Nav/GPS issues

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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Just revisiting this after a bit of time away...

Is it supposed to be held together by this sticky black stuff with broken clips? Looks like an autoglass special to me...
 

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Some top work right there
 

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This story continues but I'm confident of a solution now.

The antenna has a female connector so I can't use the cheap GPS cable to plug into it, however I can get a pre-owned replacement genuine BMW unit for £20 on eBay that I can plug into the cable able the dome light and not have to bother ripping the dash apart to fit a new wire :)
 

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Well, I'm pleased to say now that this chapter is now complete.

New genuine used GPS receivedr arrived in the post today and I connected it above the dome light. No wiring required. Plugged it in and an almost instant 3D fix.

Phew!
 
greg81 said:
Pbondar said:
greg81 said:
Big improvement this morning. My correct location was locked quickly this morning and the map followed my moves pretty accurately.

Still getting a false value for Almanac but will keep an eye on it over the next few days.

Don't think there'll be any interest but I'll write up all the steps I took to resolve this as I couldn't find any useful guides anywhere!

How did you get to that service menu?

- Go to top menu
- Push dial to up for 10 seconds
- 3 clicks to the right
- 3 clicks to the left
- 1 click right
- 1 click left
- 1 click right
- 1 quick depress of the dial

Go into settings, scroll to bottom and it should be there

Could you advise if getting out of the service menu simple please?

After having troubles with the system in my car - the dealers “expert “ told me that only workshop kit was able to identify satellites aquired etc. I suspected bs at the time and this has confirmed my suspicions !
 
ronk said:
greg81 said:
Pbondar said:
How did you get to that service menu?

- Go to top menu
- Push dial to up for 10 seconds
- 3 clicks to the right
- 3 clicks to the left
- 1 click right
- 1 click left
- 1 click right
- 1 quick depress of the dial

Go into settings, scroll to bottom and it should be there

Could you advise if getting out of the service menu simple please?

After having troubles with the system in my car - the dealers “expert “ told me that only workshop kit was able to identify satellites aquired etc. I suspected bs at the time and this has confirmed my suspicions !

Hey, happy to help, but I don't think I understand the question?
 
I had trouble with my sat Nav when the position arrow wasn’t on the planned and highlighted route.

I suspected that the system wasn’t locked onto the satellites. I explained my thoughts to the BMW techie and asked if there was a method I could use to interrogate the system - he told me it was only workshop kit that could do this task.

Your method shows the method to extract the information from the system should this happen to me again - however I’m unsure how to get “out” of the system and return it to its normal running status.

I don’t want to try an interrogation and screw up any of the current settings.
 
Ah, I see what you mean. The menu you access with that procedure I listed above disappears after you stop and restart your engine , and there's nothing you should need to do to get out of it.

Not sure if you're done the procedure to get in to it, but all it does is add some extra options in "settings" rather than lock you in to some kind of hidden area.

Are you still having trouble? I've got a replacement antenna I bought for eBay that you're welcome to have if you think it's worth a try
 
greg81 said:
Are you still having trouble? I've got a replacement antenna I bought for eBay that you're welcome to have if you think it's worth a try


Your offer is appreciated.
My problem started last year when I took the September 2016 car to Germany immediately after having a BMW dash cam and it’s windscreen mounted antenna fitted. I suspected that there was some conflict between the systems.

They moved the antenna for this years trip and it was mainly successful - it went off route near Schipol airport. At that time I suspected that I was lacking a good lock. It would have been good to have a look.

I’m not away to Europe in the Z4 until July/Aug 2019 but your script will enable me interrogate the system should it go off route next year.
Unfortunately they have fitted a later model camera to further muddy the waters!
 
From what I've learned on my travels the stock antenna that lives above the interior light cluster is pretty fragile and when people work in that area (replacing windscreens or fitting a dashcam for example) they tend to break then as they don't take any real care.

Have a look in the service menu and see what you get under "GPS Status". If it's...

1. Check Antenna - The antenna has undoubtedly been broken
2. 2D fix - the antenna is receiving a pretty poor signal
3. 3D fix - The antenna is receiving a full, clear signal.

I've had this fixed for a couple of weeks now and driven a fair bit but I only seem to have locked onto 1 satellite despite there supposedly being 12 in view The almanac value is also still a falsy "0", but with all this taken into consideration I'm getting a perfectly good service from the nav itself so I'm not too concerned.

GPS status will be a good starting point. Good luck!
 
I suspect mine also has low acquisition of satellites and the system was swamped by the comms / systems of the nearby airport?

My car is currently sorned so it will be a while before I can check using the system you’ve found.
 
I just wanted to thank you for this article.
The Navigation in my Z4 just stopped working with the symptoms described (showing me being many miles from where I actually was) and I followed your advice to activate the service menu and saw that the GPS receiver wasn't working.
I located the receiver under the interior light binnacle and after removing, disconnecting and reconnecting it, it sprang into life again !
Great article which helped me a lot
Thanks again.
 
I’ve tried to get into the service menu but I’ve failed - its probably me just being a bit thick and starting from a wrong menu maybe? I’m doing something wrong!

Go to top menu
- Push dial to up for 10 seconds
- 3 clicks to the right
- 3 clicks to the left
- 1 click right
- 1 click left
- 1 click right
- 1 quick depress of the dial

Top Menu?
Push Dial ? Is that press or push it forwards?
3 - clicks right - is that rotate?
 
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