Dealer is truly mysterious...

I took my car in for service: rough idle/service engine light, really bad AM reception, some other stuff. The AM problem was that ever time I went under anything more than a leaf the radio went LOUD with static. Seemed to be tied to the NAV.

Service advisor calls to say: 1) one ignition coil is bad - they'll replace all 6 (known issue), 2) AM static is due to my aftermarket amps - they won't touch it! I argue that I took it to Service before the amps were installed to complain about the bad AM. But no luck. They won't do anything about it.

So I get my car back and guess what? The idle is fine - no surprise. And... the AM reception is now perfect!!! WTF!??? I'm in shock! Service is SO screwy! I really wonder what they did. Reset the radio?

Just had to share...

I wonder if the bad ignition coil was throwing off electrical noise that was interfering with your radio

Originally Posted by Daver

I wonder if the bad ignition coil was throwing off electrical noise that was interfering with your radio

I haven't thought about that! The noise was really tied to the NAV, though, cuz every time the map changed positions the noise changed tone, and switching from map mode to any other mode also made the noise change tone. I suppose the bad coil could have sent some RF interference that affected the NAV or the AM receiver.

Originally Posted by machmeter

I took my car in for service: rough idle/service engine light, really bad AM reception, some other stuff. The AM problem was that ever time I went under anything more than a leaf the radio went LOUD with static. Seemed to be tied to the NAV.

Service advisor calls to say: 1) one ignition coil is bad - they'll replace all 6 (known issue), 2) AM static is due to my aftermarket amps - they won't touch it! I argue that I took it to Service before the amps were installed to complain about the bad AM. But no luck. They won't do anything about it.

So I get my car back and guess what? The idle is fine - no surprise. And... the AM reception is now perfect!!! WTF!??? I'm in shock! Service is SO screwy! I really wonder what they did. Reset the radio?

Just had to share...

The AM is a known problem that, I suspect, BMW doesn't want to divulge. They may very well have done something secretly.
Search here for posts by a certain Known Plaintiff or something Plaintiff.
ATY???

Originally Posted by JetBlack330i

The AM is a known problem that, I suspect, BMW doesn't want to divulge. They may very well have done something secretly.
Search here for posts by a certain Known Plaintiff or something Plaintiff.
ATY???

I thought about that - saw the posts some time ago - and also wondered if they perhaps did something and "forgot" to tell me. They certainly poked at the radio cuz all my presets / settings were different.

SA was a squirrely but friendly man - they teach them that squirrely stuff, don't they?

There you have it. They replaced your radio unit.