Here is the problem I'm having. Just for the record, I have a 2008 Cooper S with HiFi radio and no hidef or satellite radio. Also have the multifunction steering wheel.

1)Turn on car

2)Set radio to FM preset to #1 or #12 or #10. You can set it using steering wheel control or ****. Note the checkmark that appears next to preset number indicating that it is selected/active.

3)Drive for 6 minutes or so w/o changing the station, the checkmark next to the preset disappears.

4)Attempt to switch to the next preset using steering wheel control by clicking left or right arrow once.

5)Radio switches right back to the preset you just had it on, i.e. #1 or #12 or #10 and checkmark is back. So it acted like it changed to the next preset, but just kept you where you were at.

6)Attempt steps 2 through 5 but this time choose any preset besides 1, 12 or 10 and it will not glitch out.

The glich that happens in step 5 can be reproduced even when changing the preset with the ****, but with the **** you have to do precisely one click to the left or right in step 4. It's very easy to turn more than on click with the **** so I recommend using the steering wheel.

Took it to the dealer and reproduced the problem for him on a test drive. They had it for a day or two and told me that they tried it on other R56 cars with a similar set up even 2009 ones and it did the same thing. Said there were no bulletins or fixes so he couldn't do anything.

 

Mine does the same thing always on #6 and it drives me crazy!

 

on a similar note, i have a radio tuning problem... try to manually tune to 100.7fm and it automagically tunes/jumps to a frequency in the 90 range.

 

Yours only does it on #6? It's funny because mine never does it on #6...always 1, 12 and 10. Can you try it on 1, 12 or 10?

Thanks

 

It only does it on #6 no other presets. I have tried others and only happens on #6.

 

What year/week is your car? Is it an S?

 

Not sure of the week but it was a late production 2007 S model.

 

I asked the service people about this. They were able to reproduce it in the shop. They observed/determined that it was related to the Radio Data System (RDS). I was able to confirm once so far, that the radio at first "remembers" the preset it's on, and that during those first several minutes, the radio displays no RDS information. Then after several minutes it starts displaying the RDS info, and it seems that precisely at that moment, it forgets that it is tuned to a preset. So maybe the radio gets confused if at first it doesn't receive any RDS info, and then at some later point it starts receiving it...

For me this happens only on presets 5 and 6, but I suspect it's more tied to the radio station, and not the preset number.

The service people claimed that this is the behavior documented in the owners manual, but to me it just sounds like a software bug.

 

Just wanted to post here that due to raf's post I was able to fix my preset glitch. It indeed had something to do with the RDS because RDS wouldn't work until about 5 mins after being on the preset and coincidentally, that's when the check mark would go away.

I solved the problem by redoing the presets on all the ones I had issues with. So if preset 1 had 102.7 on it, I temporarily changed it to 102.9 and then preset it back to 102.7 and all was back to normal.

 

I have this same problem! Thanks for the tips.. will definatly try your fix, russr!

 

Maybe this is related to the problem of the Random selection not being remembered either.