birdmanbryan

Hello. Quick question hopefully someone can chime in on. Haven't used my ipod in the car for a while and when I recently tried, it didn't work. Just recently had warranty work done and not sure if they screwed something up. Do you have to plug the ipod into both the aux and usb ports in the armrest console with the oem cable? Can you use the steering wheel controls to skip songs? I have the '08 535i.

Thanks in advance,
Bryan

nagos420

you need the oem cable. it plugs into the usb port and the aux. yes you will be able to skip songs with the steering wheel controls

birdmanbryan

birdmanbryan

Thanks, I thought this was so. After I got my car back from the dealership, the ipod didn't work with both ports plugged in at the same time. It now works only if the aux port is plugged in and I can't use the steering wheel buttons to control the ipod. Wonder if it has anything to do with the aftermarket battery that I installed? Stealership said that it was under-powered (tried to sell me another) and was constantly resetting my clock and power steering, among other minor things. It appears that they registered the battery anyways as my clock and steering has been ok since but now, I discover that the ipod is not working properly in the car. Anyone else have an experience like this?

tonyb635

Haven't had this problem, but I am wondering if they accidentally turned it off while they were updating. Did you ask them? I guess its always possible the cable is bad. I'm sure the parts dept would let you test a new one to narrow the items for possible problems.

Gilgorm

Just to confirm, you do need to plug in both connections using OEM Y cable. Steering wheel controls should work.

Gene

+1,

are you using the OEM cable (as depicted below)

birdmanbryan

Yes, I am using the oem cable. It was working with the ipod the last time I had it in my car (which was months ago). The only change now is that I had warranty work done on the car just before it expired. Just so happen to try my ipod and now it doesn't work with both cables plugged in. The ipod will say "accessory connected" if the usb end is plugged in and I cannot even view the song list. If I just plug in the aux jack, I can play the music but without the steering buttons functioning and of course without being able to charge the ipod.

Previously, at the dealership, I had complained that the clock and power steering were constantly resetting and that the remaining gas mileage counter was slow to recalculate after gassing up. They attributed this to an under-powered aftermarket battery (bought and listed as compatible at Autozone)that I had installed and said that the car would subsequently shut down non-essential functions. I refused to buy their battery but when I got the car back, the clock, power steering, and mileage counter seemed to be all fixed so I assume they must have registered the battery (without charge). I wonder if the problem with the usb port could be a "battery" issue - which I'm sure they will blame. Could be other issues - which I'm not aware of yet - will pop up later? Maybe my ipod is the problem? I'll have to try another ipod to see if it will work on my car. Funny, the usb port does have power and charges my ipod when it is plugged in, though.

bluechipBMW

If you know anyone locally that has the same OEM plug I would then try to see if someone else's works to determine if the plug is bad. If not I would just go back to the dealer since I'm sure they will be able to determine if it's the plug or something else.

mookish

I have the same issue, my ipod was working fine, until water got into my trunk and fried the control boxes under there which took out all sound, bluetooth, parking sensors and my Idrive knob wouldn't respond to any commands. I had the boxes replaced and reprogrammed now everything works as it should. Only my ipod now doesn't work anymore. when I plug it in it doesn't even show that it's charging, so I don't think there's any power on that port anymore. Anyone have any ideas?