[Randybuck]

Hi this is my first post. I've found a guy who can repair our radio's. I just got mine back and it works great! He lives in London and repairs BMW radios. It costs about $200 for the repair including shipping both ways. What he does is replace the 20 watt amps with 40 watt amps and adds a big heat sink for them. According to him the small heat sink is the cause of all the failures. My radio only played the front right channel and the front left for about 10 seconds.
Mine was the first motorcycle radio repair for him, so with a lot of chat back and forth we got it done. It took about 4 weeks to get it done, mostly in transit.
The only draw back is he has to take the cd player out of the radio to fit the new amps in. I was ok with that and i can still use the 6 disk. (which i just discovered doesn't work , just bought the bike about 2 months ago. Any one have a changer they don't need? )

This is his e-mail if anyone is interested: [email protected]

Randy :dance: :dance:

 

[kimokk]

Welcome aboard! What year is your bike? Does this problem affect all years of LT models? Thanks.

 

[Randybuck]

It's a 2003. I'm not sure if it happens to all radios, but there have been a lot of posts about radio problems. Mostly loosing one or more speakers.

 

[saddleman]

I,m thinking you are talking about London Ontario Canada. :thumb:

 

[Randybuck]

No london england

 

[saddleman]

No london england

I'm from Ann Arbor & was hoping it was closer.

 

[wrmoss]

Randy, I have a player I'm not using. It didn't have the magazine with it--so, I don't even know if it works. I removed it as soon as I bought the 99. I will send it if you want it. It's gathering dust in a cupboard right now. You can have it for FREE...just pay shipping...(the actual cost of shipping...not like on ebay where they gouge you.)

 

[Samir]

When my 6 disk stopped working I opened its little door and gave it a good shot of compressed air. Have done this more than once and I get it back everytime.

 

[LosAngelesMan]

Thank you Randy. I have a 2003LT with similar problems and have contacted this repair guy.

Hi this is my first post. I've found a guy who can repair our radio's. I just got mine back and it works great! He lives in London and repairs BMW radios. It costs about $200 for the repair including shipping both ways. What he does is replace the 20 watt amps with 40 watt amps and adds a big heat sink for them. According to him the small heat sink is the cause of all the failures. My radio only played the front right channel and the front left for about 10 seconds.
Mine was the first motorcycle radio repair for him, so with a lot of chat back and forth we got it done. It took about 4 weeks to get it done, mostly in transit.
The only draw back is he has to take the cd player out of the radio to fit the new amps in. I was ok with that and i can still use the 6 disk. (which i just discovered doesn't work , just bought the bike about 2 months ago. Any one have a changer they don't need? )

This is his e-mail if anyone is interested: [email protected]

Randy :dance: :dance:

 

[Randybuck]

Dave I'm from Chelsea, just 6 miles away.

 

[saddleman]

Dave I'm from Chelsea, just 6 miles away.

Chelsea is closer to 20 miles . I live in North Carolina now but my home town is Ann Arbor. I'll be back for my 40 year high school reunion at the end of September.

I have a RTE planned for sept.22nd leaving the Zukey Lake tavern in Pinckney and riding to Frankenmuth for lunch. I'll post it in the Mid West section this August

 

[MartyBlok]

I'm from Holland and the info on the radio repair is good. I have a used radio I am going to put in and see if it works. If not that will be an option for repair.

I would also be interested in a RTE as well.

Marty :bmw:

 

[RonKMiller]

Um.... There are several places in the US that can more than adequately do repairs, it's been a long time since I had mine fixed (8+ years ago?) by an outift in San Diego. My issue - and one that is VERY common - is CD's skipping. I think it cost about $100.00. No shipping to England, no customs forms, etc.

 

[Baris]

Thank you Randy for the kind comments. I am the repair guy he is referring to. If anyone has any questions regarding their radio module, i am here to answer them.
Currently working on a new toy for the unit. I will post more about that later.

Randy didn't mention, that i also did an auxiliary input for him.

Um.... There are several places in the US that can more than adequately do repairs, it's been a long time since I had mine fixed (8+ years ago?) by an outift in San Diego. My issue - and one that is VERY common - is CD's skipping. I think it cost about $100.00. No shipping to England, no customs forms, etc.

A CD skipping has nothing to do with the amps failing and causing 1 or more channels to fail. A cd skipping is to do with the loader mechanism inside. Laser replacement or fixing the rubber bushes would probaby fix that. The whole loader mechanism can be bought from about $80.

I searched all the car bmw forums in the states and non them refer to anyone being able to repair these units over there.

 

[RonKMiller]

I searched all the car bmw forums in the states and non them refer to anyone being able to repair these units over there.

While I'm sure your are very good at what you do and provide excellent advice and service - there are probably at least one hundred independent shops in the US that are MORE than capable of repairing either the "BMW" radio or cd changer. It's not rocket science. To start with, here's 2:

BMW Stereo and CD Changer Repair

bmw navigation radio cd changer repair

I simply think it's kind of silly to send it to England and encounter long shipping delays, high shipping expenses and the hassle of having to physically go to one of our Post Offices to ship it, not to mention the time filling out forms and hoping it doesn't get tripped up held in customs or Homeland Security. In my business we frequently ship all over the world and it is SUCH a pain in the butt we recently starting charging a $35.00 paperwork surcharge in order to compensate us for the extra time involved.

I had my 2001 BMW LT motorcycle 6 disc cd changer fixed, and my 1987 BMW 530i car radio fixed by these guys - they did an excellent job and the quotes were right on the money - they obviously knew what bugs were common to the units in advance. I chose them since they are one day away from me by ground UPS (about $10.00 shipping each way) and located in the car and motorcycle capital of the world - California:

BMW Radio Repair Questions

I've actually got a gremlin with my 2002 Mercedes radio that will probably be going to them - as soon as I have the time to pull it from the dash...

 

[Baris]

None of the links you have listed, do what i specialize in. None of the descriptions refer to faulty channels or any of the other faults that occur on these units.

Try searching for repairs on bm53 units. In the UK and Europe they are called bm54. These are the most popular units as they are found in X5s, E46s and E39s. The bike version that was sent to me by Randy is the same unit except it has a cd player.

 

[ur12572]

When my 6 disk stopped working I opened its little door and gave it a good shot of compressed air. Have done this more than once and I get it back everytime.

So, not sure why that would work, but I have an 01 and the CD changer stoped working last week durning a ride. I can still here the mechinisim working inside, and it runs through the CD check but always comes back with no CDs found.

I will fire up the compressor and give this a try....

Thanks,

Rich P.

 

[stevea2980]

Gee anybody near Seattle doing repairs???

Later Steve

While I'm sure your are very good at what you do and provide excellent advice and service - there are probably at least one hundred independent shops in the US that are MORE than capable of repairing either the "BMW" radio or cd changer. It's not rocket science. To start with, here's 2:

BMW Stereo and CD Changer Repair

bmw navigation radio cd changer repair

I simply think it's kind of silly to send it to England and encounter long shipping delays, high shipping expenses and the hassle of having to physically go to one of our Post Offices to ship it, not to mention the time filling out forms and hoping it doesn't get tripped up held in customs or Homeland Security. In my business we frequently ship all over the world and it is SUCH a pain in the butt we recently starting charging a $35.00 paperwork surcharge in order to compensate us for the extra time involved.

I had my 2001 BMW LT motorcycle 6 disc cd changer fixed, and my 1987 BMW 530i car radio fixed by these guys - they did an excellent job and the quotes were right on the money - they obviously knew what bugs were common to the units in advance. I chose them since they are one day away from me by ground UPS (about $10.00 shipping each way) and located in the car and motorcycle capital of the world - California:

BMW Radio Repair Questions

I've actually got a gremlin with my 2002 Mercedes radio that will probably be going to them - as soon as I have the time to pull it from the dash...

 

[Baris]

So, not sure why that would work, but I have an 01 and the CD changer stoped working last week durning a ride. I can still here the mechinisim working inside, and it runs through the CD check but always comes back with no CDs found.

I will fire up the compressor and give this a try....

Thanks,

Rich P.

Laser is faulty, if it says no cd. You could try one of them laser cleaners on a cd.

 

[Randybuck]

WOW
When I posted this fix it was just meant to be a helpful solution. You can either use it or not. I did research a long time before finding Baris for the repair. All I could find in the states were companys and people that would either change the circuit board for $400 or replace the radio for $800. The trouble with that is you still have the weak amps and eventually the would go bad again.
Baris did a great job and now I have a better radio for half the cost of a new circuit board. Oh yes first class mail cost $21 at the post office and the form to fill out took all of 2 minutes to complete, so it really is no big deal at all.
If anyone can find another person that can make this repair then go for it!!!!! This post was just to offer help to anyone interested.