Just bought the car yesterday. 2007 530xi wagon. I knew going into it that the radio wasn't working.
Issue is bluetooth connectivity won't work, radio stations won't work. Only way you can listen to music is the auxiliary function still works.
When going through the idrive on the screen the bt, and AM FM functions are darkened out like they aren't even options, you can't select them.
The seller I bought it from said that a previous owner stated they tried installing an old school7 pin apple connector and that it hasn't worked right since. There is a cord with the old apple connector in the glovebox.
I'm somewhat mechanically inclined, but I'll be honest when it comes to electronics I got nothing. Anyone have any ideas what may have happened and is it fixable? I'm also new to this sort of electronics, if it's not fixable what's the best replacement options for this sort of vehicle? Minnesota just passed hands free phone operation legislation, so bluetooth connectivity is going to be a must.
Thanks.
Hi,
It's hard(er) to determine what could be wrong as 2004 and later cars of all brands have much more electronic modules which talk to other systems in the car etc etc. First thing would be to look up the standard setup the car left the factory with and check if the modules in the car physically now are a match/compatible ones. If things might have been changed, then it might be a reason or part reason of things not working as they should. I'd say next is to have the fault codes read for the car and see if that produces anything more - it's likely other functions might have a fault but could be 'caused' or 'part of' the electronic modules to do with audio. It might be an amplifier unit problem/issue as well. The iDrive controller module could be faulty or beginning to become more faulty too, so quite a bit of checking and cross referencing and fault reading etc to determine things.
I think as a minimum, you need to have the modules/idrive controller all working for the car to work/function properly. If the idrive module fails entirely, I believe the car won't even start. I think you'll need to get to this level and if you then find aspects like BT and/or radio stations still don't work, you could look into adding one of the aftermarket add on solutions which give you BT and Sirius/XM connectivity, look at GROM, mObridge, Dension products.
Cheers, Dennis!
To add to Dennis’ sage advice, I’d have the car scanned with BMW-specific diagnostic software. These cars are extremely complex and trying to figure out what’s wrong by the seat of your pants isn’t going to work. Try www.bimrs.org to find a reputable indie shop that specializes in bimmers near you. If you have no success with the website I’d check the website of the local chapter of the BMWCCA. Google “BMWCCA #####” where “#####” is your zip code.
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