vanossa 0 Report post Posted June 16, 2011 (edited) 1993 E36 Coupe 325i (UK build) Hi. I recently lost (or as good as) reception to an otherwise perfect signal through my radio. It is a Sony head unit. Has anybody had a similar experience and found the solution? Any wee tricks to try? The CD and Ipod work fine, Its just the Radio reception. Very much appreciate any help. Cheese. Edited June 22, 2011 by vanossa Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jom 98 Report post Posted June 16, 2011 1993 E36 Coupe 325i (UK build) Hi. I recently lost (or as good as) reception to an otherwise perfect signal through my radio. It is a Sony head unit. Has anybody had a similar experience and found the solution? Any wee tricks to try? The CD and Ipod work fine, Its just the Radio reception. Very much appreciate any help. Cheese. remove the C pillar trims (either side of the rear window) and tighten up the aerial connections to the splitter/whatever it is on each side. Jo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vanossa 0 Report post Posted June 16, 2011 (edited) 1993 E36 Coupe 325i (UK build) Hi. I recently lost (or as good as) reception to an otherwise perfect signal through my radio. It is a Sony head unit. Has anybody had a similar experience and found the solution? Any wee tricks to try? The CD and Ipod work fine, Its just the Radio reception. Very much appreciate any help. Cheese. Thank you, and I should definitely be able to do that myself. Edited June 16, 2011 by vanossa Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BM WORLD 1283 Report post Posted June 16, 2011 also check the skinny white wire behind the stereo has power going to it from the blue ant power wire . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vanossa 0 Report post Posted June 17, 2011 also check the skinny white wire behind the stereo has power going to it from the blue ant power wire . Cool. I'll try and check all this out over the weekend. Thanks guys, I'll report the outcome. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vanossa 0 Report post Posted June 18, 2011 (edited) Cool. I'll try and check all this out over the weekend. Thanks guys, I'll report the outcome. Bugger! I located the antenna on the L/H C-Pillar but could not see anything out of the ordinary. All wires were secure and the areas clean. I also looked at what was at the R/H C-Pillar and same there. Could not see any single little white wire at back of Head Unit although all the wires including white ones were connected properly there too. Might be a trip to Auto-Sparkie after all... but any other ideas would be appreciated of course....Cheers. Edited June 18, 2011 by vanossa Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hotwire 352 Report post Posted June 18, 2011 There will be a white wire somewhere, would have been in original plug. This is a 12v out when radio is on & feeds the aerial amplifier in the C pillar. Check for voltage present at each end. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vanossa 0 Report post Posted July 7, 2011 There will be a white wire somewhere, would have been in original plug. This is a 12v out when radio is on & feeds the aerial amplifier in the C pillar. Check for voltage present at each end. Thanks everyone for all suggestions......Since my last post on this subject I have been managing to 'limp' through the reception boundaries by activating a couple of buttons on my head unit e.g....the AF (Alternate Frequency) button, which seems to work ok. I am now pretty sure it is the head unit (Sony CDX-M600R). So no problems with the BMW Antenna it would seem after all. I must study the sony manual to see if I can 'reset' the radio functions to stay tuned automatically like they were. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest pipat4 Report post Posted July 7, 2011 As new data is very good. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Neal 540 Report post Posted July 23, 2011 Thanks everyone for all suggestions......Since my last post on this subject I have been managing to 'limp' through the reception boundaries by activating a couple of buttons on my head unit e.g....the AF (Alternate Frequency) button, which seems to work ok. I am now pretty sure it is the head unit (Sony CDX-M600R). So no problems with the BMW Antenna it would seem after all. I must study the sony manual to see if I can 'reset' the radio functions to stay tuned automatically like they were. Make sure it isn't the local station isn't set ( Might be toggled via sa button on right hand side) Note , you can default all the settings to factory by putting a paper clip end into the reset hole. If you do this then the unit will drop back to factory settings. You will need your remote control to re-activate the head unit after with a squence of buttons (PM me if you need this info) Otherwise these units do have tuner module failures (Sony CDX II tuner, my one failed, but Sony NZ replaced the tuner module under warranty) I think the part was a few hunderd dollars retail Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vanossa 0 Report post Posted July 23, 2011 Make sure it isn't the local station isn't set ( Might be toggled via sa button on right hand side) Note , you can default all the settings to factory by putting a paper clip end into the reset hole. If you do this then the unit will drop back to factory settings. You will need your remote control to re-activate the head unit after with a squence of buttons (PM me if you need this info) Otherwise these units do have tuner module failures (Sony CDX II tuner, my one failed, but Sony NZ replaced the tuner module under warranty) I think the part was a few hunderd dollars retail Cheers. I have not had anymore problems since fiddling with a few functions on the head unit e.g. SA button etc.... However I do not know how it 'reset' itself. I would like to PM you if the original problem re-surfaces. All good in the meantime though, and again, cheers. Techdork Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Neal 540 Report post Posted July 24, 2011 Cheers Vanossa , These are a good sounding head unit with great features for ICE setups (4volt our front/rear/sub , DSO , Listening postions setting etc) . I ran one of these with a Phoniex Gold amp and Boston Acoustic speakers and then later with a Soundstream and PPI speaker combo. It was also able to run the factory sony Cd changer. The reset to factory default reset button is on the left of the cd when the face is open (2 mm hole). However , a remote sequecnce is required to restart the unit after (Anti thieft system) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites