2001 740il Radio/GPS malfunction

[gjantzer]

If my car sits for about three days the battery dies completely. Obviously there is a draw somewhere. My best guess is the stereo/gps device. When I turn the car on I have three problems:

1) the digital odometer display is missing some of the small lights to make up complete numbers. This happens about 75% of the time. 25% of the time all of the little lights light up and the display appears to be perfect.

2) The GPS unit will either not come on at all or will come on but not function.

3) The radio will run for about 3 minutes and then the sound will just stop. The power light indicates that the radio is still on but the sound is gone. If I turn the radio off and back on, the sound comes right back for another three minutes and then the same thing all over again.

I am also getting a service engine soon light. Is this likely all related? Will getting a code reading give me more information? Do dealerships charge just to determine what the error code is that is causing the service engine soon light to come on? If so, how much should they charge just to determine what the codes is....no work to be done. Thanks

[gjantzer]

bump

[ibew595]

Originally Posted by gjantzer

1) the digital odometer display is missing some of the small lights to make up complete numbers. This happens about 75% of the time. 25% of the time all of the little lights light up and the display appears to be perfect.

2) The GPS unit will either not come on at all or will come on but not function.

3) The radio will run for about 3 minutes and then the sound will just stop. The power light indicates that the radio is still on but the sound is gone. If I turn the radio off and back on, the sound comes right back for another three minutes and then the same thing all over again.

I am also getting a service engine soon light. Is this likely all related? Will getting a code reading give me more information? Do dealerships charge just to determine what the error code is that is causing the service engine soon light to come on? If so, how much should they charge just to determine what the codes is....no work to be done. Thanks

1: look up bmw 740 or e38 pixels. It is common for them to do this and then finally fail. You will need a new cluster and to have it coded for the car. If you complain to BMW they may give you a goodwill gesture of either labor or parts.
2: You need to look up Mkii(2) or Mkiii(3) BMW navigation and determine which of the units you have, more than likely since you are getting the black screen of death yours has died. If the light on the unit is on, then you know you are getting power to it. You can buy a unit off of ebay and plug it in easily. The dealers will charge >$1k for a new nav unit.
3:It is possible for this to be related to the dead nav unit.
4:The service engine soon light can be any emission related error, you don't have to get a dealer to do this. Anyone with a OBDII reader can find the code and this will send you in the right direction. A single code can throw errors in other systems, you have to pick the most likely cause and fix that first. A loose gas cap can throw a code and the light will stay on for quite a few on/off cycles before clearing. This is not related to any of your other problems.
A low battery voltage may cause 1-3 too.