E63/E64 CCC Radio Failure

[A5u5Ra23rH3r0]

Hi Internet.



I have a persistent issue with my BMW 650i Convertible (but I'm sure it applies to any BMW with the CCC iDrive & Radio Systems)
I use 'Radio' and 'Head Unit' synonymously. I am referring to the stereo/control unit behind the Dash, which connects to the 'Screen' above.

Last year, one day while driving down the road my radio started to glitch out. The screen would shut off, and either immediately turn back on or would turn on after a few seconds, starting with the BMW screen as if the car just turned on...
It would happen on startup and as I drove around, specifically, when I would hit bumps in the road, it would click off and come back on.
After about 2-3 days of this occurring, the screen fully turned off, and never came back on. I drove the car for about 2 weeks waiting for it to come back on, but alas, it didn't.

After contacting my local independent BMW service centre and official BMW dealer for parts, I was quoted ~$2.2K CAD for a new head unit.
Being the cheap m.f. I am, I went to Car-Part.com and began looking around for a radio similar to the one I had inside the car.

After some very confusing part hunting, I found a few interesting details:
- This 'radio' unit is imperative for many of the functions of the vehicle and acts as the 'brains' for many of the low-volt and hi-volt CANBUS systems in the vehicle.
- BMW had several versions of the same radio for even one vehicle year. There are dozens of similar models, and they were constantly superseded. It's unclear what changed between these models, but in summary, be VERY CAREFUL when trying to find a replacement radio unit. They may look the exact same, but they have very specific options and capabilities. You need to find the right one for your vehicles configurations, although E63-E64 head units can also be found in X-series and 3/5 series vehicles.

I also came to realize that the previous owner of the vehicle had replaced the head unit at least once, as the one I took out was not the original from the factory**** (this goes to show, this issue is incredibly common, and maybe there is a deeper issue for my car or even all E63-E64s).


With all that pre-faced:
I ended up finding a unit from a wrecker in a town close to me (hurray).
For $130 + the time and gas to drive out there, I had a seemingly working radio unit which I immediately went and swapped into to the car.
For the most part*** everything immediately began working again. I have a working head unit which didn't have the shorting issue.

I did have to take the car to my BMW service centre where they reprogrammed the radio (my radio selector/spinner wasn't working, and my AUX source was missing). But after the reprogramming, all worked perfectly the whole rest of the summer.



This brings us to my current situation.

On the EXACT SAME WEEK one year later, that new (used) radio I replaced the broken one with STOPPED WORKING IN THE EXACT SAME WAY.

I have now been driving around without a working radio for several weeks.
What a massive pain.
It's time I begin reopening my previous research links and dismantling the vehicle in an attempt to resolve my woes.


I am opening this thread to document and track my journey as I begin to diagnose and resolve this continuing problem; also opening the floor to anyone who has had this problem that may have some insight into potential root-causes/or solutions that helped them.
DO NOT SUGGEST things like resetting the iDrive system through button holding or battery resets. They don't work. This is a hardware/power system issue with these radios and the comment will be ignored if you mention anything of the sort.


I will update with progress, videos, photos, etc. as I go.


Cheers! All the best,

A5.

[Opie55]

That's a long post, but it would be of more interest in an E63/E64 forum. This is an F12/F13/F06 forum. There is no forum for your car here, but there are some elsewhere on the internet.