[Thruxton]

Hello all,

This is my first post, as I am a new owner of a 2009 335i Xdrive M-sport. I bought it private sale and had it inspected before purchase. One of the things that were found was that the Nav system shows the car moving but doesn't align with any roads, crossing over roads, no roads, etc..

I have checked for a similar issue on the forum but can't seem to find something that corresponds with my issue.

I currently have it in the shop and they are having a hard time figuring out how to fix it, also I am getting vague descriptions of what their progress is. So far they have reloaded the software, put the car to "sleep", drove it around and it still isn't fixing the issue. Today they said they would work on it from the morning and do a full hard reset then let it sit to reboot.

Has anyone else had this issue? Is there some things I can do to fix it?

I will post the result of the dealer working on it when or if they can fix it.

Thanks

[wpetering]

Sounds like GPS isn't "Seeing" enough satellites. Perhaps your antenna is bad?? You're in PA, so you should have a great view of the sats. Just for grins, use your smart phone and make sure you see satellites (my guess is you'll see atleast 10 or so). On the NAV system, when a car is "off course" its usually due to accuracy issues. The NAV program is interpreting what its getting from the antenna, so hopefully the dealership has checked that?? Good luck.

[Thruxton]

So I got the call back and they have said that they have done everything as far as rebooting, reloading, letting it sleep, doing hard resets, etc... Now the only thing left for them to do is replace the head unit, which with parts and labor will be around 1300-1400 .

I am having them stop and picking it up today with the hope that if I put some time on it and letting the satellites see the car it will correct itself (it has been very cloudy ). They said the antenna is fine they aren't receiving any fault codes for anything including the head unit. I am inclined to think that it is not the head unit if it is not throwing codes, and also the nav itself doesn't seem to be bad because the movement of the car is still working it just hasn't matched to the road map.

I will post if it somehow works after I drive around for awhile.

If anyone has any idea on how to fix this I am all ears. Wish me luck.

Thanks

[wpetering]

Funny how, "replace the head unit" is the fix-all to correct goofy issues they can't resolve. For what its worth, my head unit is rebooting constantly. Guess what the solution is..... replace the head unit. Bimmerretrofit will sell a CIC head unit coded for my vehicle for $1200 CAD (~$1000 USD). Thats a DIY replacement, which doesn't look to bad to do.

Good luck. Do keep us posted.

[Thruxton]

Update:

The navigation still cannot find the car no matter if I set the location perfectly on top of the car. I have pulled the negative cable off the battery and let it sit for over a hour but that has still not fix the problem. Looking at my service menu in the car it says under the sensor status menu this:

GPS Satellites: 14
GPS Status: No GPS Available

Under the other navigation service menu I am getting no GPS signal.

I have ordered a Bentley Service manual and waiting to continue the hunt for the issue when I get it.

Based on the no GPS available status I am inclined to suspect the GPS antenna is at fault. The only other thing I can think of is to replace the nav computer but that is a lot of money for something that may not fix the issue and is not really necessary.

Still fighting it....

[Thruxton]

I took a photo of my friends car with a correctly working Nav and then my car. This screen makes me think that the dealer didn't install everything correctly, the nav computer is at fault, or the GPS antenna is at fault.

Anyone else had this screen?

[PichaDis11]

Has the physical connection to unit been checked already?

[Thruxton]

I am still waiting on the details back from what the dealer did, but no I don't think that was checked. I am waiting on a service manual to arrive to assist me in the trouble shooting before I start ripping things apart.

In the end if this is going to be an expensive thing to fix I will just live without Navigation.

[voucher76]

The reason why the car is still moving around the map is because of gyros. Whenever the CIC unit does not get a lock on any sattelites, it will use it's internal gyros to tell if the car is moving, turning etc.
If you are in a tunnel where there is no sattelite reception you will never notice when the NAV unit switces from gps to gyros and back. The problem is if the car only uses the gyros, it WILL sooner or later be thrown off course. Thats where you are at now!!

The hidden GPS service menu you showed in the pictures is a good way of telling if there are any GPS connection. In your case there isn't.

What I would do is: buy a cheap GPS antenna with a FAKRA connector .
Then pull out the internal GPS antenna on the back of the CIC unit(blue connector) and replace it with your new one. Just to rule out the possibility of a faulty GPS antenna.

Then put the new antenna out in the open to make sure it gets a solid reception, turn on the NAV wait a good ½-1 hour and see if there is any luck.

I'm not saying that will help, but a way to start the troubleshooting.

Best of luck.

[Thruxton]

Originally Posted by voucher76

The reason why the car is still moving around the map is because of gyros. Whenever the CIC unit does not get a lock on any sattelites, it will use it's internal gyros to tell if the car is moving, turning etc.
If you are in a tunnel where there is no sattelite reception you will never notice when the NAV unit switces from gps to gyros and back. The problem is if the car only uses the gyros, it WILL sooner or later be thrown off course. Thats where you are at now!!

The hidden GPS service menu you showed in the pictures is a good way of telling if there are any GPS connection. In your case there isn't.

What I would do is: buy a cheap GPS antenna with a FAKRA connector .
Then pull out the internal GPS antenna on the back of the CIC unit(blue connector) and replace it with your new one. Just to rule out the possibility of a faulty GPS antenna.

Then put the new antenna out in the open to make sure it gets a solid reception, turn on the NAV wait a good ½-1 hour and see if there is any luck.

I'm not saying that will help, but a way to start the troubleshooting.

Best of luck.

Thanks for the advice.

I was thinking of doing as you state but I am a bit nervous about pulling out the CCC because I am afraid of setting off some theft protection lock down because I am pulling the unit out.

I was thinking of starting at the sharkfin with the antenna back there. I see that I can get one for around $70. I see though that a farka connector gps antenna is about $20.

Do you have any tips for me actually pulling out the CCC and doing this?

Thanks

[voucher76]

Do not worry about anti theft protection, there are none. When you take the cic unit out, do not disconnect the power to it (unless you disconneted the battery) - just the blue fakre connector.

It really isn't hard to take it out.

In the above video the entire air-vent panel and a/c panel is removed, no reason for that. Just loosen them so you can get to the Nav unit. ( the video shows the old CCC unit, you have the CIC, but there are no difference when removing)

Do report back if you solve the issue.

best of luck

[lovnblack]

hi Thruxton, a few days ago I also open a thread as yours :

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1054383

You are lucky, cause your thread took more attention than mine As you will read, my problem also the same "no gps available" as you. But 2 days ago I tried to put antenna on the roof and just only in 5 minutes antenna found the satellite. Please read my last post as below :

"Yesterday I put the antenna at the roof (outside-for test) and I received the gps signal just only in 5 minutes. Cause of I dont want to drill a hole on my roof, I thought to find a original BMW antenna (X5) and put it again on dashboard, but could not get signal again. When I check my windshield, I noticed that I got athermic windshield. Where can I put my antenna except windshield? Im thinking to use a long cable and put the antenna to the rear window (inside to car), front of the rear window will be fine for gps signal?

So Thruxton, my advice is firstly check it, do you have athermic windshield or not? If you also got the same problem on your windshield then dont waste your time and money, try to find another place for your gps antenna. For now, nobody respond my this question yet " Im thinking to use a long cable and put the antenna to the rear window (inside to car), front of the rear window will be fine for gps signal?" I will try my chance at the rear window, if I can receive signal, I will let you know...probably your problem also the same...

Originally Posted by Thruxton

Thanks for the advice.

I was thinking of doing as you state but I am a bit nervous about pulling out the CCC because I am afraid of setting off some theft protection lock down because I am pulling the unit out.

I was thinking of starting at the sharkfin with the antenna back there. I see that I can get one for around $70. I see though that a farka connector gps antenna is about $20.

Do you have any tips for me actually pulling out the CCC and doing this?

Thanks

[Thruxton]

Update:

I connected a new gps fakra antenna to the back of the ccc and it showed all the gps info on the nav service menu. It worked! Thanks to voucher for the assist. I got all the right messages on the service screen, therefore it means the bmw gps antenna in the shark fin is not working. All I need to do now is order the right antenna and replace it under the shark fin.

Lovnblack, I am not having an issue with the signal not lasting like you and I am not using an aftermarket antenna as a permanent solution, just replacing the gps antenna under the shark fin. Hopefully someone can help you more than I can. Good luck.

[lovnblack]

Originally Posted by Thruxton

Update:

I connected a new gps fakra antenna to the back of the ccc and it showed all the gps info on the nav service menu. It worked! Thanks to voucher for the assist. I got all the right messages on the service screen, therefore it means the bmw gps antenna in the shark fin is not working. All I need to do now is order the right antenna and replace it under the shark fin.

Lovnblack, I am not having an issue with the signal not lasting like you and I am not using an aftermarket antenna as a permanent solution, just replacing the gps antenna under the shark fin. Hopefully someone can help you more than I can. Good luck.

Hi Thruxton, Im happy to hear that you solved your problem. Today I also solved mine, aftermarket antenna worked in only 1 minutes, my problem was my athermic windshield, thats ok now...

[alejandro.jasso1]

I have a 2007 335i and I bought a navigation disk but when I go to show current position it shows that I’m somewhere else , I was wondering and anyone knew how fix it and reset the current position on if