Damian1977
New member
Hi Everyone 
I've only recently joined the forum and am really enjoying the E89 I bought back in July last year. It's a superb car and a pleasure to drive. Slowly over recent months, I've been getting used to the car's functionality, but have been struggling with the iPod connection. There are two connections - common in BMWs - the audio jack and a USB connection. I purchased the cable from BMW that connects these two inputs to the base of either an iPod or an iPhone and allows you to control your Apple device via the steering controls.
Basically, either device works fine via the cable and I am able to select the tracks, albums and artists and control the volume. The track name can be seen on the radio display and the quality of sound is superb. After listening to a track for a period of time (which varies) the system suddenly switches to the FM Radio and I lose control of the iPhone. Moving to the AUX input, I can hear the tracks playing, but can only control the iPhone via the device itself. Switching off the radio system and pulling the USB cable for a few seconds does sometimes bring the iPod input back to life, other times I have to wait until the car electrics are switched off for a period of time.
I've tried different cables, different iPods and iPhones, driving in different weather conditions - as many variables as I can think of - but I haven't been able to figure out what's causing the problem. Even BMW don't know what the problem is, so it would be really useful to know if anyone on the forum has had the same issue.
Hope you can help!
I've only recently joined the forum and am really enjoying the E89 I bought back in July last year. It's a superb car and a pleasure to drive. Slowly over recent months, I've been getting used to the car's functionality, but have been struggling with the iPod connection. There are two connections - common in BMWs - the audio jack and a USB connection. I purchased the cable from BMW that connects these two inputs to the base of either an iPod or an iPhone and allows you to control your Apple device via the steering controls.
Basically, either device works fine via the cable and I am able to select the tracks, albums and artists and control the volume. The track name can be seen on the radio display and the quality of sound is superb. After listening to a track for a period of time (which varies) the system suddenly switches to the FM Radio and I lose control of the iPhone. Moving to the AUX input, I can hear the tracks playing, but can only control the iPhone via the device itself. Switching off the radio system and pulling the USB cable for a few seconds does sometimes bring the iPod input back to life, other times I have to wait until the car electrics are switched off for a period of time.
I've tried different cables, different iPods and iPhones, driving in different weather conditions - as many variables as I can think of - but I haven't been able to figure out what's causing the problem. Even BMW don't know what the problem is, so it would be really useful to know if anyone on the forum has had the same issue.
Hope you can help!