How to remove the CCC head unit from a BMW E60

Alex Raicu · March 23, 2021

How to remove the CCC head unit from a BMW E60

By Alex Raicu

If you’re here, most likely you have a faulty CCC unit which you need to remove from your BMW E60.

If you’re not sure what a CCC iDrive is, have a look at our article ‘What is the CCC iDrive’.

That being said, let’s proceed with our post on How to remove the CCC head unit on BMW E60.

The BMW CCC unit is located behind the dashboard in the middle of the infotainment system. To reach that, you would have to first remove the central trims (below the display), take off some screws, and then literally pull it out and unplug.

For this, you will need a few tools, a little patience, and some arm strength.

Tools for removing the CCC head unit from a BMW E60:

Flat Screwdriver
Long Phillips Screwdriver
Trim Remover

Figure 1: Tools for removing a CCC from a BMW E60

Removing the CCC head unit from a BMW E60

Step 1:

The first step would be removing the plastic/wooden trim (below the display) on which your central air-vents are located.

Start with any corner and use any type of trim remover (see the blue tool in the top right of Figure 2, for example) to unlatch it.

Figure 2: Removing the upper trim on a BMW E60

The trim is usually connected in 3-4 points. Use the trim to pry it open starting from one corner and continue with the rest. Once it comes out, you will notice it has a wire attached on the back, somewhere in the middle. It’s the connector for the hazard light switch. No need to pull out the connector, it’s long enough for you to move the trim out of the way while the connector is still attached and continue your work.

Step 2:

Now unscrew the two screws on the side of the air vents using a Phillips screwdriver. See figure 3 below as a reference.

Figure 3: Unscrew the left and right screws using a Phillips screwdriver

Step 3:

Once removed, use the trim remover to remove the climate control panel (Figure 4, the black part) and the lower trim (Figure 4, the grey part).

On an E60 these two are built into a single piece, on an E90 they are two separate pieces.

Just like the top trim from Step 2, you will have to unlatch it from both sides and then pull it out gently.

Figure 4: Removing the lower trim on a BMW E60

Step 4:

The climate control panel and the lower trim have electrical connectors attached to them. These connectors have a small lever that needs to be pushed upwards (Figure 5). This will automatically disconnect them. After removing the connectors, you can keep the trim(s) on the side.

Figure 5: Disconnecting the climate control panel on an E60

Step 5:

Now that the lower trim is removed, you can see your CCC head unit. The big silver box with four screws.

Figure 6: Unscrewing the CCC module on an E60

Take a Phillips screwdriver and unscrew the four screws. You might have to put your car in Reverse so that you can pull the CCC unit out easily. This is only so that the gear lever is not in the way.

Figure 7: Pulling out the CCC module from an E60

Step 6:

The CCC unit has 5 different electrical connectors attached on the back. Take out all the connectors, one by one.

Disconnecting the CCC module from an E60 — Figure 8: Disconnecting the CCC from an E60

1 is the Quadlock connector. To remove the Quadlock, apply some pressure in the location and in the direction shown by 1a. While doing this pull as shown by the circular arrow 1b. Through this movement you are rotating a part of the connector which is a bit mobile. By this rotation, the connector becomes free to be pulled out. Now gently pull the connector out, using a small amount of force.
Figure 9 below shows a zoomed in view of the quadlock connector being unlocked and pulled out.

Connectors 2 and 3 also have a small part that is blocking them in position. Slightly push in the location and direction shown by the yellow arrows in Figure 8. While doing this, pull the connector out, gently.

Connectors 4 and 5 come out just by pulling them gently.

Disconnecting the CCC Quadlock connector from an E60 — Figure 9: Disconnecting the CCC Quadlock connector

And Voila! Now you can pull the metal box (the CCC unit) out. You have finally taken out the BMW E60 CCC unit successfully.

Wrapping it up

We hope our article has helped you remove the CCC head unit from your BMW E60. If you’d like to add anything, please use the comments section below. We like to hear from our readers !

If you have questions about the iDrive system and different models that were not answered by this article, have a look our other articles, maybe they help answer your questions:

Do you need help with a faulty iDrive, bluetooth or amp ? Check out the links right below:

our CCC repair page
our MULF / MULF 2 bluetooth repair page
our Logic 7 amplifier repair page
our CIC iDrive repair page, if you have the CIC version of the iDrive navigation

Would you like to add something on this topic ? Please use the comments form below, we monitor all incoming messages. Our readers will apreciate your help with making this article more informative.