luigi524td

This afternoon all of my Satellite Radio Presets, the "all channels", and the collection option were not available.

After I parked to do some shopping and returned - started the car and they all were as before. As if some gremlin snatched them up and then gave them back. My FM/AM presets were all present and accounted for before and after the glitch

I was using the same (my usual) key fob - I have comfort access. No other error messages or other functions were out of wack. BT Phone was normal ... I drive an avg of 10-30 miles per day and take a 30-100 mile drive at least once a week; my battery was replaced under warranty one year ago. The car starts normally and doesn't give any indication of impending battery death.

I did a search for Satellite radio problems and most are associated with s/w updates - my car was updated about 6 months ago. I was wondering if the satellite radio module was going south. ?? Is it separate from the AM/FM Radio since they worked normally even though the Sat presents disappeared ??

If this happens again I will remember to take a few cell phone pictures - esp if my SA feels the problem must be reproduced to call it a fault. Don't know if the on-board computers collect this sort of error.

Has anyone experienced this before?

bradleyjs

lHmmm....that's strange, never seen this happen.

I assume that it's an OEM install right?

luigi524td

Yes, SAT radio was factory installed. I'll ping my dealer SA next week to see if they have any thoughts. It happened only once and hasn't recurred since and I've restarted my car at least 6-7 times since. Maybe it was a warning that the Sirius/XM Bankruptcy is about to happen

panaguy

Luigi,

I had this happen 3-4 times last year. Since it happened more than once my SA and I suspected maybe it was a bad Sirius tuner (factory installed like yours). But...

Then the AM/FM presets were dumped from memory once last year and they never came back on. Then last month the trip odometer zeroed out and the clock read "--/--/--" .

Now when that happened I recalled various postings here on the forum having to do with problems with the battery going bad (Winter is the worst time of year for batteries). It seems that when your battery starts getting weak, although it is still able to crank and start your car, the car's computer starts "dumping" memory that takes "juice" to keep these various settings to conserve on power to start the car (do a search on bad batteries). The clincher was one day last month when the clock took a poop and dumped its time setting and the display read "--/--/--" . Apparently when this happens it's been well documented internally in BMW Service there are probably much larger battery issues to come and it's better to replace it now. I called my SA and told him about this incident and without hesitation he told me to "bring 'er in".

The tricky part is trying to get your BMW dealer to acknowledge this situation and to actually replace the battery because 9 times out of 10 when they hook up the computer to test the battery it passes . Luckily for me, my dealer's shop foreman (BMW Of Freehold (NJ)) is older and very experienced so he ordered the tech to rerun the test again - but this time after leaving the headlights on for 5 minutes. Voila, this time the battery FLUNKED the test, so they replaced it.

Since replacing it last month I have had no more issues with radio, satellite radio, clock memory or other settings.

Hope this helps

panaguy

Luigi,



One more thing;

I know you said your dealer already replaced the battery last year. Did you actually check back then to see if it was a new battery when you picked up your car ???

Just because a dealer is a BMW dealer doesn't mean they are not a "stealer"...

I say they charged it and told you they replaced it (Arrgh!)

These cars are VERY sensitive to anything resembling a weak battery. On the same note I have a BMW motorcycle and it's also very senitive to a weak battery because of the ABS computer. This bike takes a sealed gel cell battery that has a slightly higher voltage (almost 14V) than the normal 12.6 Volts found in just about every other common car and motorcycle battery. If that battery is weak or God forbid you use a common 12V lead acid battery the ABS computer throws all kinds of faults and warnings. (I use a Battery Tender to keep that battery in top shape when not riding it).

FYI

luigi524td

I"m pretty particular about service work being performed and my dealer knows that. They have been fair and honest for the 20 years they have worked on my BMWs. That said, I did actually confirm the new battery had a fresh in-service date stamped on it. And the original battery was D E A D ... no bringing it back to life!

If the Sat presets acted up 3-4 times in a row I'd be more concerned and would have taken pictures to report it. Since my car goes in for scheduled "inspection" in 3k miles I'll see if they can query the SAT receiver. As there are no other tell tale indicators of battery voltage problems I am suspecting it was a momentary glitch. But one never knows with these cars - they're so darn complicated!

panaguy

Yes they are certainly complicated...

As I have said before, there is more computing power and electronic systems in these cars than even Apollo 13 had when it went to the moon in 1969. You almost have to be some kind of rocket scientist to work on them LOL

chris.y

I've got the same satellite radio problem. Same behavior - the presets are blank and the station that I was last playing is the only station I can get. Stopping, leaving the car for some time and then returning usually solves the problem. It seems like the incidence of this issue is completely random.

I had my software upgraded last year (don't have the rev handy) and that's when this started. I'm guessing it's a software problem and not a hardware issue, but it's hard to say. I'm curious to hear what you find out!