Problem with stereo in the bimmer, help please!

[iridelow]

My wife's 05 530i is giving me a fit! When you shut the car off, the stereo keeps playing! You can pull out the key, close and lock the doors, but the stereo keeps playing for about 10 minutes before it shuts off. The factory amp shuts down, because you can tell in the quality of the music, but the stereo keeps playing. Can some one tell me how to fix this. The car has 52,000k miles and just went out of warrantee. Thanks, by the way everything is pure stock...

[da_bull]

I'm not quite sure what's going on there, but it sounds like either the radio doesnt know the door is opening (the actual wire going to the door switch, or that part of the radio that is SUPPOSED to kill it when it receives a "door open" command is bad. Either way, it sounds like it needs replacing or repairing. I'd check with a local repair shop if you have one in your area (they are getting harder and harder to find anymore). Or if you can find a relatively cheap replacement on eBay. If you dont mind altering the looks slightly, you can always go aftermarket for not a lot of money. Plus the aftermarket, you can do iPod integration, navigation, better FM tuner/CD player. If you dont have those features now, it would definitely be a bonus in that aspect. Good luck with your issue.

[BimmerE39]

I would pull the radio fuse and replace it with a new one. My mom had a similar issue when she had her X5 back in the day and I remember fixing it by pulling the fuse and plugging it back in. All I know is it never happened again after that. Who knows, electronics act weird sometimes.

[Head_Unit]

I had an odd case, forget the exact symptom, but ONE fuse related to the audio system was blown. That was an X3, and the fuse was not in the normal box but buried in another location. I think it was that the fuse controlling the switched power was blown, so the radio didn't know to turn off. Do check ALL the fuses while you're at it...a non-stereo blown fuse could cause a module to not work and maybe the bus does not shut down as expected.

Then again, my mom had a weird 3-series problem where the radio would only come one every other vehicle start. And ALL the fuses were fine. Would have been too expensive at the dealer --> ripped it out and put in an iPod-designed Alpine, she is happy as a clam.

Why do you say the amp turns off? If the amp turns off, I would expect no sound at all. And that year should be an I-Bus car; the whole bus shuts down after 22 minutes of vehicle shutdown (if you don't touch anything like open or lock a door).