken a G30 controller apart and when I put it back together the laft/right forward/back on the click wheel isn't smooth anymore, I don't seem to have lost any parts.. any suggestions?

Something must not be fully snapped down. Probably that center plastic holder that's hard to get out. I'd tear down again and re-assemble.

[Wibbles]

Originally Posted by TimeFor

Something must not be fully snapped down. Probably that center plastic holder that's hard to get out. I'd tear down again and re-assemble.

Found the issue - the magnets were touching eachother. I had to fit washers to space them out. There must be some other issue as I not recall any spacers when removing the magnet holder on disassembly...

[Darudis]

Hi a really nice and accurate write up
And did help a lot thank you for this!
My issue: have to apply a lot of force to move idrive knob left or right up and down (bought a car with this issue)
So I took it aprt and everything looks ok the only thing that I don't like is the magnets at the bottom touching each other I think there should be a tiny gap between them, do you remember what was it like on yours?

[Darudis]

Originally Posted by wibbles

Found the issue - the magnets were touching eachother. I had to fit washers to space them out. There must be some other issue as I not recall any spacers when removing the magnet holder on disassembly...

Hi I have the same issue with them magnets touching each other
Did you found a reason why? And have you found a solution how to fix it?

[Wibbles]

Originally Posted by Darudis

Hi I have the same issue with them magnets touching each other
Did you found a reason why? And have you found a solution how to fix it?

No, I ended up putting washers in to space them

[Mhyst]

Originally Posted by simoneq

To be specific - for anyone else use in the future - you need to push the 8 black latches in between silver 'ears' of the sensor pad trying to pull it up in the same time.
At first, I tried to lever these 'ears' instead of pushing the black latches - that was my mistake

Can you clarify this part further? I can't see the ears. Maybe a couple pics?

[WiTeC]

Originally Posted by Darudis

Hi I have the same issue with them magnets touching each other
Did you found a reason why? And have you found a solution how to fix it?

Hallo, magnets hold in place because of weak plastic adhesion. When the adhesion broke up, then the magnets gets stucked together, what makes idrive stucked. For me was the solution to use alu-foil to make the gap for magnets in plastic housing thicker. 4 plates of alu-foil per each magnet was enough to hold magnets in place. Then You’ll need to configure best magnets position, to get the smooth move feeling of the idrive controller. I figure out, that best position for magnet is, when they are close to each other in the center of the stick and on the opposite when there is e bigger distance compared to center position. Anyway I’m talking about max 1mm difference, so it’s necessary to try that. Good luck .

[saronian]

Thank you for the detailed guide. The previous owner of my used 2014 i3 must have enjoyed commuting with coffee, because the iDrive switches had a gummy resistance.

Once apart it took quite a while to clean all the dried gunk and debris from under the iDrive, inside the console, and around the switches. Thankfully the mechanism is well sealed, and now that it is cleaned, operates smoothly and effortlessly.

I would not have attempted this with this guidance.

[tman]

Thanks for this post. I just purchased a '14 i3 BEV and it has sticky iDrive controller buttons. This write up is a god send and I will be trying it this weekend.

[awhk]

Originally Posted by Darudis

Hi I have the same issue with them magnets touching each other
Did you found a reason why? And have you found a solution how to fix it?

I have just purchased a G11 Ceramic controller to replace the NBT EVO controller on my 2018 F80 with iDrive 6. Somehow the new controller won't work. Then I've taken them apart and swapped the knob and faceplate onto my original controller. Upon close inspection, there is a roughly 0.5mm gap between the bottom plate (holding the magnet) and the controller. The 4 screws under the part number sticker securing the plate don't have to tighten to the max. If you decide to take that apart, better use washers to space them out when you reassemble.

The EVO controller structure is similar to the iDrive 4 controller except the iDrive knob is held by a screw securing from the bottom of the controller. There is a rubber cover (in the middle of 4 screws under the part number sticker) that you can remove using pilers to access the screw. You don't have to remove the magnet holder to remove the knob. The ribbon cable, iDrive knob and face plate structure are pretty much the same like the old controller.

[0044161]

so I came acrooss a similar issue with the idrive magnets where the idrive controller was sticking and not functioning properly after dismantling.

I have the solution to fix this and you need no washers / spacers to perform this.
follow these simple steps and you be done before you know it.

1- remove the back plate( it is held by 4 screws)

2- remove the magnets from the plate and keep the on the side, pay attention to the way they are sitting in the frame as they need to be re inserted in the same orientation.

3- (this is the most important part) grab the back plate and and tighten the screws while the plate is on a flat surface
tighten the 4 x screws untill 3mm of the screw end is visible from other side of the plate, make sure the screws ends are all equally tighten and you can see between 3 - 3.5mm of the screw ends.

Tip: place the plate on a flat surface and balance the screws, it is easier done than said.

4- place the plate on the idrive ( do not insert the magnets at this stage), make sure you do not apply pressure to the plate at this stage, you will notice the gap between the plate and screw is now increased, the gap should be no less than 1mm, tighten the screws. do not over tighten the screws to close the gap!

5- inser the magnets on the bottom plate, they should just pop into place.

thats all, if the idrive still sticks repeat step 3 with increasing the screw ends over hang slightly.

I will try to post a video on how to do this. ps appologies for the miss spellign and grammer errors

[evilchargerfan]

nice write up! it drives me nuts how easy it is to get that controller dirty