2005 X5 NAV Calibration?
 

In the 2 weeks that I've had my 2005 X5, I'll be driving down a road, but I'll notice that the NAV system map will show me on its map as driving down an adjacent or near-by road usually within 400 - 800 feet of where I actually am. This issue is a bit of a problem when using the guidance system as it will start giving incorrect instruction because it thinks I am off course on a road that I'm really not driving on. This has occurred so far only on state and county highways as opposed to major highways and interstates...but the state and county roads are where the NAV system is most useful for me. I've noticed this mostly in Upper Westchester County, NY, and Fairfield County, CT, so it's not like I'm in some uncharted rural area that wouldn't be familiar to any decent NAV system. Anyone know if it's a system error on my NAV or is this something that occasionally occurs that can be fixed with some kind of calibration? I owned a GM with NAV recently that did not have this problem in the same areas. Thanks.

NAV with Sirius?
 

Since my last post I took the car into the dealer and they updated the software, but this did not fix the problem. I emailed BMW and they suggested that I check with NAVTECH. I emailed NAVTECH and they suggested it was a hardware problem and I need to go back to the dealer. Something that I didn't think of in my last post was to mention that I think that the GPS is using the Sirius Satellite Radio antenna. That's all that's on top of my car; there is no typical "air hockey paddle" that you see on the cars with NAV systems but no SatRadio. I'll update this after I go back to the dealer. Anyone else have this problem?

The GPS antenna is in the rear spoiler, so it's not visible.

When you have the nav screen on there should be an icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen that looks like the corner of a globe. In that box are there any green dots? These represent GPS satelites and the more green dots you have the more satelites you are picking up. If there's no green dots then there's something wrong with your GPS reception (antenna, connector, bad nav drive, etc.)

Green Dots
 

Hello, UCrew! Thanks for the reply!

There is indeed a cluster of 3 relatively large box-shaped dots in orbit above the corner of the globe with 1 relatively smaller green dot that kind of hugs the three larger green boxes. There are also several--usually between 3 and 5--gray smaller dots that go in and out of the icon and seem to circle around the green cluster when they appear.

One suggestion, although a bit extreme, would be to unplug the nav drive from the vehicle, drive a new location a few miles away, and then plug the nav drive back in. This may force the unit to rediscover where it is at and correct the tracking problem.

If you decide to persue this then what you want to do is open the rear hatch and gain access to the compartment where the nav drive is located. Then let the vehicle sit for about 20 minutes before you unplug the nav drive. Don't open any doors or put the key in the vehicle, as this will cause i-bus traffic that will awaken your nav drive. You want it completely in a quiescent state before unplugging it (with no lights on on the drive). Once you have driven to the new location you can plug it right back in.

Good luck!

there is a way to re-calibrate your position...
p. 42 of this nav. manual
http://www.bmwmotorsports.org/pdf/BM...20-%202004.pdf

park in front of a known address. better on a residential street. or do it at the intersection of 2 streets the nav easily recognizes. make sure you are parked facing the proper side of the street, meaning make sure that the address you will be entering is on the right(not left) side of your vehicle. then, enter the intersection or address in the system as directed.
i did this when i had to get a new nav unit and it's worked pretty well.

July 18
 

Thanks X5 Monkey and UCrew. I fear that my issue is more severe than anything that I can do, so the Dealer has scheduled a tech to look at it on 7/18. The issue occurs only about 30 - 40% of the time that I'm driving. The rest of the time it shows me in the correct position. When it shows that I'm in the wrong position those little green dots are no different than when it shows me correctly. Today I turned onto a highway and headed South, but the NAV system showed me as heading West from the point I turned South for about 3 miles. The NAV system showed me driving through areas with no roads, across reservoirs, and ultimately linked up with me again as I exited the 3-mile stretch of highway I was on. I'll update you all after the 18th. Thanks again.

It almost sounds like a bad wheel sensor. Let us know what they determine.

:goodluck:

No Confirmed Solution Yet
 

FYI, all.....After BMW service spent the day with my X5, they have determined that it is the NAV drive and have ordered the part. It is on back-order so I won't know for sure if that is my issue until the new drive is installed, but I'll let you all know once the work is done. The service tech said that he has seen the problem that I described "a few" times, and that replacing the drive fixes the issue.

I, on the other hand, am led to believe that the problem is with the GPS feeding inaccurate coordinates to the NAV. I can be in the exact same position two different times; however, the coordinate readout will be different for the exact same position each time, and the map will show me on different streets each time even though I'm really in the exact same spot. Therefore, the map is simply pulling up the coordinates that the car is telling it to pull up. I explained this to BMW service; however, they seem convinced otherwise. Confusing? You should have seen me trying to explain it to the BMW tech. I'm just glad he saw it for himself!

I sure hope that I'm wrong and BMW service is right. We shall see.

Fixed!
 

Well...indeed it was the NAV drive that needed to be replaced. The dealer was great. He showed me an alert from BMW that basically said "don't replace the NAV drives when customers report this problem because it is a software issue". But it absolutely was the drive, and the dealer took the liberty of ordering me a new one and not bothering to go through the back and forth with NAVTEQ before providing me with a solution. This drive is also superior to the one that the car was built with only recently in May 2005; surprised that BMW uses up all the old inventory before going with the most updated versions.

Glad they ID'd the problem and are taking care of it !!

could this be the same prob?
 

i have a 740IL 2000 which I purchased from texas. I bought a the latest nav cd from ebay and installed it. Strangely enough, i have to tell the car where it is located! The car cannot find itself. If I input the vehicle position, it will give me the directions, but shortly enroute, it will show me miles away from my location. This has been very frustrating. I called navteq and they referred me to bmw to update to the latest OS v25 which I did. Still the problem persists. The only difference I noticed after the OS installation was the better screen, nothing else. I called navteq again, this time they said i need caliberation. I am not trying to spend alot going back and forth on this issue so am wondering if the nav drive could be the problem as well. The map is clear and precise but the problem is that the nav system losing track of the vehicle completely or shows it somewhere else and starts giving me wrong directions. PLEASE what should I do. By the way I have a markII, should I upgrade to markIII? I heard I could do it myself. How much did it cost you to change the Nav drive. Thanks.

calibration of satnav
 

Hi,

Go into the diags on the system and see whats wrong yourself. My car had a falulty (dead) GPS pad and it took several weeks to notice since the car was happy using the gyro, wheel sensors, compass and the map road snapping functions.

On the main menu go into the settings screen. In the top right corner there are some numbers a-bb cc/dd

The first number (a) is the generation of the system. After that is the software version. This is for information only, there are plenty of places to show you how to upgrade the sw.

Whilst in the settings screen, press and hold the MENU button. After about 15 seconds the diags screen will appear. On GPS go into tracking and you can see how many satellites are being tracked. If you are in the open with a clear view of the sky you should have at least 6. Only 3 are required for a postion lock. There are other screens on here which allow you to see what the other sensors are reporting.

Hope this helps.

What is superior about this new drive? I have an 04/2005 build and am wondering what they would've improved since then.

I have this same problem; however, i've only noticed it on one particular road (traveling South on 13 towards Ocean City, MD). i've always just assumed that it was my maps that were out-of-date. i'll have to make a trip to the dealer and have them install the latest maps and software. i'll keep my fingers crossed.