Autotronic Instrumentation Service

The LEAR FRM3 powers internal & external lights, senses door contacts and power windows. It has a significant role in safe vehicle operation on the road.

FRM total failure is a worldwide problem often triggered by disconnecting the battery or even through performing basic diagnostic tests. In the failed state there is no control over lights and windows. The car will enter an emergency lighting mode.

Autotronic can repair all FRM faults as described.

Harman Becker CIC was introduced progressively from 2009. Two hardware versions were available: MID (6.5" LCD) and Professional (8.8" LCD).  Both have a single CD/DVD disc drive and save road map data on an internal storage device.

CIC units can develop either of the following faults:-

• DVD drive can become unreliable reading discs
• There is no sound output and / or radio stations
• The navigation function may be disabled
• The unit may initiate frequent restarts, flashing the BMW logo in the process
• The unit may fail to start up completely and remain at the BMW logo screen
• The unit may not start at all, in which case the screen remains dark

The business navigation units made by Harman Becker feature a single disc drive. Audible navigation instructions are supplimented with on screen arrows. A road map cannot be displayed. Failure is evident with a black monitor display. The unit becomes completely non-responsive.

Professional navigation units manufactured by Siemens VDO at the time (also referred to as Car Communication Computer or simply CCC) are showing several common faults. Faults identified with known solutions include:-

• DVD drive can become unreliable reading map discs
• The unit may initiate frequent restarts, flashing the BMW logo in the process
• The unit may fail to start up completely and remain at the BMW logo screen
• The unit may not start at all, in which case the screen remains dark

Johnson Controls manufactured the CID for the US built X5. As these vehicles age, display problems are becoming a common occurrance. The following are typical problems related to defects with the display particularly in cold conditions:-

1. Rapid flickering of the illumination, menu graphics are visible.
2. No illumination, the menu graphics are visible as a dim image.
3. No illumination or graphics visible, audio in the car works (CCC is functioning).

Bluetooth, speech recognition & telephone charging modules are networked on the fibre optic sound and data transport network, commonly referred to as MOST. Failure related to a bluetooth module is easily diagnosable with loss of that function. Additional transient secondary symptoms may occur due to network disturbances, such as random muting of music and/or sluggish to even non-responsive i-drive menus. We service both Visteon and the Harman/Becker devices.

Engineered for cars already equipped with analog TV function.
Convert your existing TV module to enable freeview SD digital viewing.
Control it directly from the on board monitor or iDrive.

Easy Plug & Play, requires no changes to the car.
Goto our BMW Digital TV page for more details.

The instrument cluster's multi line on-board computer LCD and separate radio displays commonly have missing pixel lines.

E90 Professional radio LCD may exhibit fading related to increasing temperature or display permanently missing lines. 

New generation E90 Professional radios (dials have chrome rings) may fail completely. The CD load/eject continues to function, but there is no display or audio functions. The car battery may also be drained due to constant current draw by the radio.

E90 Business navigation head units are operated using the classic BMW iDrive controller. This input device detects multiple movements:

1. left-right, foward-back
2. counter & clockwise rotation
3. push down (for on-screen input or action selection)

This controller may fail to respond to the "push down" action.

Widescreen monitors suffer from two separate conditions, either multiple irregular areas with colour loss or a display without illumination. New 16:9 LCD panels are available.

The older 4:3 monitor typically will present a black screen.

Repeated rough handling of remote keys will eventually lead to loss of remote door/boot lock/unlock functions. Starting the engine will still be possible.

Navigation computers of this early era are commonly experiencing either map disc read faults (cannot display a map) or complete system failure (navigation no longer selectable and red power LED off or flashing).

Excluding E65, water entry into the casing eventually causes complete system failure.

The Alpine stacker can sieze up, refuse to play and fail to eject magazine cartridge.

The Becker radio can have a number of separate issues such as failing to pick up radio stations and/or dropping audio channels. In certain cars, water damage can permanently damaged this unit if left untreated.