Radio issue...

[AlexSimpson]

My E85 which I recently bought came with an aftermarket pioneer head unit fitted and the OE unit included with the car.

I would rather have the OE unit so I swapped them over.

The factory unit powers up but that’s all. It’s shows a -DISABLED- message and doesn’t function.

I had a search and read about bus and transport mode issues. However, everything else works fine. Blower, indicators, dash lights etc. Which is a bit confusing!

Anybody have any ideas? I have swapped the Pioneer unit back in and it works fine....

 

[DorsetWurzel]

Did you start the car? Sometimes the radios are coded and both stored on the headunit and comfort module (or what ever BMW call theirs) and running the car gets them talking over CAN. It does on cars from the VAG group anyway.

 

[Jas- USA]

My 2003 Z4 has a radio code hand written in the owners manual. I believe, again only believe, a dealer can determine this code which would allow the radio to work(1). These codes are part of the radio ant-theft system.

(1)However, odd's are, there had to have been a reason the prior owner changed out to a pioneer! You might end up paying a lot to get the radio code from the dealer only to find out the original OEM system has problems.