NAV Screen Goes Black

[mikey777]

I have a 2008 X5 3.0si and the iDrive screen sporadically goes black. At first, I thought the whole unit died but it would suddenly come back to life. Then once it was black I noticed that the whole unit was still active; the screen was just dimmed to almost black. I can see it faintly if I turn on the cabin light.

I took into the dealer and they ran checks on it but found no fault codes. They checked all the connections and everything seemed fine.

Has anyone else experienced this with their nav screen?

[rh71]

same year here, someone else also has had the problem and it was also an 08...

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...tely-dark.html

no resolution so far... got the latest firmware and after that it still happened on 2 mornings (not cold, and also garaged). Still random, still don't know the root cause for sure.

[Craig]

Yes, I don't have nav, but I have premium sound and I've had the same problem. The dealer couldn't find anything wrong. It's hasn't happened since last summer...

Craig

[ABMW]

Maybe the backlight is bad or has a very random short. It's not an LED screen, so it's dependent upon a secondary light source (a backlight, which oddly enough is probably an LED, so it should not burnout. Hence, there's a malfunction of some sort). It seems like that source (said LED) is starting to malfunction on some vehicles, for one reason or another.

I'd insist upon having it replaced prior to the end of your warranty. I'm sure the NAV must be replaced as a unit and is non-serviceable by the dealer. It probably costs close to what buying an extended warranty does: $2,000+ ???

I'm almost tempted to install a bracket for my Flip camcorder that starts video recording the first 1-minute of each vehicle start, as this is when everyone is having trouble; trouble of which cannot be replicated by the dealers. How nice for BMWNA!

[ard]

Originally Posted by ABMW

I'm almost tempted to install a bracket for my Flip camcorder that starts video recording the first 1-minute of each vehicle start, as this is when everyone is having trouble; trouble of which cannot be replicated by the dealers. How nice for BMWNA!

I did this for a problem with my Nav on the M5... used a cell phone video to capture the fault- showed it to the SA. They replaced it.

[Craig]

My dealer saw it and said it didn't store any fault codes. I took it in when it was blank. They told me before, when it's happening, come by so they can see it.

Hasn't happened since last summer...

Craig