Wrong GPS Location on iDrive6

[WacoKid77]

2018 BMW 530e

Sat Nav started showing car off by a few hundred metres for a few weeks and would then re-correct.

Its now showing 50 miles away and doesn't look like it will re-position.

Tried the reset iDrive option/manually set position in iDrive/updated BMW maps etc. but no luck.

Any views?

Thanks

[MarcoZandrini]

Maybe you’re 50 miles from where yo think you are! /s

Ok, I’d there any consistency with the error? As as example, does the nav always say you’re 50 miles south of where you really are? I know you’ve done a reset so try pulling the fuses for head unit to see what happens. In the end you may end up sending the head unit off to a repair company.

[WacoKid77]

It started for a few weeks about a KM off but would snap back to correct location after some driving.

Now it is 50 miles away and has stayed there for a week or so. I never visited the location it currently is. It goes in a different direction when I am travelling (i.e. I am driving north and it is moving West). Also, with route guidence on it continues to move towards destination at about 60kph even when I am stationary at the lights.

When I am stationary I can manually reset my position in the iDrive. However when I pull off it snaps back to the wrong location instantly. If I try to set my position while moving it just ignores the command.

Service menu on iDrive says GPS Status: Reserved and does not show any satellites or co-ordinates.

If I set a destination the SatNav generates the route correctly, but from the position 50 miles away as the starting point.

Based on this I don't think its software or the head unit as everything else works; GPS antenna maybe?

[MarcoZandrini]

Yeah, I think the first thing to check is the antenna. Go to www.realoem.com and enter the last 7 characters of your car’s vehicle identification number. Hit enter and bookmark the page. Scroll down to audio/navigation to find the location of the antenna. I don’t know the electrical characteristics of the antenna but you can search the internet to find out. If the antenna is ok I think the next step is to have the gps software reloaded.

[WacoKid77]

Thanks Marco.

Some say GPS antenna is up front with the rain sensor and some say its in the shark fin. Will bring it to BMW for a diagnostic to see what they say in general.

[MarcoZandrini]

The shark fin antenna is for the satellite radio. I checked realoem for my car and it doesn’t list it as a separate item.

Is the car under warranty? If not, try www.bimrs.org to find a reputable indie shop that specializes in bimmers in your area. The shop needs to have the same diagnostic software as the dealer.

Good luck!

[WacoKid77]

The car is just out of warranty...of course.

I have a good indie who always did work on my old E60 and does software upgrades etc. As this issue is not well known I am leaning towards puttting it into a BMW main dealer. They may provide some goodwill gestures when replacing the head unit, shark fin, cigerette lighter...or whatever else the 'think' the problem is!

[MarcoZandrini]

I’d go back to the dealer and play nice to see if the dealer will check the nav for free.

[WacoKid77]

So booked into BMW this morning for a Software Update on 31st Jan. Went out for lunch in the car and of course everything is working now after 6 weeks of being 'broken'!

The GPS Status in the IDrive Service Menu now says 3DFix which is what forums state is should be, and all Latitude and Longitide values are there. Also shows it connected to 8 satellites. All these values were empty for the last 6 weeks.

When I intially started troubleshooting the GPS Status was always Reserved. Not too confident how long this will last and will go ahead the software update regardless.

[WacoKid77]

...and its gone again after one additional trip. Back to GPS Status: Reserved and all values are empty.

[joesid]

I have a 2016 F30 with ID4 EVO, and have a similar issue. When my car "wakes up", it has no GPS reception, and shows "GPS status: Reserved" in the service menu. Additionally, it doesn't have 4G cellular connectivity (my car was upgraded with the 4G ATM over the summer by the dealer).

When your car has no GPS reception, do your Connected services work? Weather? Roadside assistance? How about satellite radio?

After driving for about 20 minutes, my car ALWAYS goes back online. However, once I shut the car off, and it goes to sleep, all is disconnected, and the process repeats.

I'm out of warranty and really struggling to find any solutions online, so I will be interested to see what happens with your car.

[WacoKid77]

So did a 50 mile round trip yesterday, keeping an eye on ConnectedDrive by trying to load the weather app, and also trying to login to BMW Services continuously during the journey.

Lo and behold, when I eventually got a connection to ConnectedDrive the GPS works fine (all values populating etc.), and when I don't have a connection it doesn't work. There is definitely a firm correlation between having a connection in your iDrive and the GPS working properly. This maybe explains the GPS Status saying Reserved and not GPS Not Available, the latter maybe pointing more to a hardware issue.

Today I have no connection again but not surprised as it must be an intermittent problem, with it not working the majority of the time.

Based on this I am more inclined to now think it is a software problem as it struggles to connect to BMW servers. Will let you know how the software update goes next week.

[joesid]

I’ve done some more research with my car, and think that my ATM module has an internal issue, possibly with a poorly soldered connection. I’m wondering if yours does too. Below 60F/15C (estimated), it flat out doesn’t work, but after driving a bit will come back to life after the car warms up. If I remove the ATM module and bring it inside to warm up, it will 100% work when I plug it into the car. I’ve tested this down to as low as 10F/-12C. It will also start working again if I put a space heater in the car. It’s weird I know, but I’m having consistent results.

[joesid]

I’ve done some more research with my car, and think that my ATM module has an internal issue, possibly with a poorly soldered connection. I’m wondering if yours does too. Below 60F/15C (estimated), it flat out doesn’t work, but after driving a bit it will come back to life. If I remove the ATM module and bring it inside to warm up, it will 100% work when I plug it into the car. I’ve tested this down to as low as 10F/-12C. If I put a space heater in the car, it will also start working. Weird I know, but I’m seeing consistent results. The all or nothing behavior that your car and my car experience lead me to believe it’s a hardware issue.

[MarcoZandrini]

Where is the ATM module located? I’d disconnect the battery and pull the module. Then see if you open it. I think the issues that you are both having is caused by one or more bad solder joints. Modern electronix are assembled with lead (Pb) solder. That makes the solder less flexible and subject to cracking. Now, if you see a bad solder joint you need to make sure that you don’t fry any adjacent components. To be safe you could take the module to a reputable electronix repair shop.

[joesid]

Where is the ATM module located? I’d disconnect the battery and pull the module. Then see if you open it. I think the issues that you are both having is caused by one or more bad solder joints. Modern electronix are assembled with lead (Pb) solder. That makes the solder less flexible and subject to cracking. Now, if you see a bad solder joint you need to make sure that you don’t fry any adjacent components. To be safe you could take the module to a reputable electronix repair shop.

I was thinking about doing that actually, but only if BMW lets me down after I bring it in. There is one screw that is partially covered by the label, otherwise I would have taken a peek at the internals. For the G30 and my F30, it’s located under the shark fin. The ATM slides onto large metal mount and locks into place. I’ve attached a photo of what the bottom of the antenna looks like on sedans with NBT EVO ID 4, 5, and 6 (don’t know about current). That mount gets cold!

Mine is hopefully going to be covered by BMW, as the module was installed as part of a 4G upgrade campaign during 5/2021. I’m unable to take it in for at least another month though. I’m out of warranty so have done my own diagnostics up to this point.

The OP of this thread is the only other person I’ve come across that has posted about “GPS status: Reserved”, and has the same symptoms.

[WacoKid77]

I’ve done some more research with my car, and think that my ATM module has an internal issue, possibly with a poorly soldered connection. I’m wondering if yours does too. Below 60F/15C (estimated), it flat out doesn’t work, but after driving a bit it will come back to life. If I remove the ATM module and bring it inside to warm up, it will 100% work when I plug it into the car. I’ve tested this down to as low as 10F/-12C. If I put a space heater in the car, it will also start working. Weird I know, but I’m seeing consistent results. The all or nothing behavior that your car and my car experience lead me to believe it’s a hardware issue.

I live in Dublin, Ireland and we have been below 15C for about 5 months now so would doubt that's a contributing factor. It worked again at the weekend, was about 5 miles away from home and GPD Status reverted to 3DFix. Once I turned the car off and on it was GPS Status Reserved again. I have no doubt now that when I have a connection to Connected Drive (i.e. the Weather app is working), the GPS works. So for me its a server connection issue and not a GPS-hardware related issue. Car is in on 31st Jan with BMW for a software update.