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Infiniti M35/M45 Navigation System

204 messages,  Last post on Feb 02, 2012 at 7:14 PM

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What is this discussion about? Infiniti M35, Infiniti M45, Sedan

Messages Page 15 of 21

#134 of 204 2008 M35 Nav--has no clue where it is by 5infinitis

Feb 20, 2008 (5:09 am)

I just took delivery of a new M35 and generally love the car, but the navigation system is terrible. It spends most of the time showing I am on different roads, sometimes miles or even a state away and traveling in a totally different direction. If it is providing route info, it is of course based on where it thinks the car is--with hilarious and frustrating results. The screen that shows the latitude and longitude is usually "out of range". The dealer and I have checked all the settings and they replaced the unit once. It worked for about 30 minutes (brilliantly too--just to tease me with what it can do!) But the next time I drove the car, it took over 40 minutes before it figured out where I was. Basically, the unit doesn't check in with the satellites very often, so it is guessing. The dealer and Infiniti don't seem to know what is going on. Does anyone out there have an idea?

#135 of 204 Re: 2008 M35x nav system gets lost [whereami] by 5infinitis

Feb 20, 2008 (3:20 pm)

Replying to: whereami (Jan 23, 2008 3:15 pm)
See my note at #134--exactly the same problem. Clearly, the unit needs to check with the satellites and get a new fix. Don't know if it's antenna, settings, software or whatever. They are replacing the antenna and the unit again this week.
 
Again, when the dealer replaced the original unit last week, the new one worked great for the 30 minute drive home--was in contact with the satellites (2 or 3) almost the entire time. Since then, hardly at all--with predictable mapping errors resulting. Maybe the Navy shot down the wrong satellites?? JK.

#136 of 204 Re: 2008 M35x nav system gets lost [5infinitis] by james27

Feb 20, 2008 (4:04 pm)

Replying to: 5infinitis (Feb 20, 2008 3:20 pm)
The gps antenna has an amplifier in it. It typically gets powered through the coax. If the connection is loose, or the coax is pinched, it can short out or not connect the power (often 3.5-5 vdc, at low current, so it probably wouldn't blow a fuse), or mess up the coax.
 
There probably is a diagnostic that can be accessed to verify the receiver detects the antenna is there. basically, no antenna, it reverts to dead-recconing, which will get out of whack after a few miles. I'm not sure if this unit has any dead-recconing in it.
 
I vote for a loose conection to the antenna. If the antenna coaxial connection is fairly standard, with an adapter you might be able to plug in a handheld gps - they typicall indicate if an external antenna is detected in their status page. I don't know on this antenna, but many of them have a connector at the antenna rather than being hard-wired into it. It makes eventual replacement much easier, since you don't have to thread a new coax through the car.

#137 of 204 Re: 2008 M35x nav system gets lost [james27] by whereami

Feb 25, 2008 (9:14 am)

Replying to: james27 (Feb 20, 2008 4:04 pm)
There's a diagnostic. Turn the radio off. Press the Settings button and at the same time turn the volume knob clockwise 30-40 steps. You'll enter the diagnostics mode. Repeat the Settings/volume knob operation and you'll get the advance diagnostics mode. Under this one, go under navigation. You'll see one setting (forgot how's named) that will display a screen showing you what the navigation parameters are at any time, including its current lock status with the satellites. You need at least three "OK" satellite settings to get a 2D GPS lock, and 4 for a 3D lock. I see the same issues as 5inifinitis. Sometimes I get good locking on my way to work and on my way back I get nothing. Most days it takes the system anywhere between 10 and 40 mins to get a lock and correct its position. I've crossed so many rivers and lakes, according to this thing, I often think I'm driving a boat. I could be driving due North and it shows me going South, as far as 30 miles from my location. All the dealer will do is run the diagnostics which, of course, shows nothing being wrong.

#138 of 204 Re: 2008 M35x nav system gets lost [5infinitis] by james27

Feb 25, 2008 (4:30 pm)

Replying to: 5infinitis (Feb 20, 2008 3:20 pm)
I'm not sure even where the antenna is on the car (I didn't buy the nav!). Make sure that nothing is over it, if, for example, it is on the back deck or something. A loose connection will make it come and go, sitting still in the shop, it might be great. Functionally, without the antenna being powered, it can't track any satellites, and, it can't stay on long enough to obtain the ephemeris data to be able to accurately keep tracking. I'd find the antenna and make sure the lead is screwd in tight on both ends.
 
I recently had a box installed on my car that lets me run any video signal into the display when turned on. Leave it off, and it is the normal factory, flip the switch, whatever is plugged in feeds the display. I'm using my Nokia N95 (which has a video output) to feed the phone's gps/nav stuff into the display. Technically, anything that's displayed on the phone shows up on the display. While I don't use it, you could surf the Internet, or anything the phone can do (write a note in Word, etc!). Just need to be careful not to do anything dumb like watch a movie while driving. Box is made by AVELECTRONICS. It will still switch to the backup camera while on, but to get the other factory screens, you need to flip the off switch.
 
While the phone has a gps receiver in it, I picked up a small bluetooth receiver. That way, I have control over where the antenna is, and don't have to worry about placing the phone just right to keep access to the buttons and its internal antenna.

#139 of 204 POI - Restaurants very very limited by ghstudio

Mar 15, 2008 (7:35 pm)

Driving along an interstate today, I decided to look for a restaurant "on the route". I was shown one page with four or five options....I tried to scroll down assuming a next page...but was unable to scroll. I tried everything...buttons, knobs...nada. Yes, I was moving...but certainly there were many more restaurants that should have been shown.
 
Same symptoms if I just asked to look at restaurants ... forget "along the way". I could see the first page of 4 or 5, but no way to scroll down the list.
 
What's wrong with my 06 M35 navigation system...or is the M35 Navigation system just junk.....

#140 of 204 Re: POI - Restaurants very very limited [ghstudio] by towerman

Mar 21, 2008 (1:29 pm)

Replying to: ghstudio (Mar 15, 2008 7:35 pm)
While you might just be in an area with few items in the restaurant database, it really sounds like your problem is related to the car moving. The NAV system is substantially disabled when the car is moving as a safty feature - the fact that you have a front seat and might have a passenger is inconseqential - your only options to have it display all options/screens is to stop the car. You will not be alone as you mutter, ridiculous! One other option that might help is trying to use the voice command set to get what you want, but that takes some practice and has other drawbacks.

#141 of 204 Re: POI - Restaurants very very limited [towerman] by ghstudio

Mar 22, 2008 (4:57 pm)

Replying to: towerman (Mar 21, 2008 1:29 pm)
My M35 lease is up in 3 months. While I like the car, the navigation system is such that I will not buy another infiniti. Today we were in route to one location but decided to stop at the airport. I had to stop to program the navigation to find the airport. I consider stopping on the side of an interstate as much more dangerous than my saying....destination airport...or destinations other...but neither option is allowed. Obviously there are some complete jerks in Infiniti's development or legal department. One lost sale won't matter to them...but it's my way to indicate one person's displeasure...

#142 of 204 Re: 2008 M35 Nav System Frustration [m35macman] by davidv935

Mar 29, 2008 (9:33 am)

Replying to: m35macman (Jan 04, 2008 1:02 pm)
I just wrote Nissan North America a very pointed letter about this because I didn't expect this at all. They have so much functionality disabled while the car is in motion that the Bluetooth, MusicBox, and Nav are not worth the price paid. I have a pocket Garmin Nuvi 350 that I take everywhere I go on business to use in the rental cars. Garmin has the warning screen at startup, but does not disable anything, so why do the automakers think they must. Anything and everything disabled should be accessible using voice commands.
 
The phonebook holds 40 numbers, but you can only see and select 12 while driving. The musicbox holds over 9GB of music files - over 100 albums or CDs, but you have to stop the car to search and select a different album. Ironically, it will allow you to manually scroll through 2000+ songs which will take your eyes off the road for a lot longer than scanning 100 albums. On the nav, there are 10 categories of POIs, but you only get 5 while driving and you can't search for a restaurant while driving through a town. All in the name of our safety.
 
Safe attentive driving is my responsibility. All the bells and whistles work great in my driveway, but that's not where I want to use them.
 
I encourage everyone to put pen to paper.

#143 of 204 Re: 2008 M35 Nav System Frustration [davidv935] by dheller

Mar 29, 2008 (10:09 am)

Replying to: davidv935 (Mar 29, 2008 9:33 am)
I fully agree with your sentiments about this stupidity on the part of Nissan. The next time I buy a $50,000 car, I will make sure all the functions work when I want them to work, not when Nissan's layers decide to allow me the privelage. Who in the world do they think they are to allow you to buy something, then cripple it from usage.
 
Do you have the address to write, I will certainly join in. Alas, I think our words will be unheaded as the layers are grabbing this whole country by the throat and stifling any of our rights in their name. Where will it ever end - our tort system needs major overhaul

Messages Page 15 of 21

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