Go into the Servie Menu of the radio and change the AREA setting from whatever it is to US.

No tools required. Just your fingers.
To get into Service Menu:

BM53 with small screen Board Monitor
1. Turn the radio on.
2. Press and hold the "RDS' button for at least 8 seconds.
3. Scroll through the functions using the "< >" buttons.
4. Turn the radio off to leave the service mode.

BM53 with Widescreen Monitor PRIOR to 9/01
1. Turn the radio on.
2. Within 8 seconds, press the 'INFO' button.
3. From the Info screen, select RDS (choose PTY on E38).
4. Press and hold the BM control knob (right side knob) for at least 8 seconds.
5. Scroll through functions using the station search buttons "< >".
6. Turn the radio off to leave the service mode.

BM53 with Widescreen Monitor AFTER 9/01
1. Turn the radio on.
2. Immediately press and hold the 'Select' button for at least 8 seconds. The screen will switch to Service Mode.
3. The screen will now show the serial number of the radio.
4. Use the "< >" buttons to select the desired service function.
5. Selections for the desired service function can be made by using the radio station preset buttons #1-6.
6. Turn the radio off to leave the service mode.

NOTE:
When selecting the country AREA, push the station preset #1 repeatedly until AREA USA is shown on the screen.
When selecting the GAL level, use station presets #1-6 to select level.
To turn off/on the RDS function on this radio, push the 'INFO' button and select RDS off/on.


And at the same time, do yourself a favour and upgrade the nav from 4-1/20 (V23) to 4-1/100 (V31, V32)

You'll notice a massive difference in nav functionality, and stability.

Fantastic! Fixed in a matter of minutes. Thanks KiwiJochen. I now have a fully operational system! On to v31 upgrade.

Best regards, Todd

Welcome to the forum todd,

Now you have v31, have a look at 3D perspectibe mode, to enable this, Perspective mode needs to be enabled in 2 places,

1: The hidden setup menu.

Go to the menu screen select set (or settings) and hold menu button for 10 seconds, when the hidden menu appears scroll down untill the perspective mode option is selectable.

2: In the arrow map pointing menu.

Select GPS-Navigation, then Map, then push right button, select Map Positioning and there select Perspective

Hope this helps

__________________
Sept 03, M3, Silver Grey. Retro-fits: Modded Mk4 DVD Drive, OEM Bluetooth, VR Control, Rainbow Speaker Upgrade, Sony SOT Amp, HK Sub, CCFL, Intravee II, NightMode.

Thanks to X5World, Jochen & ccfj1, I've managed to accomplish the following in the space of 2 hrs:

1. Correct my BM53 radio "Country area" to USA, allowing proper tuning frequencies
2. Locate & Download v27.1 and v31 files, and burn each to CD
2. Update NAV to v27.1, verify function
3. Update NAV to v31, implement perspective mode

I'm one guy just now!

I'd best leave well enough alone for today, knock wood!!!......well, maybe find & buy a copy of a newer NAVTEQ map DVD

I cannot understand why you went to v27.1, - you could have just loaded v31 - but well done anyway

My car being an Australian model has the BM53 and I have a similar problem, it only scans in multiples of 10 missing out on 95% of the stations. BMW have told me that you can't change it to scan the individual increments. It makes me wonder why they chose the BM53 in the first place.

Bollocks. BMW are wrong.

Follow the same instructions as posted in my post #2 above, and you can change the AREA setting.

Currently your radio is set to AREA=USA.

You need to select AREA=OCEANIA.

Takes all of a couple of minutes using your fingers, no tools required.

I've already checked this. It has three setting, Oce, JPN and USA. It is set to Oce and this is the 10mhz increments. Totally useless.

Then the radio is wrong.

Oceania = 9kHz AM, 100kHz FM steps, 88-108MHz FM
USA = 10kHz AM, 200kHz FM steps, 88-108MHz FM
Japan = 9kHz AM, 100kHz FM steps, 73-90 MHz FM

Check it carefully.
You must select OCE, then switch off radio, and switch off ignition for the setting to be properly saved.

I've changed many BM53 radios from Japan to Oceania, and they all worked, and AM is always 9kHz steps.