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PCM loses navigation & stereo settings

12K views 25 replies 8 participants last post by  dougpaw57 
I just bought a CPO 2014 BS with this identical problem. I have not brought it to the dealer yet. I know from service records that the PCM was replaced about a year ago due to sound cut-out issues and the PCM was updated to the last version (4.76) at that time. My guess is as follows from watching the behavior. (I bet yours acts the same). If you change the settings, and remove the key, but then turn the radio back on (with the key removed), the settings are remembered. When you reinsert the key is when the system attempts to download the memory settings in the key. Here is my wag (wild-assed guess); I think the programming is wrong: this car (without the Memory option) does not have the capability of saving settings to the key. Therefore it should not be attempting to load settings from the key (presumably the key just has default 000 settings). With no knowledge of the situation, I am guessing there is a setting to enable/disable the loading of the key settings, and that needs to be set to disabled.

Have you made any progress on this issue?
 
Hi Kim. Thanks for your response, but (from what I can see) the OP and I both do NOT have the memory option; I have the standard sports seats and do NOT have the buttons on the door for the memory settings, nor do I have the setting in the PCM Locking settings which would enable automatically saving settings to the key.

From what I've seen scanning forum postings over several years, there are generally two types of complaints with this issue. One is like the OP and me, where we do not have any of the Memory features, and the other is people who do have the Memory features, but who don't realize you need to set the check box in the car's locking settings to automatically save settings (and that this process occurs when the key is used to lock the car). My problem is the FIRST, NOT the SECOND issue.

Not having the key memory feature, I don't see how it makes any sense that the car would load memory settings from the key (which both the OP and I have seen the screen says is happening), since it doesn't have the ability to save memory settings to the key. I strongly doubt this is a hardware problem; I believe it is most likely a program setting mistake. Either the wrong software version or wrong settings are being used when the PCM is initially programmed, or the wrong setting is being set by the installer after the fact. One would think that if my theory is correct, the cause and solution would be immediately obvious to anyone trained on how the PCM is to be programmed, but apparently not.

The reason I so strongly doubt this is a hardware issue is that the PCM screen helpfully tells you it is loading the settings from key x, and you can actually watch the settings change from what you want to default at that point. Again, how does it make sense to load settings from a key when the car has no ability to save settings to the key in the first place?
 
the dealer fixed the problem. it was not hardware but software. now separate settings are retained for each key when the car turned off, the key removed and then re-inserted. they had the car for a total of 2 1/2 weeks and damaged the leather on the steering wheel which they have owned up to but we haven't resolved that issue yet.
That sounds like no fun in several ways

Do you know exactly what the solution was? Was the software "bad" or was it a settings/configuration issue? What does the work order say they actually did to fix it?
 
Resurrecting this thread in the hope that the OP might see my interest, or maybe someone else might have the answer! I have exactly this problem (as described above by both lotusfla and Dkgli) - the PCM not 'remembering' the last-used settings and reverting to factory-settings when keying-off; this on a car without memory seats and hence without the Auto Memory function. My dealer is out of ideas and yet it seems the answer is settings or software based...

Can anyone (particularly lotusfla who managed to get his car fixed) shed any light?

James
I am still living with this issue and I also would appreciate any input on what the solution would be (especially the specific programming setting affected assuming my guess that this is just a programming issue is correct).
 
I just wanted to close the loop on my experience with this issue (my posts start at #5 above). The short story is that when I brought my BS in for annual service, I told the service writer about the issue of the PCM losing audio and map settings, and stated that I had read that this was a programming issue. When I got the car back, the problem was indeed fixed and he told me that it just needed to be reprogrammed.

I think here is the key symptom; when I got the car, every time I started it the bottom line of the PCM said something about reading the settings for key #1. My car does not have the settings memory. I no longer see that message when the car is started and the settings are remembered, so all good now.
 
I will try to find out more. I'm pretty sure the work order just showed "programming." The service advisor actually first told me that they had "updated" the PCM, then later that they had "programmed" it. I tried to get more specifics hoping to post them here, but I didn't get any--I will ask again. This isn't the only part of my service that he was vague about; I was just glad to have all my issues addressed properly, which they seem to have been.
 
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