Help with my e39 stereo
Discussion
Hello all, I’m a regular reader (of readers’ cars mostly) but very rarely post. I’m hoping someone here can help though.
I’ve got an e39 I’ve had for 18 months that I’m gradually improving, nothing major, I just want it to be reliable and usable as it’s my only car and needed for work too. Along with the mechanical bits and pieces I’m working through is a driver’s door speaker that’s making a farting noise when the radio is up at a high volume. Granted it’s not top of the list of jobs I’ve got but it’s an annoyance nonetheless.
I ordered a replacement, second hand speaker from eBay but when I finally got around to fitting it I found it hadn’t cured the farting noise. I assumed I’d been sent a duff speaker so ordered a second one. This still didn’t cure the problem. At this point I did what I should have done with the first replacement. I took the passengers door card off and test fitted the speaker to passenger side. No farting noise, even at a high volume!
So it looks (sounds?) like the speakers were fine all along and there is a problem with either the head unit or the wiring. What should I check next? And how? I removed the head unit and there was some non-standard looking insulation tape wrapped round a few of the wires. I suppose my next step is to replace the head unit unless someone here can suggest something else?
If it makes any difference the head unit is the standard BMW cassette player type. There is a 6 CD changer in the boot but I never use this.
I was also planning to fit some sort of adapter that would allow me to use my iPod but if I need to change the head unit anyway can anyone suggest a good standard looking unit?
Cheers
I’ve got an e39 I’ve had for 18 months that I’m gradually improving, nothing major, I just want it to be reliable and usable as it’s my only car and needed for work too. Along with the mechanical bits and pieces I’m working through is a driver’s door speaker that’s making a farting noise when the radio is up at a high volume. Granted it’s not top of the list of jobs I’ve got but it’s an annoyance nonetheless.
I ordered a replacement, second hand speaker from eBay but when I finally got around to fitting it I found it hadn’t cured the farting noise. I assumed I’d been sent a duff speaker so ordered a second one. This still didn’t cure the problem. At this point I did what I should have done with the first replacement. I took the passengers door card off and test fitted the speaker to passenger side. No farting noise, even at a high volume!
So it looks (sounds?) like the speakers were fine all along and there is a problem with either the head unit or the wiring. What should I check next? And how? I removed the head unit and there was some non-standard looking insulation tape wrapped round a few of the wires. I suppose my next step is to replace the head unit unless someone here can suggest something else?
If it makes any difference the head unit is the standard BMW cassette player type. There is a 6 CD changer in the boot but I never use this.
I was also planning to fit some sort of adapter that would allow me to use my iPod but if I need to change the head unit anyway can anyone suggest a good standard looking unit?
Cheers
Thanks for the responses all, I'm hoping to find five minutes this weekend to have another look.
I'll check the wiring first. From what defblade has said, it looks like a non BMW, replacement head unit will be a pain to fit. I was looking at maybe a straight swap to a BMW CD head unit, would this allow me to plug my iPod in via the iPod's headphone socket or would I still need an adapter of some sort?
pistonheadforum, you could describe the noise as crackling I suppose, it definitely starts up straight away though rather than after a couple of hours but only when the volume is up quite loud.
And I've just had a quick Google of the BM54 trollfinder, I'm pretty sure I don't have that unit in my car. Sounds like I'm lucky not to!
I'll post back here if I have any success with this, thanks again.
I'll check the wiring first. From what defblade has said, it looks like a non BMW, replacement head unit will be a pain to fit. I was looking at maybe a straight swap to a BMW CD head unit, would this allow me to plug my iPod in via the iPod's headphone socket or would I still need an adapter of some sort?
pistonheadforum, you could describe the noise as crackling I suppose, it definitely starts up straight away though rather than after a couple of hours but only when the volume is up quite loud.
And I've just had a quick Google of the BM54 trollfinder, I'm pretty sure I don't have that unit in my car. Sounds like I'm lucky not to!
I'll post back here if I have any success with this, thanks again.
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