Any ICE specialists - 04 X5 sound problem

Any ICE specialists - 04 X5 sound problem

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Discussion

jep

Original Poster:

1,183 posts

208 months

Monday 17th January 2011
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Right chaps/chapesses, your help is appreciated!

Model: 04 X5 with the TV/Nav option.
Problem: Sound cuts out from the right bank of speakers (front and rear) at some point in any journey. Sometimes cuts back in again, but invariably stays off. Comes back on when restarting the engine. Is not just limited to the radio, cuts out on sat nav directions and mobile phone conversations.

My limited knowledge tells me it could be related to the amp, there are no issues with the fuse, and a loose connection should mean that once it's lost contact, it's lost contact.

Any thoughts on potential causes of this? I would like to try a bit of domestic repair before throwing the wallet open to the wolves......

TIA,
Rich

jep

Original Poster:

1,183 posts

208 months

Saturday 22nd January 2011
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Any ideas?

tumbleweed

fixedwheelnut

743 posts

231 months

Saturday 22nd January 2011
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Check for short circuits on the speaker wires first.
Have any of the door panels been off recently? popular fault is door panel screws through the speaker loom.

Water in the boot where the amp/battery are?

rugbyfiend

65 posts

231 months

Saturday 22nd January 2011
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It could be the bm54 unit that's part of the set up in the boot. It's a well known problem with e46's and it's pretty much the same unit that's shared across the entire bmw range.

If you do a search on any specific bmw forum it's a problem that comes up quite frequently and is normally shown by one side of the vehicle's speakers being faulty. The trouble is that the unit can't really be opened, some people have had success by re-soldering some of the joints which have cracked but from what I've read there are as many failures as successes. Therefore second hand units are pricey on ebay but a brand new one from bmw is at least in the region of £500 I think.

Have a search...

007singh

268 posts

167 months

Monday 24th January 2011
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As above, BM54 unit is most likely to be at fault. I have the same setup in my e46 3 series, and the left rear drops out, and very very rarely does it come back on.

A lot of people sell refurbished BM54's on ebay, but its a gamble, and probably a lot of cash. Some people have opened up the unit to find its a dry joint (if in luck) and that getting a local/friendly AV/electronics place to re-flow the solder can often resolve it.

If you find that it is not that, then it means the amplifer section in the BM54 is probably dead (or on it's way out). Unless you have the Harmon Kardon option (not even sure if you could have that in the X5), you wont have a separate amplifier, so will need either:

1) a replacement BM54 (very pricey from a dealer, ebay can be a gamble)

2) look into having RCA connections added to the BM54 (search google) and then buy a small amp and have it fitted. Note this will impact the use of bluetooth since reports are it goes very quiet if you go this route.

3) Scrap the system and get an after market setup put in.

Hope that helps - I am still deliberating over this too, and trying to find a place to inspect the BM54 before I go any futher.

jep

Original Poster:

1,183 posts

208 months

Thursday 27th January 2011
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Cheers chaps. There's nothing wrong with the wiring, and the door panels haven't been removed at all. There's no water in the battery/sub compartment, so I guess it's the BM54 at fault.

Time to think about what to do - replace or get a new system? scratchchin

jep

Original Poster:

1,183 posts

208 months

Thursday 27th January 2011
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Duplicate post...damn iPhone! rolleyes

DennisCooper

1,340 posts

170 months

Friday 28th January 2011
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Hiya

It's either the BM54 amplifier module OR it's the radio tuner module.

The various E39 queries that are exactly the same symptoms and which come up almost every other day all mention these two as the most likely culprits. Best way to test would be to swap out each module for a while with known working units.

Exchange BM54 units that have been refurbished can be had for £250 from a specialist I know. I'm also pretty certain he offers a guarantee for a length of time (can't quite remember right now)

Radio module units - don't know the model number - you can probably pick up off out of ebay and the usual places and classifieds etc. No idea how much they are though.

Good luck!

Dennis!

Big_Dog

974 posts

184 months

Friday 28th January 2011
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If you are handy with a soldering iron the BM54 box (silver box in the boot with the biggest plug on) will come apart. I was told that often its a dry joint.
I must just add that I resoldered every joint with no joy. I believe the transistors can go too. I picked one up on ebay, so far so good.
Even working properly they are not the best sounding system. You may want to listen to a working one before spending too much money fixing it.

007singh

268 posts

167 months

Friday 28th January 2011
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Dennis, could you share details of the person you know who might be able to offer units for around £250?

As for solder, I have also heard that, and since my unit occasionally works correctly, that suggests to me that no components have failed and that it might be joint issue. I assume a failed component will never start working again....?

12345dave

2 posts

103 months

Wednesday 16th December 2015
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Hi mate you can get the amp fixed at car phonics for £99 when he fixes it he upgrades it as well so you get a lot better sound all his reviews are excellent

roofer

5,136 posts

210 months

Wednesday 16th December 2015
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12345dave said:
Hi mate you can get the amp fixed at car phonics for £99 when he fixes it he upgrades it as well so you get a lot better sound all his reviews are excellent
Is his name Dave ? ....

12345dave

2 posts

103 months

Wednesday 16th December 2015
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No mate it's not if you put a search in Google for car phonics Enfield you will get his website phone number etc etc

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 16th December 2015
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Look up Baris- Xcalibur- on M3Cutters and you will have your BM54 expert. He does a fast and very good service with some nice additional options.

ETA info at carphonics dot co dot uk