Tried hunting the forum for someone who's reported a similar problem, but came up empty.

Have had my '09 JCW Clubman paired with the same phone that I've owned for the past 6 years (yeah, I'm one of those...); sound quality was marginal, especially over road noise, but I never had any issues with functionality -- until a few days ago.

As I launched out on a drive from San Antonio, TX to Lorena, TX, my phone linked up through the Bluetooth, same as always. As I neared my destination, I noticed that the link had been dropped somewhere en route for some undetermined reason. When I got to my destination, I began tinkering with the phone and car, but could not get them to link successfully; they seem aware of each other, but if I try to manually connect the two by initiating the link via the phone, the phone simply tells me it fails. The car seems to remember the phone exists, but refuses to handshake with it. I attempted to pair a second phone (an iPhone, if it matters), one that had never been linked to the car before, and the two seemed to talk to one another when the pairing was initiated, but it would not go past the stage where the car was expecting me to enter the PIN that the phone provides. In fact, the phone never produced a PIN for the link-up. Ultimately, the pairing attempt will just time out.

I'm technically competent, but not too savvy with these Bluetooth devices. Anybody got somewhere to point me, or something to try to reset in the car...? Thanks!

 

First thought when electrical problems start appearing is condition of car battery. Beyond that I have nothing.

 

Yeah, that thought crossed my mind too; the battery is (believe it or not) the original battery. When the car is not in use for long periods, I keep it on a BatteryMINDer. But I've not seen any other symptoms of a dying battery; the car starts fine and there are no other electrical 'gremlins' running around the car at the moment (knock wood)...

 

You're running on a ten year old battery? Replace it.. Always amazes me that people try to hang onto a battery as long as possible. I replace mine every 3 years, I consider it maintenance.

 

Well, just a quick update on this situation...

Just as mysteriously as it quit working, the Bluetooth connection started working again. I have no explanation for the behavior, although my next-door neighbor suggests that this is nothing more than a commonplace hiccup that folks often experience with Bluetooth connections in any number of different vehicles: it goes stupid, then starts working again...