[clarity]

hey guys i need some help with my 2012 BMW 528i. I've recently got this car and known that the car has been neglected a whole lot by its previous owners. the mechanic who worked on this car has said whoever has been driving the car did not take care of it at all and drove recklessly but has been mostly fixed after 5k engine wise. Since I'm the new owner of the car, I was noted that the screen and radio/audio system does not work. what's really weird about this is that both screen and radio have worked fine only 3-4 times at random when i was driving around for a bit and I'm trying to figure out why. what i possibly can think of is a loose connection/wire has melted since the wires in the radio/screen area seem to have gotten hot which left sticky residue due to possibly the engine getting so hot or something and may only work after the engine has warmed up. i have torn down the glove compartment to access the fuses in the glove box and rear fuses and checked all the fuses that is associated with the screen/radio but all the fuses were fine. I am not sure what to do since I've also disconnected & reconnected the connections for the screen. please help, i have considered bringing to bmw but they quoted me 300$ for simply a diagnostic

[itsnota2ma]

The sticky residue is most likely from the electrical tape they use to wrap the wires. This is very common. I would find a used head unit and/or screen and try those before you start digging into the wiring. If you find working units, you may need to have them programmed to the car, but in theory you should not need to if they are the same part number.

One other thing I thought of: if the iDrive controller is faulty (like someone spilled something in it) this would also cause the screen and radio not to work. Try swapping it out with another one.

[clarity]

yeah i do plan on buying a used cic unit on ebay for under 100$ or hitting the scrapyard, thanks!