fm radio static in and out!

hey there,

first of all i have searched this forum and other forums for my problem but couldnt find a solution, if i happened to overlook something please point it out,
thank you.

my problem....

i left the car parked in a garage for around 15 days when i went abroad for a business trip, when i came back everything was in good working order except for the fm radio! all i get now is static! i have an e65 735i 2002, european version with factory tv. everything else is working just fine, although the cd player does tend to stick every once in a while. AM radio is working perfect, tv reception is good and cd is fine.
FM radio on the other hand comes and goes, most of the time its static, but sometimes it works perfectly for around 20 mins then it goes back to static.

Anyone has any thoughts on the problem? is it an antenna connection issue?

thx in advance.

Its either your fm connection or the antena that is built into the rear glass, does the static get worse when you turn on the rear defrost?? If so its the antena in the glass.

Ask or L7

1bad540: i tried turning on the rear defrost with radio on tday...same thing. but the thing is thats its ONLY static....when it works it works perfectly nd when it doesnt its only static with no radio whatsoever

sfbay: its ASK. i had L7 enabled through ncsexpert but i dont have the hardware to support it so all of the options are there but i cant tweak anything.it was working when i did this so i dont think that it caused the problem.

any additional thoughts? where can i find this antenna connection?

I know on the e39's it was behind the sail panel on the driver side by the back seats, maybe theres an online diagram. If your getting only static with the defrost its most likely the antena. I had this problem and the back glass was replaced. check the lines in the rear glass for a cut.

i'll check them in a bit....but i didnt replace the glass...i'll check the service manual for other connections as well.

Originally Posted by mokh

i'll check them in a bit....but i didnt replace the glass...i'll check the service manual for other connections as well.

I have exactly the same problem.
can you please inform how do you solve that.
thanks in advance.

i didnt :S
I still dont have a radio its completely static now on all channels. I checked the fm tuner in the left pillarand the wires in the rear glass...everything seemed to be in order so i gave up.if you have any suggestions iplease share

I would say its an ASK problem. I get the same symptom occasionally. I noticed when it is exhibiting the static (no other noise), the Idrive spins smoothly and the MMI doesnt keep up with the rotation of the Idrive. Meaning there is a LAG in communication. I restart the car, or just wait 20 minutes, and the problem clears itself. I always assumed it was the ask. I just have dealt with it since it happens about once every 2 months. Let me know what you find, also does your Idrive exhibit weirde behavior when the problem happen?

in my case the following happens:

FM radio: start the car and all is OK, passed some time +/- 15-20 minutes came cracking noise from speakers and the list of receivables stations are empty, not the memorized ones, and finaly no sound. Restart the car and the "movie" is the same.

AM radio: OK, no issues.

CD player: OK, no issues.

Idrive not exhibit weird behavior when the problem happen.

Sounds like radio tuner issue

Originally Posted by SFbay

Sounds like radio tuner issue

i thought so too...but i took out my tuner (its the one behind l c pillar on the drivers side right?) nd opened it up...a classic smell.test for burnt parts revealed no issues...nd from what i could see with my limited knowledge everything was in good working order so i put it back together. the static still.exists.

Originally Posted by mokh

i thought so too...but i took out my tuner (its the one behind l c pillar on the drivers side right?) nd opened it up...a classic smell.test for burnt parts revealed no issues...nd from what i could see with my limited knowledge everything was in good working order so i put it back together. the static still.exists.

Classic smell Really??? So you think if smth goes bad it should smell and show signs of burned and damaged parts?? It's XXI century btw life would be too easy if you could find faulty modules by smelling them
So you said cd plays ok no static at all? Bc if there is its your ask unit. If static is only on FM it's your tuner or antenna on the back window, try to disconnect the wide connector from tuner module, and check for static.

as i said..my knowledge is a bit limited.i scanned the car using autologic, and inpa.no faults stored.
but as far as i know...if some.electronic part is blown it should make an awful smell right?
anyways...i did check the connections and as far as i can see, there's nothing broken including the wires in the rear glass.
so i'm a bit stumped. i still wanna try disabling the booster via ncs and see how that goes.

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I have also this same problem with radio.

90% of time it doesnt work as it should.
I use only FM-radio and we dont have any AM-radio here in sweden.
sometimes radio wont find any radio-channels at all and if i it finds "volume" is low compared to CD. Sometimes radio "volume" goes up n down.

Does anyone have a clue what is it? Antenna, Radiotuner or what??
I have changed ASK-module (speakers crackling noice) and radio didnt work with old ASK and not with new one so its not that.

let me know how u fix that

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