Strange Audio Problem

[X3nut]

Noticed the other day that there is no sound coming from the radio for a short period of time but then it came back on. The first time it happened was straight after i had the car washed at one of those hand wash places. Anyway it was intermittent for a while then got more frequent to the point where it doesn't come on at all now.
I can still operate everything on the radio with the steering controls and all seems fine accept for the fact that i have no sound at all.

Now a strange thing happened today, i was out in the car with my girlfriend and pulled over to get something from the shop so i said i would leave the key in the ignition. I opened the drivers door and suddenly the sound from the radio came on  . I shut the door and it went off, opened it and it came on...how wierd!! This is a very strange phenomenon...anybody know what can be causing this?

Thanks.
Ian

[Horizon]

Not sure about the X3 but the X5 has the BM54 radio module in the spare wheel well next to the spare, just with you saying the problem started at the car wash, and they use steam cleaners. Maybe water ingress.

Edit, if it's not got the factory sat nav the radio module is normally in the dash though. So probably not the problem

[X3nut]

Thanks for that, i will look in the boot as i had water ingress from torn vapour barriers a few months back. Mine hasn't got sat nav though!!

It does seem strange that it only works with the drivers door open, tried the other doors and nothing...could it be triggered by the warning chimes?  ???

[MattX]

I'd try and trace the wires from that door and see if there's any damage to the insulation.
Have you tried a spirited drive to see if it comes on and goes off? Might sound nuts but my old e46 had a loose connector in the radio module and a sudden direction change used to cure it  )

[X3nut]

Right then, it turns out that i had managed to trap the speaker wire in the drivers door when i replaced the door card after fixing the vapour barrier. Took the door card off and found that a slight bit of the speaker wire was stripped off by the torx bolt used to fix the card back on so as i opened the door it must have pulled the wire away from the bolt slightly then touched it again as i closed it.

All fixed now though