E39 infotainment/nav repairs or aftermarket upgrades?

[RoverP6B]

Having spent the last eight masochistic years in E39s, with an engine failure in the first and a gearbox failure in the second, I've just bought this bd thing. 540i Touring, mega spec, mega mileage, not much money. Yeah, I know, I'm daft, but God help me, I love the bloody things. Drives beautifully, apart from a droning wheel bearing and clonking front damper top mounts, but the radio/nav is ste - and that's when it works at all, which is very briefly on damp mornings following a blue moon...


It appears to be a Mk4 system of some kind, but it's truly woeful and rarely functions at all. Even when it does work, it's dreadful. Is this repairable to a decent standard, or is there anything I can replace it with, that isn't too much work? I want to keep it looking reasonably OEM but get something that actually works and sounds OK. The nav doesn't bother me as I've never had it before and never felt the need to use it, I reckon it's just a distraction from driving (and the robotised voice always reminds me of paranoid aircraft GPWS), but I do want a decent sound system. CD changer in the boot is dead too - not sure if it's the unit itself or a symptom of the problem with the radio head unit. I've got a spare changer unit from my old E46 that I've been meaning to get round to trying, but there's probably not much point considering I can't get sound out of the radio 99% of the time.

[RoverP6B]

Helicopter123 said:

what have they done to that steering wheel?

As far as I know, it came like that from the factory. There's a massive file of invoices from new concerning the car, and that wheel is on the options list, not on any subsequent bill.

Mike335i said:

What about something cheap and chearful like one of these

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...

Looks relatively OEM but far more modern features.

How plug'n'play are these? Looks OK but if it's going to be a ton of work to get it in and working...

[RoverP6B]

The unit here is original factory fit. Dealing with replacing bits of wiring loom and such sounds like more than I can cope with - are there people around who're used to doing this kind of thing? As for DSP, I haven't a bloody clue, what even is that?

[RoverP6B]

I'll be honest and up-front about this: I am not confident about working on my car's electronics, and would rather leave it to a professional. I don't think it's the kind of work my usual indy (MJF in Beare Green) does, he's an oily-bits mechanic (and a bloody good one at that), but hates anything electronic with a vengeance (especially newer BMWs). So can anyone recommend a specialist in old BMW in-car electronics?

[RoverP6B]

I'd feel uncomfortable, both from a functional and an aesthetic point of view, with a 100% touchscreen device. With muscle memory, I know exactly where every button in the E39 is. I wouldn't want to have to take my eyes off the road to change radio stations. I also want it to function with the steering wheel buttons - does any non-OEM system do so?