E36 stereo volume knob

[Broy07]

Hey, so I have been having this problem with my 98 E36. My volume knob is messed up. It turns, goes on/off, and can adjust the volume<--that is the problem. Sometimes when I want to turn it down it goes up. When I want to turn it up, it goes down, but then will go up. Basically it is all messed up and I need some help. I tried to clean it but I couldn't get the knob off. I've been living with it for a while and now i'm tired of it. Please help!

[paniolo]

Mine was doing that too ... also a lot of times it would just spin and nothing would happen ... or if it did it was the opposite of what you were trying to do. I followed this DIY on removing and disassembling the radio to get the LED's (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=251722) working again. While I had it apart and the front plate off like in the below pic from pg 2 of that thread I disconnected the switch wire from the main board and unscrewed the vol/pwr switch from the front panel. Then I liberally used some electrical parts cleaner from the front and back and spun the dial to clean it all up. Apparently it has some kind of an optical digital connection. In any case I still don't have LED's, but the volume was fixed.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/daf664/JAN2007067.jpg

Edit: Sorry the pic is so big ... but thats what was there. The vol knob is just a friction fit. It is really tight, but use a small screwdriver and work around the perimeter. It will come off. But I'm not sure that will give you enough access. But give it a try with some spray electrical cleaner with one of those directional tubes. Just don't turn the key on for awhile till everything has evaporated. Disassembling everything to that point isn't that bad, but the first time takes awhile to figure everything out.

[fun2drive]

You might be able to get the knob off and use liberal amount of electrical contact cleaner to get the carbon off the pot.
You might be able to be more effective pulling the radio out and holding it vertically to get more cleaner on the pot to clean it off.
Nice picture which shows the volume knob. That should help you guild the cleaner to an area that will be effective...

[litehwk356]

sounds like any other oem radio thats had any kind of use. aftermarket ftw.

[SmokyJay]

Buy a new one, problem solved ;)

[choffa]

Same problem, plus bleeding LCD. Sent to this fellow, came back in perfect condition the day after he received it. Best $65.00 spent in a while. Highly recommended.

http://myworld.ebay.com/ebaymotors/germanaudiotech/?_trksid=p4340.l2559

[Broy07]

Thanks guys. But if it were not to work with the cleaner, what would be another option?

[Joylove]

If you can't clean it then you need to replace it.

[Broy07]

Alright, ill give an update when finish!! Thanks

[Broy07]

Well i cleaned it out. it works some times and some times it doesnt. but i really dont care as long as it goes down. thx guys.

[sak335]

Sorry for reviving an old thread but I had this same problem (volume knob either didn't work, or more often did the opposite of what I wanted) and found this thread looking for experience with a fix. I pulled the radio out yesterday and got to the point in the pictures above. I unscrewed the knob from the board (it's held by a nut that is internal to the board so I held the nut in place with a screwdriver while I unscrewed it.

Once out, I pried open the four pins that hold the cover in place and once I got it apart I sprayed liberally with contact cleaner and wiped with a clean cloth. Here's what the guts look like:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanekleinpeter/7337376946/

I put it together and the knob works like new. Only took about an hour and the reduction in frustration is priceless. Hated to buy a new head unit when this seemed like (and was, in the end) such a simple fix.

Sorry about the link, can't make the photo insertion work to save my life.

[flyfishvt]

nice job. I too have an OEM unit. I had the same thing happen. I picked up a non working unit to play with a long time ago and I just swapped the volume knob from one to the other. Took 15 minutes. I'm still trying to figure out why so many of us refuse to replace these things. They really are just crap.

[blackongrey]

I just replaced my OEM unit, and it brought back to life all the drivers speakers and all the others with new life. The volume control was horrible on the OEM unit, along with Bass and treb adjustments. I replaced it with an Alpine TDM-7582. Night and day.

[sak335]

nice job. I too have an OEM unit. I had the same thing happen. I picked up a non working unit to play with a long time ago and I just swapped the volume knob from one to the other. Took 15 minutes. I'm still trying to figure out why so many of us refuse to replace these things. They really are just crap.

No doubt, they are terrible head units, but 1) I'm cheap; 2) I like the stock look rather than all the silver/blue/red aftermarket units; and 3) I like having the weather band. Plus, if I never put a nice head unit in it, I'll never know what I'm missing. I did replace my speakers with BSW when a couple of them failed and that helped out a bit.

[fahdyehia628]

I also replaced my stock headunit for a pioneer Mvh-p8200bt

And it was a night and day difference in the sound !!! + it has USB, SD, AUX, Bluetooth, Color screen ...

Much Much better !!!

[sak335]

I also replaced my stock headunit for a pioneer Mvh-p8200bt

And it was a night and day difference in the sound !!! + it has USB, SD, AUX, Bluetooth, Color screen ...

Much Much better !!!

How is radio reception with the non-stock head unit? I'd always heard that many people have issues with not being able to pick up stations because of the diversity antennae.

[fahdyehia628]

i'm sorry i don't understand you

But if you're refering to the jack... you can use an adaptor that is sold on Ebay for 5 $

I'm having no issues with the radio

[blackongrey]

How is radio reception with the non-stock head unit? I'd always heard that many people have issues with not being able to pick up stations because of the diversity antennae.

No issues here, you need a VW10 adapter and you're good to go.

[Omegas]

Thank you much for the pix of the volume knob opened up. It pushed me over the edge to really take the unit apart. Works like new now! And I'm with a few of you, even though the stock unit is crap, it's still much better looking then most aftermarket. So for now it's what I'm using even though I will prob replace the stock speakers shortly. Now what to replace them with is my next curiousity...

[paniolo]

Mine started dropping like 90% of its sound, like it was muted, and also was all muddled. Then I would hit a bump and it would come back. Combined with no display I finally threw in some bargain basement Dual unit I got a year ago for $50. It is ugly as heck with blue lights, but the performance blows the stock deck away. And it has an Aux in on the front to hook up MP3.

The only reason I kept the OEM so long was the integrated look for the dash. Maybe when I get some $ I will get a bit better quality and amber lighting.

[frankc]

Sorry for reviving an old thread but I had this same problem (volume knob either didn't work, or more often did the opposite of what I wanted) and found this thread looking for experience with a fix. I pulled the radio out yesterday and got to the point in the pictures above. I unscrewed the knob from the board (it's held by a nut that is internal to the board so I held the nut in place with a screwdriver while I unscrewed it.

Once out, I pried open the four pins that hold the cover in place and once I got it apart I sprayed liberally with contact cleaner and wiped with a clean cloth. Here's what the guts look like:

<URL removed>

I put it together and the knob works like new. Only took about an hour and the reduction in frustration is priceless. Hated to buy a new head unit when this seemed like (and was, in the end) such a simple fix.

Sorry about the link, can't make the photo insertion work to save my life.

I have been having the radio volume issue on and off for about a year now. Today it came back, and the volume would only go up regardless of which way I turned the knob - very frustrating.

Thanks for posting the picture of the volume control disassembled. I wanted to respond to say that I was able to solve the problem without removing the volume control from the front circuit board and disassembling it. My method was to use a razor blade to spread the greenish plastic piece away from the metal base it is strapped to. This opened a tiny window into the mechanism itself, into which I sprayed some Mass Airflow Sensor cleaner, and then rotated the knob a few times. I repeated this twice, and then blew it out with compressed air. I re-assembled and the volume works great now. The whole process took about an hour.

I was concerned about disassembling the volume control as you did as the two straps that hold it together looked too delicate to survive the operation, at least with the tools in my hands :).

Thanks again for posting the disassembled picture - once I saw that I knew where I need to spray the cleaner for the best results.

[craftymatt]

2) I like the stock look rather than all the silver/blue/red aftermarket units;

I completely agree. Aftermarket head units always look stupid and flashy. Not to mention that they have about 1000x the theft appeal. I, for one, intend to never own a car with an aftermarket head unit again.

[99e36m3vert]

Thanks to everyone on this thread for the help. I was plagued by this terrible issue for months, actually the last two damn years, and BOOM. Fixed it tonight in an hour per the instructions above. The biggest help was the flickr photo link that sak335 put up. Shows exactly what that piece looks like taken apart. Did that then cleaned it all up with connector cleaner and a toothbrush.

1) There are several small, small parts here involved that you don't want to lose or mangle useless. One being the little half inch slice of metal with plastic tab in the middle (microscopic!) that is like a mini-mini-mini rack and pinion looking thing and gives the volume dial the clicking sound. Not sure how integral that is to the whole assembly but I'm sure it tightens things up and definitely makes things feel better turning it. I damn near lost that during the reassembly. Then I had to figure out how it went in! Be careful with all the very small parts here. Best to film yourself taking it apart and then you can see how to put it back together if you rewind :)

2) I had to solder the metal tab back onto all these pieces in the end as the small teeth on them are very small and intricate. Plus, there's some mangling done to get the piece off to begin with. Soldering isn't a bad thing. I just don't like to do it when I don't have to because in my mind, if there's not a lot of metal around something then it wasn't meant to be there.

3) Be as liberal as you can with connector cleaner on ALL parts here. There was zero visible corrosion or anything like it, but the problem was there. And I definitely know what corrosion looks like because between my three vehicles (two 1999s and a 2004), I've been an electrical hound lately solving a bunch of issues. Clean everything you can once in there, not just this piece in question, because how often do you take your head unit apart and when's the next time you want to do it again? I've had no LED issues but that would piss me off.

Thanks again for your thoughtful help and posts everyone. This REALLY eliminated a pet peeve of mine. It really does make the whole stereo sound much, much better. Felt like I had a little old school transistor radio the last couple years. Now this is showing the balls and bass of the amp and full HK system that came with it.

[rpansing]

I have the same problem with the radio on my 98 323i. I opened up the volume knob potentiometer and it just disintegrated in my hands (see picture). Does anyone know where I can purchase the potentiometer by itself? I found the part number listed on the Alpine website and sent an inquiry, but I haven't heard back from them.644611

[gc325is]

Looks like you have all the parts and just need rebuild things.
Put the conductor disk back on the post, I think see it on the cloth. The wipers seem to be good shape so are the alignment pins. Clean up the surface and snap back together.
Bend back the ears to hold it closed and your done. If the black debris is the conductor disk you and done with.

Try looking at the ALPs site with the part number.

There are so many variables you need it to get the correct part.

https://www.alps.com/prod/info/E/image/Potentiometer/RotaryPotentiometers/RK09L/RK09L1220A1B.jpg

https://www.alps.com/prod/info/E/HTML/Potentiometer/RotaryPotentiometers/RK09L/RK09L_list.html

[VMF218]

I followed the course of frankc and just used ORC electrical contact cleaner and some compressed air. Carefully pulled the volume knob off and doused it and dried it 2x (and pushed it in while doing so, just in case the on/off selection would allow some cleaner to penetrate better). Success!

[VMF218]

Success for a second time, this time with a '98 e36 m3. Volume had gone non-responsive and I tore the radio down to where frankc had recommended - just splitting the volume control and hitting it with contact cleaner. I opened it just a bit by prying back two of the little securing straps first. Could have used compressed air to dry it out, but I didn't trust compressed air to be as dry (and clean) as ambient air, so vacuuming with a shop vac worked fine. Now that I read my earlier post, I'm surprised that method did anything. All I did on my e30 was spray from the front with the volume control knob removed, and now seeing how it all works inside, that was a low probability move. But easy. Maybe the e30 had a different design.

[GirtAllerton]

Same problem here with volume. Pried knob off and hit with a few shots of maf cleaner at gap of rod while turning. Let set for a minute to evap off and success. Did not have to pull radio. Thanks. Must just need to get a little cleaner in there to fix. Appreciate the tips was thinking I was going to have to send it out for repair.

[themusgrat]

I'm sure MAF cleaner works fine, but there is a product, DeOxit, that is used for this type of thing. It's worth having. Pots will always go bad, and it's just grime and oxidization. DeOxit is basically magic, and its effects last a long time.

I found it interesting that VMF218 basically cleaned the entire radio, and heard it perform better. I'm about to pull my volume knob off too, but maybe I'll try cleaning the whole thing. There's no reason it should perform as badly as it does, and I'd rather keep the stock head unit if I can. Although having an Aux in would be nice.....

[sak335]

"Although having an Aux in would be nice....."

Actually, you can make an Aux Input work on this radio. Search the forums and you'll find a post where you basically solder the wiring for a 3.5mm plug onto the board for the tape player. Then, you gut an old tape (i.e. remove the actual tape but keep the cassette itself) and when you want to use your Aux input you slide that gutted tape into the player and it activates your Aux. I did this years and years ago (sold my M3 back in 2012 but I'm one of the OP's on this thread) and used it for an iPod. You can easily run the Aux input wire through to the center console. There are also easy ways to tap into power in order to run power to whatever it is you want to use in the Aux port you've created.

[Kman1836]

Hello, I am new here. I just purchased a new to me 98' 323i convertible in excellent stock condition and I want to keep it that way as much as possible at this point. I experienced similar issues with the volume knob on the stock head unit to the ones descirbed in this thread. I was able to remove the unit from the dash but cannot seem to figure out how to get the actual unit open to access behind the volume dial which is where I beleive I need to get to to clean the area around the knob as described above by paniolo and others. I removed the two screws from the back which seem to hold the top panel on, but the panel still won't budge and I don't want to break it. Appreciate any input. Photo below of where I am up to. file:///C:/Users/kkalm/Downloads/IMG-6497.jpg