Nav system not always finding satellites

[87isee]

Hi all. I'm having this problem with my MK4 nav system in my e46 where sometimes it shows no satellite connections. Other times, it will show a lot of satellites with strong signal strength. Any ideas what may be going wrong? GPS antenna? or something more expensive? When the satellites are not found there are no errors, it just continues to show "searching" for GPS status. All other sensors work fine.

thanks for any input!

[J.Belknap]

Line of sight obstruction(s) between antenna and bird(s).

[87isee]

Originally Posted by J.Belknap

Line of sight obstruction(s) between antenna and bird(s).

Sadly it's not that simple. It happens, seemingly, no matter where the car is.

[J.Belknap]

Originally Posted by 87isee

Sadly it's not that simple. It happens, seemingly, no matter where the car is.

That's a bummer man. Why can't more stuff just be simple fixes? Well, recieve sensitivity could be affected as others said, amplitude drop at antenna / line. The gps receiver's internal freq reference crystal oscillator (TCXO) could experience frequency drift and/or temperature instability throughout it's life and also affect recieve sensitivity / time to first fix on the bird(s).

[Brian-bmw]

I would test with a cheap antenna to see if that solves it. You can get a generic GPS antenna with a matching coax plug for under $20. Just temporarily hook that up and drive around for a while. That will tell you whether you have a bad antenna (or antenna cable) or a problem with your MKIV.

[87isee]

Originally Posted by Brian-bmw

I would test with a cheap antenna to see if that solves it. You can get a generic GPS antenna with a matching coax plug for under $20. Just temporarily hook that up and drive around for a while. That will tell you whether you have a bad antenna (or antenna cable) or a problem with your MKIV.

ah good idea. I'll try that!

[UCrewX5]

let us know what you end up finding out. I have a similar issue with my 2001 X5. about 90% of the time it works just as it should, and shows good satellite connectivity. However, the other 10% of the time it shows zero satellites. It's pretty random and has no bearing on when or where it happens.

[Mallee]

I'm getting a similar issue, though not Identical I suspect mine could be antenna based.

Most satellites seem to have 3-4 reception level with one or two at 7ish, and if I park in my garage it wont detect them until the car has spent around 10 minutes parked outside.

What I'm not clear on is what caused the antenna to degrade, can it be repaired, or do I have to replace it?

[Roy in GA]

Antennas are cheap and readily available. The worst problem would be the GPS card I think. I only remember one guy on here who needed a new card. It is a small unit (credit card size) infront of the plug mounted vertical. 3x1.5x0.375 inches with ribbon connectors. In the past I have seen them on ebay.