Everyone...I would like to say a big thank you to all who have responded.

I intend to print out this forum thread and take it to the dealer.

I have to share with you all that I had a truly dissapointing discussion with the dealer yesterday..........

My situation has been escalted to their service manager, who in turn escalated to a number of technical people within BMW UK. The answer which came back from BMW UK (apparently) is that they are aware of this problem within this range of vehicle and that there is no fix. I am being completely truthful when I tell you that the service manager stood in front of me and without a care in the world just shrugged his shoulders and said thats all he can do. He then went on to say that he couldnt justify spending money on trying to fix this as a dealership when BMW UK themselves have said there is no fix.

Needless to say, i brought the entire dealership to a standstill when I slammed my hand on the desk and started swearing at him.

I am ofcourse not proud of my reaction, but their attitude was that they were happy for me to have spent a huge amount of money on a substandard vehicle and they wouldnt spend any money trying to fix it.

Eventually they "understood my frustration". They agreed to find some donor cars from their used stock with the same radio systems and go through a process of elimination to try and find the faulty component in my car.

I have to admit that I am shocked by the lack of problem ownership and the fact that they are happy to let a customer swear and shout to get the service one would expect from a market leading brand. I am also concerned that they seem happy to interfere with BMW approved used stock......one has to wonder what was done to my car as a BMW approved used vehicle before I bought it.

Thanks again to everyone. If you have any more advise/guidance please share it with us as I do not see my problem going away very quickly.

Cheers

Zimguy

 

I recently just purchased an'04 530i and had the same problem. The dealer replaced the TCU, updated the software, and this has fixed the problem.

 

Hi All

I just wanted to say a very big thank you to everyone who replied in this forum thread. I printed it out and gave it to the dealer who today confirmed they had solved the issue. They appreciated the print out as it helped them get to the problem.

Turned out to be a faulty amp and TCU, so they replaced both and upgraded the firmware.

Now its perfect !!

Thanks again everyone

 

Out of interest what was the Dealers name - I seem to think that it's Cotwold BMW in Cheltenham. (or is there another dealer nearby?)

 

Wow...I had this same exact issue with my 2008 528i. The dealer is currently in the process of replacing the TCU. According to a previous post in this thread, that worked...so I'm hoping for the same success.

 

Kev, it wasnt Cotswold BMW, it was another dealer who I would prefer not to name and shame in public, I am sure you understand. If they had not sorted it, I would have their name at the bottom of every posting I make on this forum, but they got there in the end .....with a little gentle encouragement.

Good luck jDot - Dont accept the "BMW told us there was no available fix" line

 

Have not had this problem, but Welcome Aboard!