BMW F30 Head Unit Repairers

[_Hoppers]

Sound is only coming out of the left hand side speakers (both from and rear) of my BMW F30, the subwoofer seems to be ok? I suspect it’s the head unit at fault rather than broken wires (all other functions on right hand side doors work)?

Can someone recommend anyone that can repair these head units. I’ve found a few repairers online but I’d be guessing at their competence!

[Deep Thought]

_Hoppers said:

Sound is only coming out of the left hand side speakers (both from and rear) of my BMW F30, the subwoofer seems to be ok? I suspect it’s the head unit at fault rather than broken wires (all other functions on right hand side doors work)?

Can someone recommend anyone that can repair these head units. I’ve found a few repairers online but I’d be guessing at their competence!

Cant speak directly on repairs, but i'd an issue with the head unit on my 2018 BMW M2, which i think is a similar setup to yours.

Mine was an irksome intermittent "hissing" from the head unit when you got in to the car when it was cold (resolved by turning the radio on and off again).

My car had HK and there were four main components.

HK Amplifier, in the boot, back left.

ASD (Active Sound Design) unit, in the boot, sitting on top of the amplifier.

The head unit itself in the dash.

The display on top of the dash.

I thought at first it was the amp. There is a short code on the base of the amp, and you can match that to a sellers part on ebay. I made sure i ordered from an ebayer that accepts returns. Sadly that didnt cure mine, so i sent it back for a full refund.

The ASD - if its faulty it either works or doesnt work (and you get no sound through the car at all IIRC) but again i replaced it. Wasnt it in my case. So it went back.

Third time lucky - ordered a head unit. They're not hard to get out of the dash, its mainly trim removal then some screws. Again ordered one up with a matching part number from ebay. Now, these need coded in to make the sat nav work, but they will otherwise work for the purposes of testing. This did solve my problem, so then i got a local mobile coder to come and code it in.

Now, it may well be easier just to send your head unit off and hopefully they can diagnose the option and fix it, but they arent cheap, so if that fails, you could go the route i went.

[_Hoppers]

Thanks for the info. I did initially consider a unit off eBay but I had a chat with a BMW specialist and they said coding the satnav might be an issue?

[Deep Thought]

_Hoppers said:

Thanks for the info. I did initially consider a unit off eBay but I had a chat with a BMW specialist and they said coding the satnav might be an issue?

It was straightforward enough by somebody who specialises in that and knows what they're doing

My local BMW Specialist / Indy couldnt do it but i just found a local guy via the FB groups. I confirmed with him in advance that he'd be able to sort it.

I also got him to update the maps on my car while he was doing that, which was a wee bonus too.

This is the code you need to find and match on the head unit, with any on ebay



If you are going to try the HK amp first then this is the code you're matching on it



Your codes will likely be different but thats the format and location of them at least

[_Hoppers]

Cheers DT, mine doesn’t have the HK system so I’m assuming it’s all in the same box?

[_Hoppers]

Thanks for the info. I did initially consider a unit off eBay but I had a chat with a BMW specialist and they said coding the satnav might be an issue?

[Deep Thought]

_Hoppers said:

Cheers DT, mine doesn’t have the HK system so I’m assuming it’s all in the same box?

i think so, but theres probably info on some of the more specialist forums or youtube videos. Or someone on here might know.