540i Stereo problem

[vitofior]

Thank you for the welcome! I was searching for a solution to a radio problem when I came across BimmerWerkz. I'll be scouring the message board for answers, but in case anyone can point me to the right thread from here....this is my car and the issue:

I have a 1998 BMW 540i and I'm the original owner. I got in a couple of days ago and the radio is "stuck" on the last channel selected. I cannot adjust the volume, change the station or band, or power it down. I didn't check myself but my husband said that we could use the "mouse" button to cycle between the onboard computer and nav system stuff....until he pulled the fuse to turn it all off. He said that the fuse was working and not the problem, but he must not have put the fuse back because now everything is off. He's pretty mechanical and I'm fairly certain that he would have checked that a simple "reboot" would not have cured the problem. So, if the fuse is working but we're stuck ON at 96.9 on the FM dial, how soon will we lose our sanity? Better yet, is it a problem that can be affordably solved?

Thank you!!!

[marti5]

Firstly check the fuse is in and in good order then try disconnecting the battery for 20 mins, brown lead 1st and reconnect the brown lead last.

[vitofior]

A great big thank you to Marti! I got distracted in the week and was remiss in expressing my gratitude! That worked! That worked because....the radio got messed up when my husband tried to jump-start his truck.

I have a new problem...or at least I'm looking for opinions. We have a really bad time with tires on this car. I'm not looking to go 140 mph with my hair on fire anymore because we don't live in Europe where I could. Now, I generally keep it under 90 mph, tops, except in RARE, RARE instances....well, you know what sort of instances I'm talking about. The same ones that goad us to climb Everest, but I digress. Could the good owners of 540is please tell us what has been a safe, quiet, reliable, dependable tire for you? We've eliminated Bridgestones from consideration because of 2, now, catastrophic blow-outs. Only one of which was attributed to workmanship and warranted. My husband just experienced the second...so we'll see if it was road hazard or another bad, bad tire. Texas is hard on tires...what with the heat and all. But Bridgestone lovers need not apply. I'm really hoping for something that won't give me sticker shock too...pie in the sky?

[BimmerE39]

Originally Posted by vitofior

I have a new problem...or at least I'm looking for opinions. We have a really bad time with tires on this car. I'm not looking to go 140 mph with my hair on fire anymore because we don't live in Europe where I could. Now, I generally keep it under 90 mph, tops, except in RARE, RARE instances....well, you know what sort of instances I'm talking about. The same ones that goad us to climb Everest, but I digress. Could the good owners of 540is please tell us what has been a safe, quiet, reliable, dependable tire for you? We've eliminated Bridgestones from consideration because of 2, now, catastrophic blow-outs. Only one of which was attributed to workmanship and warranted. My husband just experienced the second...so we'll see if it was road hazard or another bad, bad tire. Texas is hard on tires...what with the heat and all. But Bridgestone lovers need not apply. I'm really hoping for something that won't give me sticker shock too...pie in the sky?

You don't want to go cheap on tires either. I've had a set of Nitto NT555's on my E39 since March and they've been real solid. The only downside I might see for you is they are a max performance oriented tire and they can be a tad rough (to me that's not an issue so I don't worry about it). I've also had good luck with Pirelli's as well but I found them to be too soft and not ultra durable.

[marti5]

I have run on Toyo proxies for a long time now and they are a brilliant tyre in my opinion, hard wearing, excellent grip and very low road noise.