2005 545i sport 6 spd

my radio does not remember tone/fader/balance settings when the car is turned off for more than a few minutes. it also does not remember if i was listing to the radio or the cd, or if i had the radio set to presets or manual tuning mode. it just defaults to FM radio, manual tuning, tone/bal/fader all at the middle setting.

all the radio station presets are stored permanently. at least it does not lose that data.

if i have the car off for a brief time, like filling up with fuel, it remembers all the settings.

i wonder if the CCC has a coin cell or capacitor that keeps a type of volatile memory alive and that has failed. or maybe there is a file written to/from the CCC that contains the settings and that file is not being stored/reread correctly.

also the cd player shuffles for no reason when the car is off, unless i have a cd in it, that seems to make it happy. actually the shuffle sounds more like the mechanism that loads and unloads the disc.

the nav works perfectly. everything else works too, just has the above problems. and i have to reset everything every f-ing morning when i roll out to work.

i'm leary of going to the stealer for this problem as they will just start changing parts until the problem goes away.

another question, if i buy another CCC unit from ebay do i have to go to the stealer to have it recoded? will they do that with used parts?

ideas anyone???

thanks

 

You do not say if this is a "change" from what was working correctly previously all the time or if it has always done this since new (or did you buy used)? That would help in TS. However, this is a classic symptom of older software, I mean really older software like up to late 2005 or early 2006.

If your first set of symtoms is repeatable the dealer will run diagnostics and will only do what the diagnostic recommends, he will not shotgun replacing parts just for the heck of it. My bet is softare upgrade. If not under warranty then expect ~$200 region.

CD disk changer (in glove compartment) shuffling is normal - for instance if car is in sleep mode (after 20 minutes or so, key out, no one in car and doors closed) then you open door, you will hear this.

 

it does not have a cd changer, i'm talking about the in dash player. if there is no cd inside, it will make noise until the car goes into standby mode. the noise sounds like its trying to load the disk. so i always leave a disc in to keep it happy.

i bought the car used a few months ago with 34K miles on it. the memory probs that i speak about have always been there. i just didn't know enough about the car/idrive when i bought it to notice the problem.

thanks for the reply.

 

I see, ok well software is still my choice for the changing of the entertainment configuration issues. I always have a cd in the center player so I don't remember this one but continuing to try to read/load a cd does not sound good. Could be hardware. Not CPO I take it? Still, with possibly less than 50k miles on it you may get some warranty coverage

 

another item that it does not "remember" are the assignments of the programmable steering wheel buttons. i set the diamond to turn off the monitor. when the car was off for a while it defaulted back to "next entertainment source". i think this detail points to a software problem too.

thanks